Who said Test cricket is dying and who said that Test cricket is boring? Well, the first Test in Galle provided all that entertainment even Houdini may not have been able to provide. But, it also left us with more questions at hand than answers.
To drag on the poses that propped up at the Galle Stadium now the scene changes to episode II which begins at the P. Saravanamuttu stadium a few hours hence.
The Lankan team had a long session in the middle last morning and had their top willow wielders grinding it out in a bid to break the shackles of the first test. For the Lankan all top order batsmen barring young Tharanga Paranavithana who had two plucky innings will have to bat resolutely and let their bats do the talking and squash all the criticism that have been directed towards them.
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| For Sri Lanka bowlers did their job and the batsmen failed to deliver.
Pic by Sanka Vidanagama |
Former Sri Lanka Test opener Brendon Kuruppu who is also the current team manager sharing his views with the Sunday Times said “We had a long session in the middle and we are confident that our batsmen can come right on this occasion. Just delve back into the past few Test matches that Sri Lanka played – on most of the occasions they have scored more than 450 runs and the drop in the last game was one of those things”.
When asked if it was a direct result of too big a dose of T20 cricket, the Lankan cricket manager did not rule out that fact completely, but added “Yes, some did not play any longer duration games since 3rd March (where the team was ambushed in Lahore) but, players like Warnapura, Paranavithana and Samaraweera played some longer duration matches while the others were away playing T20 cricket. But, here the P. Saravanamuttu Stadium wicket will be more batting friendly than the one at Galle”.
The other good news for the Lankan team is that they have shaped themselves into a winning combination without the help of the old guard in their bowling attack. The most encouraging point is that that the Lankan fast medium bowlers – Nuwan Kulasekera and Thilina Thushara got early breakthrough’s in both innings of the match. Besides that left arm spinner Rangana Herath has begun to believe in himself and the way he operated in the latter stages of the game was commendable.
Not unnoticing though, young Angelo Mathews is evidently easing himself into a permanent slot through sheer courage and self belief.
Behind the sticks we may see Sri Lanka’s best cover fielder Tillekeratne Dilshan once again with Kaushal Silva missing out the chance one more time.
Younis Khan’s men at the other end faced a lot of flak from their peers back home for leaving out the experienced Abdul Razzak and Fawad Alam. If either has to be fitted in the visitors may have to drop one of the openers and begin the inning with experienced Shoaib Malik. |
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