Sports
Cricket’s invisible men
Rex Clementine in Mohali
As the national cricket team made a mockery out of the opening Test match against India here in Mohali with wrong selections and combinations the team is faced with more trouble as they are unable to fly in replacements due to delay in processing visas.
Asitha Fernando, who has featured in three Test matches was the possible replacement Sri Lanka were trying to bring in but that’s not gone to plan and even if he gets the visa, he is unlikely to be available for selections for the second Test in Bangalore as he has to undergo a three day quarantine before joining the team.
With Lahiru Kumara ruled out with a hamstring injury, Dushmantha Chameera, who was expected to feature in the second Test is complaining of ankle pain and Sri Lanka are wary of exposing the injury prone fast bowler ahead of a hectic cricket season. Although Binura Fernando is the automatic choice, the team management have concerns about him as he has previously broken down in middle of games. That makes Chamika Karunaratne the Hobson’s choice and he’s expected to feature in the side along with Suranga Lakmal and Vishwa Fernando. If Chameera doesn’t play, it will be a killer blow for Sri Lanka.
In the first Test, playing Kumara without a single First Class game under his belt since his last injury as if weren’t a bad enough, it surprised many when he limped out to bat struggling to move his feet. Assuming it was a case of Sri Lanka needing ten runs to avoid the follow on, sending out the injured last man would have made sense. But here Sri Lanka were trailing by 400 runs. Then with the team all set for a massive defeat, Kumara was sent out again in the second innings. Surely, your number 11 is not going to make a hundred. The only thing that could have happened with him coming out to bat was the fast bowler aggravating the injury.
The coaching staff seems to be heavily relying for input from Colombo, worried to take decisions independently. Video footage of the Mohali pitch was sent to Colombo to ask what combination the team should play. Sri Lanka went with three seamers and one spinner whereas India went with three spin options. Eventually, the team became the laughing stock as seamers got little purchase while India’s spinners were handful with Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin accounting for 15 of the 20 wickets.
Young Pathum Nissanka had done a terrific job as an opener having scored three half-centuries in the two match series against West Indies in December. What crime he had committed to be demoted to number three remains a mystery. Interestingly, his replacement Lahiru Thirimanne since playing the Bangladesh Test match last year had not featured in any First Class games. Tactically, it was a blunder sending two left-handed batsmen against the off-spin of Ravichandran Ashwin.
As expected, Ashwin came onto the attack in the fifth over of the innings and had his man. In the second innings, Ashwin didn’t wait that long. He bowled the first over and once again dismissed Thirimanne, this time for a duck. The invisible men in Colombo had thought it was fit that Thirimanne was good enough to open batting against world’s best bowling attack having not featured in a First Class game for nearly a year.
The confidence level of the team is at a low ebb. The coaching staff seems to be not putting their foot down in areas where they need to show authority as they know they are all on borrowed time with interim appointments.
For every minute thing the invisible men in Colombo are consulted and the results have been disastrous with Sri Lanka suffering their third heaviest Test defeat in history. Team’s planning has been awful.
Sri Lanka Cricket often gets the blame for team’s sorry performances, but this debacle can not be placed on the doorstep of the board for they clearly mange only the administrative part with cricket being run by invisible men. They are not in India with the team but very soon will arrive here after the Test match is over as the carnival is set to begin. By then, the horse has bolted and the image of nation’s cricket team would have taken a huge blow. The invisible men will not get exposed. They will get their men like Mubaraks and Kandambys to run the show now that they have failed to bring in Farbrace and Ford. Cricket remains their private property and only their friends will play a role in cricket. Invisible men will continue to be invisible.
The first truly heavyweight clash of this expanded T20 World Cup format comes freighted with both history and subplots. A rematch of the 2010 World T20 final at Kensington Oval, the match pits Jos Buttler’s defending champions – who are aiming to become the first team to retain the trophy – against the Australian winning machine, victors at the 2021 edition and current world title-holders in Test and ODI cricket. And that’s before you throw in the Ashes for afters.
Already there is added pressure on England, after the rain in Bridgetown led to a share of the points in their opener against Scotland (and that having conceded 90 runs from 10 overs without taking a wicket in a tepid bowling display). Lose to their oldest rivals and it will leave their Super 8 prospects open to being waylaid by the perils of net run-rate calculations, or worse.
The Scotland match was the third abandonment in five suffered by England, after a rain-affected home series against Pakistan, which has clearly hampered their readiness for this campaign after almost six months without playing T20 together. It does not take much for a side to click in this format – and England looked in decent shape when they did get on the field against Pakistan – but Buttler will be anxious for things to go their way on Saturday, if only to avoid further questions referencing the team’s disastrous ODI World Cup defence last year.
Australia, under the laidback leadership of Mitchell Marsh would love nothing more than to add to the English sense of jeopardy – having helped bundle them out of the tournament in India on the way to taking the crown. Their head to head record is less impressive in T20 however, with England having won six of the last seven completed encounters, as well as that 2010 final.
Despite a wobble with the bat, Australia avoided mishap against Oman earlier in the week, the experience of David Warner and Marcus Stoinis shining through in difficult batting conditions. Surfaces in the Caribbean – not to mention those games staged in the USA – have already had teams scratching their heads; rather than the “slug-fest” England had prepared for, following a high-scoring tour of the Caribbean in December, it looks as if boxing smart may be the way to go.
Speaking of Warner, this could be the last time he faces up against England in national colours – and another match-winning contribution would likely reduce the chances of them meeting again in the knockouts. On the other side of the card is Jofra Archer, fresh from an emotional maiden outing at Kensington Oval and ready to take on Australia for the first time in any format since 2020. Can Mark Wood fire up England’s campaign, as he did during last summer’s Ashes? Will Pat Cummins be back to harass the old enemy once again? Seconds out, it’s almost time to rumble.
Cummins is set to return after being rested for the Oman game, which saw Mitchell Starc leave the field with cramp. Starc is understood to be fine and could keep his place – which would likely see Nathan Ellis miss out. Marsh is still not fit to bowl, with Australia likely to continue with the allrounder combination of Stoinis and Maxwell to give them cover.
Australia (probable XI): David Warner, Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh (capt), Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Josh Inglis (wk), Tim David, Pat Cummins, Nathan Ellis/Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood
The one change England may consider is Reece Topley coming in for Wood, with the expectation that there will be some rotation among the seamers through the course of the tournament.
England (probable XI): Phil Salt, Jos Buttler (capt & wk), Will Jacks, Jonny Bairstow, Harry Brook, Liam Livingstone, Moeen Ali, Chris Jordan, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Reece Topley/Mark Wood
[Cricinfo]
Once is coincidence, twice is a clue, and three times is proof.
To paraphrase Agatha Christie, that is the narrative around South Africa’s meeting with Netherlands at this T20 World Cup.
The Dutch beat South Africa at the 2022 tournament and ended their semi-final hopes in a match where South Africa appeared to be sleep walking, and then beat them again at the 2023 ODI World Cup, where they exposed South Africa’s vulnerability in the chase. If they to do the treble, not only will Netherlands take the lead in Group D, but they will offer conclusive evidence of the threat they pose to Full Members, especially South Africa.
Of course, it will take some doing after South Africa’s opening performance against Sri Lanka, where they reduced their opposition to their lowest T20I total and chased it down in fairly straightforward fashion thanks to the most stable middle-order of their white-ball era. In Aiden Markram, Tristan Stubbs, Heinrich Klaasen and David Miller, South Africa have bankers and big-hitters and, for this match, they also have the advantage of experience. They’ve already played at Eisenhower Park, and have first-hand knowledge that run-scoring doesn’t come easily;Klassen said they are prepared to use their “cricket brains” and play “smarter cricket”.
But the conditions could be good news for Netherlands, who are not naturally a line-up of big hitters and build their innings on a foundation of turning ones into twos. In other words, they tend to take a slightly more conservative approach to batting, which may work well here, but they’ll be wary of the uneven bounce of the surface and will have to come up with plans to counterattack especially against South Africa’s seamers. Their own bowlers were exemplary in Dallas and will look to build on that performance against a line-up that will likely be more proactive than Nepal’s, but who they have managed to keep quiet not once, but twice in the past. Third time’s the charm, they say.
Anrich Nortje’s stunning return to form against Sri Lanka means South Africa may not have to tinker with the bowling combination, and Gerald Coetzee and Tabraiz Shamsi may have to wait their turns to get a game. The batting line-up should be unchanged, with no space for Ryan Rickelton yet.
South Africa: Quinton de Kock (wk), Reeza Hendricks, Aiden Markam, Tristan Stubbs, Heinrich Klaasen (wk), David Miller, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Ottneil Baartman, Anrich Nortje
Conditions in New York may tempt Netherlands to include an extra seamer and they have Kyle Klein in their squad. But it could come at the expense of a shortened batting line-up and they may not want to risk that.
Netherlands: Michael Levitt, Max O’Dowd, Vikramjit Singh, Sybrand Engelbrecht, Scott Edwards (capt, wk), Bas de Leede, Teja Nidamanuru, Logan van Beek, Tim Pringle, Paul van Meekeren, Vivian Kingma
[Cricinfo]
Nuwan Thushara’s last over brought Sri Lanka screaming back into the match,as he first bowled Rishad Hossain, and then nailed Taskin Ahmed in front of the stumps with a pinpoint swinging yorker. This left Bangladesh eight wickets down, with 12 runs still to get.
However, the experienced Mahmudullah was at the crease for Bangladesh, and despite some further nervy moments, pushed Bangladesh across the line off the last ball of the 19th over.
But this was a match chiefly decided by Bangladesh’s own outstanding bowling. Mustafizur Rahman was the best among them, using shorter lengths and his cutters efficiently, to claim figures of 3 for 17. Rishad Hossain’s three-for through the middle overs also kept Sri Lanka quiet.
Mustafizur was instrumental in Sri Lanka’s downward spiral through the middle overs, which culminated in a crash-and-burn end. Ultimately, their inability to find boundaries, or even rotate strike against good Bangladesh bowling resulted in their downfall. A score of 125 for 9 always seemed poor on a decent pitch, even if their bowlers made a match of it in the end.
Brief scores:
Bangladesh 125 for 8 in 19 overs (Towhid Hridoy 40, Litton Das 36; Dhanajaya de Silva 1-11, Nuwan Thushara 4-18, Wanidu Hasaranga 2-32, Matheesha Pathirana 1-27) beat Sri Lanka124 for 9 in 20 overs (Pathum Nissanka 47, Dhananjaya de Silva 21; Tanzim Hasan Sakib 1-24, Taskin Ahmed 2-25, Mustafizur Rahman 3-17, Rishad Hossain 3-22) by two wickets
[Cricinfo]
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