Dickwella told to get his act together

by Rex Clementine

Since Niroshan Dickwella came into the Sri Lankan side as injury replacement for Kusal Perea, there has been criticism from various corners. Despite being a regular in the Sri Lankan set up during the last decade, Dickwella failed to cement his place. He featured in 54 Test matches but failed to score a hundred and his discipline has been a talking point over the years. Chairman of Selectors Upul Tharanga while explaining the reasons that led to picking Dickwella for Bangladesh T-20s, said that a clear message had been sent to the wicketkeeper batsman that indiscipline will not be tolerated.

“Pathum is injured and KJP is injured. We needed someone for the top order. Shevon Daniel and Lasith Croospulle we took into consideration. They are both young players. They have good futures ahead of them. But their stats in domestic cricket aren’t great. Shevon I am sure will play for Sri Lanka for the next ten to 15 years. When he is struggling I don’t think it’s prudent to put him in the deep end. We chatted to captain and coach and they felt that bit of experience would be better to have and that’s how Dickwella made it to the side,” Tharanga explained.

“Discipline is very important. I spoke to Dickwella. The team is doing well. There has been no issues as per discipline. I explained to him why discipline is important and it has to be a priority.”

Tharanga also explained that Bhanuka Rajapaksa had gone out of the reckoning as he had not played domestic cricket.

“Bhanuka was in the reckoning for T-20s. He is an ideal replacement for someone like Kusal Perera. Bhanuka was part of one of the teams in the NSL. He had informed the manager that he wanted some rest due to a niggle. So, he withdrew from the domestic tournament and we had to rule him out. He had consulted a personal physiotherapist.”

Tharanga said that he had chatted to Kamindu Mendis asking him to bowl more in the nets so that one of the top five batters in the line-up gives a bowling option for the captain.

“If Kamindu can give us that option it is a plus point. We chatted to him before the team went to Bangladesh. In our T-20 side, among the top five, only Kamindu can bowl. Going into the World Cup, that’s crucial. If he can give us two overs of off-spin, that will be a huge thing.”

Tharanga also highlighted Charith Asalanka as a captain in waiting across all formats. The former Under-19 captain will stand in for the suspended Wanindu Hasaranga in the first two games.

“Charith has been earmarked as a future captain. The way he bats and the manner with which he builds an innings you can see that he is using his head a lot. He will show us his leadership qualities in this series.”