When we were budding cricketers at the nets in school my coach once padded up and asked me to bowl. He would then swing his bat in several odd directions, often getting bowled or caught, or easily stumped.
We thought he had gone crazy and had lost his mind. He became a joke, or better a joker. At the end of the over he gathered our team around him and suddenly become serious and stern. And then explained that this was exactly how he did not want us to bat!
Watching the Sri Lankan players in action last week, the scene brought back those memories in a horrifying manner. The jokers were the Sri Lankan players!
The Sri Lankan cricketers shamed not only themselves, their fanatic supporters and the country when with gutless and spineless batting display in the second innings they gifted the Second Test to England and the series 2-0 at the Galle International Cricket Stadium on the fourth day with a day to spare.
At this level the way they batted in the second innings was a classic lesson on how not to bat. It was a bad example to the youngsters watching them who will be the future of Sri Lanka cricket.
The first lesson taught by coaches in batting when a youngster takes to the game is to play straight. Playing across the line is anathema to the coaches.
The manner in which the experienced frontline batsmen batted in the second innings playing across the line showing no responsibility and throwing their wickets away was an utter disgrace.
The strokes that the two elder statesmen in the side Angelo Mathews and captain Dinesh Chandimal played at this level were an utter disgrace and unacceptable. So was the cross bat stroke by Kusal Janith Perera. Mathews played the ugly sweep and was bowled and Chandimal who was expected to hold the batting and by example steer it to a formidable score played another irresponsible blind shot.
But the stroke he played, hitting blindly and skying a catch that was brilliantly held by Anderson at mid-on who judged the flight of the ball brilliantly and taking the catch was incredible. For a captain Chandimal was a disgrace.
Mathews who held the batting together in the first innings notching up an admirable and well carved out century disgraced himself too with his utterly irresponsible kindergarten sweep shot. He lowered the value of his first innings century.
Then when ‘aiyo’ Dickwella was expected to bat with determination like he did in the first making 91 and repair the innings played a stroke that could be best described as giving catching practice to the mid-off fielder who gleefully pocketed the catch and walking back he was looking at the bat as if the bat was to blame.
How come that the Sri Lankan batsmen who could have helped win this Test and level the series had they batted sensibly threw this game away was a disaster and took the game to a bottomless pit of calamity from which they will struggle and wriggle to come out of was inexplicable.
In the first innings of the first Test the Sri Lankan batsmen batting first seemed to be out of depth unable to accustom themselves to a wicket that was good for batting and were bundled out for a paltry 135. Once a side is out so cheaply there is no way that they can stay alive in the game. And that they lost the first Test was no surprise.
One expected the batsmen to learn and be competitive in the Second Test. They seemed to have done that when they made a score of 381. Once a 300 plus score is made chances are that team cannot lose. When England batted they could make 344 conceding a lead of 37 which the Lankan batsmen were expected to build on and give the Brits a formidable run chase for victory.
When they batted a second time all what the batsmen had to do was bat sensibly, cutting out the risky strokes and aiming to post a formidable score, anything over 200 and on a wicket that was beginning to break, take spin and make batting difficult.
But the malady of the first innings of the First Test was showcased as they were shot out for 125 leaving England to make 164 for victory which they achieved losing just four wickets. Showing the way for this spineless batting display was left handed opening batsmen Kusal Janith Perera who played across the line missed and was ruled out leg-before. That dismissal opened the gates for the England spin twins Bess and Leach to put their clever spin bowling on show and make a mockery of our batting which they did capturing four wickets each.
How the Sri Lankan cricketers can raise their game that is in quicksand now and being worthy competitors at this level will be interesting to watch. The Sri Lankan coaching staff headed by Mickey Arthur the head coach will have to work from out of their skins to resurrect the game again. At the moment is at the basement.
Left arm spinner Lasith Embuldeniya was the only bowler who performed consistently in both Tests and had the Brit batsmen shaking at the knees. In this Test he had a match bag of 10 for 200 which was an admirable effort considering that he had absolutely no support from the opposite end.
Another ugly aspect in the Lanka bowling was to see the two spinners Embuldeniya and Dilruwan Perera bowling no-balls. It was ugly at this level and a poor indictment on the bowling coach.
As for England the standout player was captain Joe Root with a double hundred in the first Test and a big hundred in the second. In addition he led from the front and it was refreshing to see his players supporting him.
The Lankan batsmen don’t seem to understand between Test cricket and limited over cricket. They are overfed on one-day cricket and playing the longer duration as it should be played is not in their system