England arrive for pre World Cup preparation against a Sri Lanka team seeking their worth.Three-match one-day and T20 series will be a tester for both nations. BY TREVINE RODRIGO IN MELBOURNE. (eLanka Sports Editor).
England appear to have stolen a march on the rest of the world by arriving early in Sri Lanka to acclimatise to Asian conditions and test their mettle against the home team before the T20 World Cup.
The clever forward thinking, could be in the Englishman’s preparation favour, as they strategise for their bigger battles against the best in the world from a familiarity perspective, as they chase a dream of a second T20 World Cup triumph.
England begin a three-match one-day and T20 series before the T20 World Cup against the Sri Lankans beginning on January 22, and immaterial of the outcome, it will give them the ideal preparation for the bigger prize on offer.
The World Cup hosted in India and Sri Lanka, will be an exciting opportunity for the Asian teams to press home their hopes for success, despite and in the midst of fractured relationships between, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
Choosing to distance myself from blinkered narratives from fans in the nations involved, India’s show piece event which has most games hosted in India, promises to be challenging as the focus from the rest would undoubtedly be to unsettle the tournament favourites.
Despite home advantage to India and Sri Lanka, there’s no guarantee that they can disregard the might of Australia, South Africa, England and New Zealand who play an exciting brand of T20 cricket that will test the best.
India certainly commands serious respect at home, but they will be under the pump and under the bigger home crowd expectation to win it at all cost, and that expectation can be overbearing to their detriment.
Australia and South Africa loom as my favourites to claim this edition, with India and perhaps Pakistan, the latter, the dark horse always.
Sri Lanka will assess their worth at home against the strong Englishmen but their erratic recent form in all formats, doesn’t suggest anything near challenging their glory days where they won the T20 World Cup in 2014 after a shocking loss in the final against Darren Sammy’s West Indies in Sri Lanka in the previous edition in 2012.
As I dwell between the England Tour and the T20 World Cup that follows, it shapes as an exciting time for cricket as a whole in the subcontinent, with popular belief that India’s control over all things cricket, has growing concern over their perceived financial stranglehold over the game’s credibility.
England, Australia and the founding nations must be wary of the threat it poses to the game they pioneered, but from a fan perspective, is curreently under serious question.
Getting back to the England tour, Sri Lanka’s preparation will be challenged with the coaching structure being microscoped, reorganised and scrutinised before the World Cup as Sanath Jayasuriya steps aside after the World Cup.
In the midst of chaos in their preparation, Sri Lanka has been renowned for producing the unexpected. This was revealed to me by a former Sri Lankan great who reminded me of many such occurrences from the past.
From a Sri Lankan perspective, millions of fans at home and around the globe are rooting for a full tilt of challenge from the home team, given their luxury of hosting some of their games in familiar conditions.
