England nonchalantly cruise past Sri Lanka to take series.
Dead rubber crucial to Sri Lanka’s future aspirations. – BY TREVINE RODRIGO IN MELBOURNE.
(eLanka Sports Editor)
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Sri Lanka surrendered meekly and their performances against England will be viewed as less than acceptable for the lack of competitive spirit.
The three Test series has been decided in England’s favour in a fizzer as the home team advances towards a 3-0 sweep much in line with the anticipated outcome, unless Sri Lanka can produce an unlikely turnaround in the dead rubber.
Yes, beating England at home is a big ask, but not unachievable. But the Lankans who boast a better record in Tests compared to the white ball game were a yawning gap away from the best.
Dhananjaya de Silva’s men had a well balanced team. But his decision making in England raised eyebrows for how to read the conditions over there.
Perhaps in hindsight, Sri Lanka’s administrators got it wrong too by firstly letting former coach Chris Silverwood go before this tour. And secondly not roping him in a consulting role for this tour for intricate reasons.
Understanding conditions in England and how to use them to advantage is half the battle. Finding consistency from their ageing line-up and posting winning totals the other. They failed on both fronts.
On the positive side, the emergence of Kamindu Mendis as a star of the future augurs well as are a few others.
Apart from Dimuth Karunaratne and Dinesh Chandimal from the veterans, there has to be a reassessment as to the composition of the team and what is the expectation going forward.
Obviously building a new line-up that will shoulder the future of Sri Lanka cricket will be the focus. To do that, exposing the emerging talent and getting experience under their belt in different conditions worldwide is key.
Sri Lanka has for too long depended on picking inconsistent players who show no signs of turning the corner, depriving young emerging talent from valuable experience.
Looking at what is available is the emergence of Dinuth Wellalage who is world class in all formats, Kamindu Mendis, Sadeera Samarawickrema, Milan Rathnayake and a few others who are heading on the right direction. They will carry the hopes of a nation struggling to find a forward gear.
Winning the Asia Cup has injected new belief in the limited overs game, but the emphasis for improvement has to be the bigger picture or result in a one dimensional focus.
Sri Lanka have unravelled a rich depth in bowling with several young players stepping up to be world class. But having to contain some of the best batters in the world when their own batters post mediocre totals has been their bugbear.
They performed reasonably on this tour but were hampered by disappointing totals posted by the batters in both Tests.
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The England misadventure should serve Sanath Jayasuriya and his coaching staff as a reminder about what their focus should be in the conditions where they tour. Any suggestion they did, would contradict their decision making.
England put the Lankans on the backfoot in the first Test as Dhananjaya de Silva made an error of judgement after winning the toss and electing to bat first. They were bowled out for a paltry 196 as the England seamers wrought havoc on a batting line-up that had little answer to seaming conditions. Only Kamindu Mendis showed defiance while the rest were nearly clueless.
England, led by potential Player-of-the-series Joe Root who scored two centuries in the first game and 42 and 64 in his four innings in the series so far. Gus Atkinson who also had a great series scored 118 in the first game then grabbed 5 or 62 in the second Test to enjoy similar success. Atkinson was named Player-of-the-match in the second Test.
England skipper Ollie Pope must be chaffed at his first success at the helm.
Apart from Kamindu Mendis, and to a lesser effect Dimuth Karunaratne, skipper Dhananjaya de Silva, Dinesh Chandimal, and newcomer Molan Rathnayake and paceman Asitha Fernando who took 14 wickets in the two games including 8 wickets in the second Test were outstanding.
A win in the third Test would suggest a quick learning from the previous two defeats. It will be interesting to see if the Asian Lions have any bite in them.
