Sports
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| Muralitharan
blames dearth of talent at feeder points The right arm and off spinner who is by far the most successful bowler in Sri Lanka’s cricket history has taken 1025 international wickets so far in both forms of the game with 611 Test wickets and 414 ODI wickets respectively. In continuance the spin ace was not at happy with the present status of the game in the country. Murali blamed the decline of the game at international level to the poor standards in cricket in the feeder points. He said “At under 19 level we are losing to even Bangladesh. I just cannot understand as to why our standard of school cricket has deteriorated to such levels. At this level the standard is very poor. In addition, the standard in club cricket too has come down drastically and here too the necessary talent is not coming on to the national feeder points as it should be. At the same time see what has happened to our club cricket? When there were only about ten or twelve teams in the tournament it was lean and mean, but today there are about twenty clubs in the fray and the standard is diluted. As a result, no players of quality is coming in to the national grid and there is tremendous pressure building upon the present national batting line-up. With Sanath retiring from Test cricket and with Atapattu injured, our three senior batsmen – Mahela, Sangakkara and Samaraweera are under severe pressure to score every time they walk on to the crease”. Then commenting on the forthcoming tour of England Muralitharan said “It is going to be a very difficult tour. First we are going there in the month of May and it is the beginning of the English season and it is going to be pretty cold at this time of the year. At the same time with the retirement of Sanath and if Marvan does not recover from his injury we are going to be very…. very short of experience at the top of our batting order. This means there will be two inexperienced batsmen opening the innings and they are not accustomed to the English conditions too. If this scenario comes into play once again our middle order is going to be under severe pressure. We may be able to do something where the bowling is concerned as our bowling department is experienced, but my concern is about our batting. “However I also must add that the entire squad is looking forward to this experience and are very keen to do well. At the same time we also can take this as good learning curve and as a team full of youngsters we have a lot to gain through this experience.” When asked about the up and coming spinners in the country and who does he see as our main weapons in this department for the future, Muttiah Muralitharan said: “In Test cricket I see talents of Malinga Bandara, Rangana Herath and Sajeewa Weerakoon are three bowlers who can take us forward in the future. I have played with them and I have seen that have the necessary skills to perform at that level. At the same time in the limited version of the game I find Kaushal Lokuarachchi as a very talented player. However to do well at this level of the game one needs the right exposure and this means that they should be given enough playing opportunities,” said the Lankan spinning genius in conclusion. Meanwhile
Sri Lanka Cricket Announced that former Australian off spinner Ashley
Mallett will help Sri Lanka as consultant spin coach from next week. June – 2006 (2nd to 6th) 3rd Test Vs England at Trent Bridge. (9th) 1-Day match Vs Essex at Chelmsford. (11th) 1-Day match Vs Somerset at Taunton. 13th Twenty 20-20 match Vs PCA Masters Arundel (tbc). 15th Twenty 20-20 International Vs England at Rose Bowl. (17th)1st ODI Vs England at Lord’s. (20th) 2nd ODI Vs England at Brit Oval. (24th) 3rd ODI Vs England at Chester-le Street. (28th) 4th ODI Vs England at Old Trafford. July (1st) 5th ODI Vs England at Headingley. 2nd
July Sun Depart UK Arrive in Holland: 4th Tue 1st ODI. 6th Thu 2nd
ODI. 7th Fri Depart Holland. |
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