Sports
The Year of Debutants
by Rex Clementine
When the big three; Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene and T.M. Dilshan retired around the same time six years ago, we expected the transition to take two or maybe three years and young players to fill their big shoes. However, the transition took longer than we expected. Injuries, a fragile First Class tournament, vast gap between domestic and international cricket have seen our cricket being pushed to the doldrums. Sri Lanka’s rankings in international cricket dropped at an alarming rate. The team’s current position of seventh in Tests, ninth in ODIs and eighth in T20s sums up the sorry state of affairs. Regular finalists in ICC events are now forced to play qualifying rounds. However, there was light at the end of the tunnel in 2021. New talents emerged and the future looks bright.
Last year was the year of debutants. Despite some drawbacks, the selectors need to be commended for backing several young players. Many of them came good and are looking set to take on bigger responsibilities.
Among the debutants that Sri Lanka had in 2021, there were five standouts. Who are they, how well they fared in 2021 and what can we expect from them moving forward?
Pathum Nissanka
Young Pathum Nissanka’s story has been celebrated by everyone who cares for Sri Lankan cricket. As a schoolboy, having received a scholarship from Kalutara Vidyalaya to Isipathana College, Colombo he struggled to make ends meet. From the humblest of beginnings, the top order batsman has gone onto become a household name. He rewrote record books this year by becoming the first Sri Lankan to score a hundred on debut overseas.
Pathum looked a player ideally suited for Test match cricket. But on the recommendations of former skipper Mahela Jayawardene who joined the national team set up as a consultant coach ahead of the T-20 World Cup in UAE, the selectors took a gamble by drafting him into the T-20 squad and made him to open the innings. He was a revelation. He was told to do a Marvan Atapattu; bat through the innings while others looked for boundaries.
Not only did he bat through the innings, his primarily responsibility, but by doing so he produced match winning scores as well. His maturity during the recent West Indies series where he made three half-centuries in four innings gives us the assurance that Sri Lanka has found the perfect partner for skipper Dimuth Karunaratne.
Praveen Jayawickrama
While young Pathum was plying his trade at Kalutara Vidyalaya, a few meters away Praveen Jayawickrama was his rival at Holy Cross College. A classical left-arm orthodox spinner, who bowls with superb control, Praveen grabbed his opportunity with both hands when he was called up to Kandy as injury replacement to face Bangladesh in April.
Leading spinner Lasith Embuldeniya was injured and the selectors opted for Prabath Jayasuriya. But he failed the skinfolds test making him ineligible for selection. Backing Praveen, with just a handful of First Class games behind him, was a huge call especially against a side like Bangladesh that played spin well. But he bowled Sri Lanka to victory claiming 11 wickets on debut.
If Praveen works on a few variations he will be quite handful even when conditions do not offer much assistance.
Ramesh Mendis
Dharmasoka College, Ambalangoda produce sporting talents in abundance. A lot of people seem to back Ramesh as an all-rounder because he has scored a triple hundred in First Class cricket. But do not get too excited about players achievements in First Class cricket. As an off-spinner he can go places. Someone who never gives up, young Ramesh in four Tests has already picked up 26 wickets.
Given his insatiable hunger to learn and improve, you have seen Ramesh making steady progress this year and he was Player of the Series as Sri Lanka overcame West Indies 2-0 having claimed 18 wickets.
Bigger challenges await him when the national cricket team tour India in February and it will be a good learning experience. Even the greatest spinners of the sport be it Muttiah Muralitharan or Shane Warne have had their work cut out in India and it remains to be seen how young Mendis will take up the challenge. He has been so far used as the attacking option by his captain Dimuth Karunaratne but in India, he will have to do more of a containing role.
Maheesh Theekshana
St. Benedict’s have waited for several decades to produce a Sri Lankan cricketer and that drought ended when Maheesh Theekshana debuted against Proteas this year in a home bilateral series. During the World T-20 that followed, he was entrusted to bowl during the Power Plays and he did a terrific job.
Theekshana enlisted in the Army after leaving school and has been one of their key performers. Army has invested a lot in their cricket in recent times and they are producing some match winners for the national cricket team.
As of now, Theekshana is one dimensional and he needs to work on a stock ball and the accuracy of his variations. With a bit of mystery in him, he will be quite a handful when Sri Lanka tour Australia in February.
Charith Asalanka
Perhaps the brightest of all these talents has been Charith Asalanka. Richmond College, Galle under his leadership were a formidable outfit and he was the overwhelming choice as Sri Lanka Under-19 captain.
His elevation to the senior side took longer than most expected. An intelligent and shrewd captain, he maybe not the most elegant batsman around but certainly an effective young player.
Everyone was surprised when he finished the T-20 World Cup as the team’s highest run getter. He was not even in the team management’s original plans but was Hobson’s choice. His inclusion in the side gave Sri Lanka much needed impetus and suddenly despite being forced to play the qualifying round, many were talking of Sri Lanka as dark horses.
The most impressive thing about Charith has been that he is bold. Often when a young player comes into the side the fear factor gets the better of him. Charith throws caution to the wind. The way he put away Pat Cummins in the first ball he faced against the Aussies was a treat to watch. Kumar Sangakkara is a careful man and he chooses his words even more carefully. But when he anoints someone as his successor that means we are in for some serious business. Exciting times ahead.
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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