Sports
Future is scary and we need to act now
by Rex Clementine
fans had barely recovered from the shock of the national cricket team’s disastrous campaign in the World Cup in India where they had finished ninth, failed to qualify for Champions Trophy and had suffered embarrassing defeats including to Afghanistan and Bangladesh. This week, the Under-19 team did not cover themselves in glory having gone down to UAE and Bangladesh in the Asia Cup.
It’s a pity that Bangladesh had been hiring Sri Lankan coaches for two decades to build their cricket and are producing results, but we are depending on coaches from overseas and are hitting new lows. That Bangladesh has been beating Sri Lanka in age group competitions for quite sometime now is nothing new, but the UAE loss came out of the blues.
It remains to be seen what excuses the pandits running cricket will come up with now for the humiliation in the Under-19 Asia Cup. Their excuses for the World Cup debacle were laughable indeed. When the senior team crashed, they claimed that the fitness levels of the players were below par but conveniently forgot that the system they had put in place had been implemented for well over two years.
As for the governing body, they brushed aside the World Cup flop claiming that cricket did not need urgent remedial measures pointing out at last year’s Asia Cup success. They are of course basking in past glories.
Unless authorities realize that they have issues to address and fix the problem, we are not going to come out of the lean patch.
There are issues that need to be addressed from school cricket where younger teams aren’t encouraged to win. The points system in place is bizarre. The structure in place does not encourage all-round cricketers and that is certainly not keeping pace with the moving trends of world cricket.
Obviously, now that the Under-19 team has crashed, questions will be asked whether players were picked on merit and whether there was any favouritism? You can brush aside these concerns saying that the loss to UAE was one off and the team will be well equipped to face the challenges during the Under-19 World Cup where they are pooled alongside Namibia, Zimbabwe and Australia in Group ‘C’.
The Under-19 team is not alone in failing to set decent totals. The senior team has faced the same problem and collapses are becoming very much part of Sri Lankan cricket culture. That trend needs to change and the only way it can change is by identifying players who will fight it out when the going gets tough.
Too many flashy players throwing their bats around taking risks too early in their innings has cost all Sri Lankan teams in recent years. Batting Coaches have failed to address the issues and find remedies.
The senior side finished as the worst fielding unit spilling as many as 16 catches during the World Cup. It is agreed that there are too many players who have not met fitness standards and their excesses have been excused. The same features haunt the junior team as well and we need to find a way out.
One man handpicked the coaching staff for both the senior and junior teams and the roles of those coaches need to be examined together with the role of the man who recommended them.
Much hype has been made with former captain Sanath Jayasuriya being appointed as the Consultant Coach of the High-Performance Center. While Jayasuriya will be able to identify grey areas and change the culture of players who come under the HPC, the urgent need is to introduce the changes to the senior side for that outfit has failed totally.
You would have expected a bigger role for Sanath. Something like Team Director where he would be able to address key issues and give priority to neglected disciplines like fielding, strategy and playing smart cricket. Your skill levels need not be extraordinary for you to be a good fielding unit. All what needs is the right attitude. Playing smart cricket is not rocket science but Sri Lanka in recent years have come up with some dumb strategies.
There is a new selection panel in place as well and while they are expected to address some key areas their predecessors failed to look into; their selection policy will be interesting to see.
Like in every walk of professional life, in cricket too we will be better off if selected individuals only perform the roles they are entrusted with. One reason why Sri Lanka failed pathetically during the World Cup was because the Consultant Coach was getting involved in selections as well and it proved to be a disaster.
The warning signs were there for the West Indies for many years, but they failed to address burning issues pertaining to their cricket and they have not only faded away but are not competing in global tournaments anymore. Sri Lanka are going on the same path and unless they address the issue urgently they will have to face the music.
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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