The talent is in outstations

Young spinners Praveen Jayawickrama and Ramesh Mendis shared 17 wickets between them to give Sri Lanka their first Test win in more than a year at Pallekele yesterday. 

Rex Clementine at Pallekele 

Sometimes you wonder whether Arjuna Ranatunga has lost it. Even now, he keeps saying that the talent is in outstation and it is where we should invest. He’s old fashioned, you think. But then, with performances like yesterday’s, the old fox is proved right, again. 

It was two boys from outstations who spun Sri Lanka to their first Test win in 16 months. 

Praveen Jayawickrama, a left-arm spinner is from Kalutara and Ramesh Mendis, an offie is from Ambalangoda. Together they took 17 wickets in the game to give Sri Lanka a 209 run win and with that the series. 

But not much has been invested in outstations. The school that produced Suranga Lakmal and Dhananjaya de Silva, Debarawewa Central nearly stopped cricket. Ambalangoda, one of our leading talent bases doesn’t have a proper cricket ground. Money is not invested there because that’s not where the cricket vote is. 

Sri Lanka needed five wickets to win the game when play resumed yesterday morning. There was a bit of urgency as well with rain expected after lunch.  Praveen was on the money from the start. He set up Liton Das nicely, sending down a delivery that spun away and then slipped in the arm ball that went straight on. The Batsman was playing for turn when there was none and he was a dead duck. He reviewed more in hope than any conviction. 

Spinners to succeed obviously need skill. More importantly, they need to be shrewd as well. That Praveen has although he’s not quite across the Bentara river. There is an old Sinhala saying not to bring even a kitten beyond Bentara River. 

But the guy who is actually across the Bentara river is Ramesh, a product of Dharmasoka. He tied one end up and was quite happy to play second fiddle; not a trait that we often see in southerners. All ten wickets to fall went to spinners. While the two rookies claimed nine victims, Dhananjaya de Silva chipped in with the wicket of Taijul Islam.  Praveen finished with 11 for 178, the tenth best figures by a debutant in Test cricket. It’s also the second time in this millennium a bowler has finished with a match bag of ten wickets or more with Australia’s Jason Krejza being the other. 

Praveen was named Man of the Match. It’s hard to think of another Sri Lankan bowler who has impressed so much on debut. There’s a problem though. You won’t see young Praveen in action at least until November again. Why? Sri Lanka do not have any Teat matches until then. By the way, this was supposed to be a three match series. But SLC cut down a Test match because this wasn’t a ‘profitable’ series. Hell with Praveen, Ramesh and Test cricket. Let’s play the LPL, that’s where the money is. Who wants this boring Test cricket? That’s not what we are saying. That’s what the Silvas are thinking; Shammi and Ashley.