The past year produced a mixed bag of results for Sri Lanka’s Test cricket, with some players firing while other floundered. But does our recent strong showing against Pakistan signal that things are set to change in this New Year?           Pix by Indika Handuwala

The Sundaytimes Sri Lanka

New players have more responsibility which is good for Test cricket

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The past year produced a mixed bag of results for Sri Lanka’s Test cricket, with some players firing while other floundered. But does our recent strong showing against Pakistan signal that things are set to change in this New Year?           Pix by Indika Handuwala

We are really getting better. The main thing is that our batting has improved, and we are scoring runs at the top and in the middle of the batting order. Even our bowling is now more consistent and it is seeing an all-round effort. -Basheer Ahmed (Entrepreneur)

Right now our team has a very good foundation and the match against Pakistan showed that they are playing well. It is a sign that we are getting stronger in this format of the game. - Imran Khan (Club cricketer)

We have a good, strong team. The current team is starting to play strong together and with new, young blood in place, the Sri Lankan side has a good future ahead of it. - Isuru Mendis (Club cricketer)

The best thing about our recent Test performance was that young players contributed significantly toward the win. Batsmen like (Dinesh) Chandimal, Angelo (Mathews) and Kaushal (Silva) have matured and know that it is their time. They are turning the quick thirties into longer and more sensible innings and because of this our overall batting performance has been of a high quality. - Pasindu de Silva (Private sector employee)

A strong side has been selected with good variety throughout the lineup, especially in the batting. We are gradually scoring more runs and at a more consistent rate because of this better batting, something we couldn’t do in previous Tests. - Ranjith Yapa de Alwis (Cricket club member and supporter)

The last Test against Pakistan showed that the team is playing with determination and skill and each player is fulfilling his role well. Our young players are maturing and shouldering more of the burden. What we should do now is have more Test series and continue this progress rather than playing T20s and sending players off for other club T20 tournaments. - Ruwan Sadarmasiri (Private sector employee)

Personally I never thought that the Sri Lankan team was a bad Test side. The team was just recovering from the loss of the game’s greatest bowler, a gentleman named Muttiah Muralitharan, who was a match winner, so it took time. We were a Test team in transition. Now we can see that the talented players who stepped into the team at the age of 23 and 24 are holding their own and are playing with maturity. - Sajith Fernando (Club cricket coach)

This year our Test team is looking strong in my view. We have given new players in the team a lot more responsibility and this has paid off. Bringing in Kaushal was an especially smart move and he looks like he will put in a lot more useful Test contributions. - Suranga Paranavitana (Club cricketer)

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