Sloppy cricket restricts Sri Lanka to 279 against Bangladesh

Rex Clementine in Delhi

Throughout this World Cup, Sri Lanka had played sloppy cricket and they continued to do so in the clash against Bangladesh here in Delhi as former captain Angelo Mathews became the first player in the history of the game to be timed out.

Mathews had walked into bat at the fall of Sadeera Samarawickrama’s wicket and had taken guard and was prepared to face his first ball when he tightened the strap of his helmet which gave away. He called for a new helmet but as 12th man Chamika Karunaratne ran in, Bangladesh appealed for timed out. Umpire Marias Erasmus upheld the appeal.

The playing conditions suggest that a batter should be ready to face his first ball inside two minutes of the fall of the previous wicket. The regulation was three minutes between the dismissed batter and new batter, but it was cut down to two minutes when Playing Conditions changed last September.

Mathews was fuming but he had nobody else to blame but himself.

A 78-run stand followed for the sixth wicket between Dhananjaya de Silva and Charith Asalanka before de Silva was stumped.

Wicketkeeper Mushfiqur Rahim had failed to collect the ball cleanly and had dislodged the stumps without having the ball in his hand. Although de Silva had time to get back, he was too casual and day dreaming and Mushfiqur effected the dismissal in the second attempt.

While the Sri Lankans were continuing the comedy of errors, Charith Asalanka posted a brilliant hundred stitching some valuable partnerships with the tail. It was his second hundred and involved plenty of entertainment with the left-hander taking a few risks.

Asalanka’s effort enabled Sri Lanka to post a competitive total although they looked not able to reach 250 at one stage.

There were too many soft dismissals in the Sri Lankan innings with set batters throwing away their wickets.

Captain Kusal Mendis was so poor. His opposite number Shakib-al-Hasan was operating with both long-on and long-off in place and Mendis attempted to take on the fielders but failed to clear the boundary.

Bangladesh’s fielding was excellent and it certainly helped to keep Sri Lanka’s total below 300.

Although both teams are knocked out of the semi-finals of the tournament, this game is vital for both sides as a place in the Champions Trophy is at stake.