Foakes brings back memories of a painful series loss

by Rex Clementine

Who is your favourte England wicketkeeper? Godfrey Evans, Jim Parks, Alan Knott, Bob Taylor, Bruce French, Jack Russell and Alec Stewart have all had their moments and left an indelible mark in the sport. But the gloveman to impress us most in recent years is Ben Foakes. The Surrey keeper has made a comeback into the England side in the ongoing Test series against India.

Foakes debuted against us in that 2018 series. He was in Galle only to make up numbers we thought. But injury to Jonny Bairstow meant that he was a last minute replacement. The Sri Lankan camp was perhaps relieved for Bairstow was a proven player and obviously a rookie like Foakes would struggle on debut that too in Galle where conditions for wicketkeepers in particular are demanding.

But how well Foakes adapted. First there was a hundred on debut and then he showcased his neat glove work. He was Man of the Match as England won in Galle. Subsequently when Bairstow returned, the gloves weren’t taken away from Foakes. He was retained and made quite an impact effecting ten dismissals and scored 277 runs, most by a batter from either side. That won him Player of the Series award. How did his opposite number Niroshan Dickwella fare – eight dismissals and 128 runs! You expected much more from Dickwella, given his experience and that he was playing on home turf. Not to be so.

Not that Foakes’ batting was exceptional like that of Adam Gilchrist’s when the Aussies were here in 2004 or similar to that of Andy Flower’s when Zimbabwe toured Sri Lanka in 2001.

Foakes’ batting was effective as he stitched some valuable partnerships with the tail and was spot on with his recommendations to the captain with reviews. Dickwella on the other hand was awful with his reviews. Often, Sri Lanka found that their reviews were exhausted even before Rangana Herath, their best bowler came into the attack.

Foakes survived several chances as Sri Lanka had run out of reviews and were not in a position to overturn a decision. He made Sri Lanka pay, dearly.

Sadly, the team failed to address their review problems throughout the series. Dickwella was too impulsive with his calls and a vital aspect of the modern game was dismayingly overlooked. The press brought up the issue with the coaching staff, but flimsy excuses were given and the burning issue was buried under the carpet. The result, Sri Lanka suffered a humiliating 3-0 whitewash.

Dickwella’s horror reviews played a pivotal role in Sri Lanka losing all three Tests. The Head Coach was more worried that his bowlers weren’t creating opportunities. He was wrong. The bowlers were creating enough chances but there were umpiring errors. Sri Lanka simply didn’t have the means to get decisions in their favour for their keeper had busted all reviews too early in the innings. It wasn’t smart cricket at all. No body could get the keeper to reign in his instincts.

When Dickwella first came into the side, a bright future was predicted for him. He had good pedigree as Trinity College had won several titles under his captaincy including the Big Match. The sight of him unafraid and prepared to scoop Kagiso Rabada’s 150kmph thunderbolts were further proof that here was a special player. There were sparkling cameos but not match winning ones. The early promises remained unfulfilled although his keeping was largely flawless.

In fairness, the selectors, the team management and captain Dimuth Karunaratne gave him the long rope hoping that he will turn a corner soon as they had invested on him quite heavily. However, the patience ran out when the team toured New Zealand not so long ago and Dickwella was eventually dumped. Today he is not able to represent the country in any format. His was another case of talent not making the most. There are many of them that have gone down the drain.

In Dickwella’s case in particular it is quite puzzling that he could not get his act together. To start with he is a smart young man and represents a club where players have largely remained grounded. The culture at NCC is such that they mentor their players well. Club stalwarts like Ranjit Fernando and Leo Wijesinghe are father figures while former captains like Ranjan Madugalle, Aravinda de Silva, Hashan Tillakaratne and Kumar Sangakkara are ever willing to help young players. Sadly, they missed out on Dickwella.