Sports
Time to turn over a new leaf
by Rex Clementine
Cricket is in a crisis. For the first time in the history Sri Lanka suffered losses in a World Cup to teams like Afghanistan and Bangladesh. While those two teams finished ahead of Sri Lanka and qualified for the Champions Trophy, the 1996 champions finished a disappointing ninth and were knocked out of the Champions Trophy. Sri Lanka Cricket has borne the brunt of the criticism but the persons who were responsible for the team and players have been exempted from scrutiny.
There are arguments that these are the best set of players we have. That may be true, but we could have been smarter with how we used some of our players. If we are short of skill, then sidelining so many seniors was a no brainer.
It was sheer arrogance to leave Angelo Mathews from the World Cup campaign but eventually the selectors had to bite the bullet and draft him in as an injury replacement. Thisara Perera suffered a similar fate but unlike Mathews he had thrown in the towel soon after being left out. He did a Roshan Mahanama by retiring hurt.
How badly Sri Lanka struggled not having a finisher in their ranks during the World Cup and Thisara would have been ideal given his experience and the ability to clear the ropes. Not that Thisara was completely flawless. He did have issues but that’s why you need mature selectors to deal with professional sportsmen.
The selectors burnt more bridges than building them during their three year tenure. It was a period of disaster for the national cricket team. Now the nation is in mourning, but nobody has resigned.
The selectors need to be held accountable no doubt but so does the mastermind who has been calling the shots from behind the scenes.
Another popular slogan for the team’s poor World Cup campaign is that we play on bad wickets at home. That is of course true. But you did not complain when you beat Australia in an ODI series. You were covering yourself in glory saying you had just beaten Australia but conveniently forgot that it was achieved on doctored wickets.
You knew pretty well that the World Cup was going to be played on belters and not rank turners. You only have got yourselves to blame. You hoodwinked the public and took them for a ride while giving the players a false sense of security.
You’ve also packed all key positions of the side with your club mates and several requests to draft in capable men like some former captains fell on deaf ears. But now that you are on borrowed time, you don’t mind having some of those former captains in key decision-making positions. What a pity.
Some consultants have created so much havoc and inflicted much damage. We can not afford another year of mediocracy, poor planning and continue this blame game. You come in with so many conditions that you will not do this and that and you want your own people. When all that has backfired, it’s time to shut up and pack your bags.
There’s no point in crying over the spilt milk. Every individual barring Head Coach Chris Silverwood who oversaw Sri Lanka’s World Cup campaign should be discontinued and there should be no renewal of contracts. Why Silverwood is spared one may wonder. That’s because the only area Sri Lanka have shown some improvement in the last two years is fast bowling and that’s credit to Silverwood.
The culture of the Sri Lankan team definitely has to change. The term optional training has its benefits, but it will not work with a bunch of fat, unfit, lethargic and lazy players. The number of catches that Sri Lanka spilled during the World Cup is a case in point. Fielding is one discipline which does not require enormous amount of skill and can be mastered with sheer hard work. You don’t see that happening with the current team.
Even the young players who come into the system showing so much hunger and desperate to become the best they can be are caught up with the lazy system we have, and you fear the worst for young players like Sadeera Samarawickrama, Charith Asalanka and Dunith Wellalage.
We have already seen precious talents like Niroshan Dickwella going waste and not able to stage a comeback. How many more talents we will let go astray before we realize that it’s time to fix the mess.
Injury management has been another area that we have been awful at. The team was plagued by injuries in Australia last year with half a dozen players returning home. Assurances were given that the issue will be addressed but precious little was done, and injuries again affected Sri Lanka’s campaign in India.
Lack of power hitters is an acute problem facing the team. Every team has an excellent finisher in white ball cricket. There’s Glenn Maxwell for Australia, Suryakumar Yadav is doing the job for India, David Miller has turned out to be Killer Miller for South Africa while Glenn Phillips has settled in at New Zealand having moved from South Africa seeking greener pastures. We Sri Lankans are trying out Test specialists at the finishers’ role. There is a lot that needs to be done to put cricket right. Let’s start it by fixing the think tank.
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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