Rumesh faults bowlers, says nothing wrong with batting strategy

Rex Clementine at Pallekele

Sri Lanka’s interim coach and one of cricket’s most amiable guys Rumesh Ratnayake admitted that there were a few grey areas in the team’s bowling in the first two ODIs. Zimbabwe nearly scored 300 runs in the first game and although the hosts chased down the target, when the tourists crossed the 300 barrier on Tuesday, Sri Lanka faulted. The series is squared at 1-1 and today’s third and final ODI will decide the outcome of the series.

“We can’t afford to give away 300 runs. The maximum we can give away is 260. In the last two days we have been trying to fix that. Hopefully we will fix it in the next game,” Ratnayake told journalists.

The team’s strategy of playing three all-rounders and relying on just four specialist batsmen has been criticized heavily, but Ratnayake endorsed the strategy. “Composition of the side is the best we can have at the moment. We don’t have eight of our best players for this series. We filled in with guys like Kamindu (Mendis) and all. He’s not regular batting at three. I am sure when recognized players come it would be much better. I feel Kamindu has done his best. After the struggle losing four wickets it was a super fight back. Whoever who comes in we can’t say they are new. We need to have a seamless transition,” added Ratnayake.

Captain Dasun Shanaka has a lot of admirers for bringing the team together and getting the most out of his players. Tactically, however, he’s no Ian Chappell or M.S. Dhoni. In the second game, several of his frontline bowlers were underutilized. “Chamika (Karunaratne) had four overs to bowl and we have addressed that issue. Jeffrey (Vandersay) had one over left and Dushmantha (Chameera) had one over left. I hope it won’t happen again. We have now spoken of giving the main bowlers a go.”

As expected, Sean Williams and Craig Ervine have been Sri Lanka’s biggest challenge in the series. While Williams made a century in the first game, Ervine produced a match winning 91 in the second game. Ratnayake added that Sri Lanka needed to target the two key batsmen. “They have two left-handed batsmen and they are the mainstay of their batting. We will try to address the issue tomorrow.”

Does that mean that off-spinner Ramesh Mendis will get a game, “Good idea isn’t it,” Ratnayake said playing his cards close to his chest, like always.