Sri Lanka vs Australia: ODI series expose hosts’ lack of batting depth
The roller-coaster of performance continues for Sri Lanka. The Test series against Australia had come as breather to the fans of the team but their performance in the ODI series that followed left people confused. While Australia could not at all make any positive move against the hosts in the Tests, the ODIs were completely contrasting. While it was all about Sri Lanka’s bowling in the Test series, their batting did not allow the bowlers enough runs to protect in the ODIs, completely reverting the equations. The ODI series stood out as a hopeless report card for the batsmen. Full Cricket Scorecard: Sri Lanka vs Australia, 5th ODI at Pallekele
A team performance is a total of balanced outcome in all the departments. Looking at the case of Sri Lanka, the tour that claimed to announce their comeback as one of the strongest contenders in world cricket, have now revealed the amount of technical cricket in the team.
Sri Lanka’s batting graph looks like a city with very few multistoried buildings. No score is safe in the limited-overs formats anymore. In their last 11 appearances in ODIs, Sri Lanka has scored over 250 only thrice, twice against Ireland. If the amount of cricket played by the nations be considered, it becomes very evident that Ireland are on paper not among the toughest opponents for Sri Lanka to face.
It will not be very wrong to say that one of the promoters behind Australia’s 0-3 defeat in Tests against Sri Lanka is their own lack of skills to tackle spin. Sri Lanka is one of the places where spinners get an added advantage as the pitches produce extra turn. The most prominent differences between Sri Lanka’s squad for ODIs and Tests has been that of Rangana Herath, one of the most finest spinners at this point. His absence is something that the Lankans felt during the ODIs.
Arjuna Ranatunga underlined Sri Lanka’s case with spin. He told AFP: “I am not putting down their achievement [beating Australia], but they need to go out [of the subcontinent] and prove themselves. At the moment we are depending entirely on spinners.”
“Even if you fail once or twice, you need to be able to pick yourself up and remain focused,” Ranatunga said in reference to the England tour in which they failed to win a single match. “I have a lot of faith in Mathews. I think he will end up being the best captain Sri Lanka ever produced. He has huge potential. He is able to keep the players together as a team.”
A clinical performance typically involves performances from every single team member. Sri Lanka’s victory in Tests was almost entirely dependent on the spinners. With a few exclusions like Kusal Mendis, Dinesh Chandimal and, of course, skipper Angelo Mathews, the batsmen have been founding wanting. Mathews and Chandimal have been the only consistently dependable batsmen for some time now. While Mendis has been getting runs lately, the rest of the batting is yet to be called ready to face any bowler. Sri Lanka’s search for openers is still on, for the ones that Sri Lanka have opted for the past few years have let them down with their lacklustre performances.
There is a difference between the top-order and middle-order batting. A team’s top-order has to be consistent no matter what. The top-order kick starts team’s batting and when there is a good partnership building early in the innings, it provides extra pressure on the bowlers, provide confidence to the middle-order batsmen who are there to hit freely and score run in bulk.
On a contrary, Sri Lanka have had a strong middle-order and an unstable opening position for quite a long time and this is has affected their performance. In the ODI series, Sri Lanka lost wickets early almost every time, which put the pressure of protecting the wickets upon the middle-order batsmen; as a result the run rate suffered, and the totals became easily achievable.
The transition has not been easy. Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene and Tillakaratne Dilshan have been stalwarts, but they bowed out of the sport within a short span of time, leaving gaping holes in the batting lineup. The lookout for a stable opening partnerships is still on. The recent finds of Sri Lanka in the season are mostly bowlers, spinners for that matter, and all-rounders. Dasun Shanaka and Lakshan Sandakan appeared on the scenario but the team did not persist with them. However, one of the most apt finds is Dhananjaya de Silva who has been able to be equally efficient with both bat and ball.
The trend of selecting players from series to series has cannot be a long-term solution. Sri Lanka need to find consistent players capable of delivering goods over an extended period of time, maybe a decade. If they want to continue with the success they have tasted in the Tests, they will have to adjust according to the formats of the game and find out their best options who can form a core team.
Looking at the history that Sri Lanka has had, it is really important for them to bounce back flawlessly. Even if that takes time, the team must provide themselves with that. With Mathews and Chandimal by the side, the newbies will surely find support and will have experience talking to improve the raw talents mature properly.
(Paulami Chakraborty, singer, dancer, artist, and photographer, loves the madness of cricket and writes about the game. She can be followed on Twitter at @Polotwitts)