Sports

It wasn’t the ideal start!

The first test match against the West Indies is now history. At the beginning of the series I wondered whether the final outcome of the game would have been contemplated by the most ardent of West Indian supporters. The reason being very simple, it was one of the weakest sides to leave the Caribbean shores and they were up against the Lankans, one of the top teams in the world.

Take Gayle, Chanderpaul and the Captain Sammy out of the equation and we would have a team of players as green in experience as is possibly imaginable. I felt a draw for them against the strong Lankan line up at the latter’s own back yard is akin to a win, whilst a draw which saw Sri Lanka following on, more or less amounts to humiliation for the local lads. I am sure there will be plenty of arguments about the rain and time lost and the possibility of a fight back and having the West Indies under pressure on the last day. Let’s not forget this is only in theory. It has to be done in reality and unless you grab your chances upfront you will have no control of what transpires as the game unfolds. This was the case in point for the Sri Lanka team at Galle.

The Sri Lankan team on display was the ideal unit for the ‘win the toss bat first’ situation. But did we consider a ‘loss at the toss and field first’ scenario? Were we too complacent against a modest looking Caribbean line up? These are questions that will receive due consideration before the next test. For starters how the Lankan selectors left out Rangana Herath, the left arm spinner, considering his past record at Galle is a mystery. Here was a spinner who bowled Sri Lanka to victory in 2009 against Pakistan in the first test when all appeared to have been lost and he would have surely brought more variety to the attack.

I am not suggesting in any way that Mendis and Randiv should have been left out either. Mendis in particular answered his critics in style on day two when he came into his own with a wide array of deliveries with the one which scalped the captain being the best. The hat-trick was averted only because the delivery did too much and not because of any skill on the part of Russell. And most importantly the confidence seems to be back for Mendis. This was evident in the manner he ran in and conducted himself with the ball, which is wonderful news for a team looking for a wicket taking option.

Suraj Randiv celebrates after dismissing Shivnarine Chanderpaul (unseen) during the second day of the first Test match between Sri Lanka and West Indies at The Galle International Cricket Stadium in Galle on November 16, 2010. -AFP

As for Randiv I thought he bowled with good control and aggression but was never allowed to settle down by the experienced Gayle. It took me back to the times of the battle between the West Indies and England in the decade of the eighties, where Embury the off spinner being England’s best spinner and the threat as far as the West Indies were concerned then, gets attacked from ball one, with the intention of nullifying his effect. Whilst Randiv is yet to come in to the league of Embury I am sure the West Indian batsmen were bound to consider him and of course Mendis as the threats and didn’t want them in any way to have any control of issues and hence the attacking nature whenever there was an inch available against them.

Thus my thinking is that Sri Lanka should have played three spinners on the Galle strip due to its spin friendly nature. Mathews could have bowled a few overs as we did see when he came on very late in the West Indian 1st innings, and in any event all three spinners could handle a newish ball.

The thinking gets prompted by two factors and they are, we will never play to the strength of the West Indies and have grass on the pitch and the second and the unfortunate factor was the manner the two seamers bowled. I would have never suggested such an action if Lasith Malinga was an option. But both fast bowlers appeared to lack rhythm on day one and when Prasad appeared to be hitting the deck hard with good aggression on day two, the fact that the catch off Gayle happened to be off a noball was just rubbing salt in to the Lankan’s wound. In the case of Thushara firstly he appeared to be way short of match practice and was not his old self.

Thushara was a bowler who could work up speeds in the region of 135kmp or more but in this game he was way short of that. Also there was no movement for him either! One would remember that Chaminda Vaas in the past too didn’t bowl with great pace but made up for it with seam movement which got him the high percentage of wickets he has. True it will take a long time for Thushara to get closer to Vass, but if there was at least a semblance of seam and swing his lack of pace was sure to be compensated which was sadly not the case in Galle. If the idea was to give the off spinners the rough outside the right handers off stump which would be Thushara’s natural angel, he didn’t justify many overs which caused the ploy to be a non starter.

I am sure this is no danger signal for the Lankans. I would rather say a wakeup call that no team in the world despite one being ranked at number seven could be taken lightly! Sri Lanka should and will win the series against the West Indies! If that’s doesn’t happen it is bound be a surprise. However the issue is, this is a series we could win comprehensively! Sri Lanka are strong and capable enough to have won it three matches to nil and finish things off comfortably without having a fight to save themselves which was the case at Galle. The manner Shillingford troubled the Lankan batsman along with the pressure created by Roach was an obvious factor visible to all.

Galle has always been a happy hunting ground for Sri Lanka and almost all captains from the past have opted to Galle to start proceedings to gain the upper hand and to nail down the opposition. Not having a win at Galle would naturally create some pressure on the Lankans in view of the R. Premadasa and the new stadium in Pallekelle being unknown. I mean unknown due to the fact that Sri Lanka not playing enough cricket at those venues. Pallekelle is a brand new stadium and the R. Premadasa is a newly laid turf. Whilst it is straight forward that there will be no pace and bounce in those tracks to have Roach and company looking forward to the contest, I am sure knowing and playing on a pitch is a factor, as a player feels comfortable going in to a game if the past record at a ground is good. That is the luxury that the Sri Lankans will not have at these venues.

But the positive news is that the Lankans have the ability to cope with any conditions and they need to do so quickly when the game starts on Tuesday in Colombo. As it was only a show of Gayle and nothing else was seen. The Lankans should be determined not to let Gayle repeat himself. This will give them a chance to work on the rest of the batting.

Roshan Abeysinghe is a leading cricket promoter and an international cricket commentator

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