The Sri Lankan second string cricketers who took the risk toured international cricket starved Pakistan and shocked the T20 cricket world by beating the number one side in this form of cricket, Pakistan 3-0 and Sri Lanka Cricket, who appreciated, rewarded them with a handsome bonus.
While that was great reward with the tour being a great success with no untoward incidents, it left a bad taste in the mouths of officials of the Pakistan Cricket Board when the President of Sri Lanka Cricket Shammi Silva complained that the cricketers and the tour officials were closeted in their rooms unable to go out and even do some sight-seeing or shopping.
Silva has also said that they will have to do a rethink when touring Pakistan for Test cricket which statement would certainly have jolted the Pakistan Cricket Board and those of us who appreciated the fact that the Sri Lankan Lion showed the courage that was expected of it! With the Sri Lankans breaking the ice and being the first team to tour Pakistan in ten years, the PCB had to provide them with the best of security. They did this with full honours befitting a VIP visit.
To the subject of shopping, comes to mind what former Sri Lankan and top notch athlete who was Foreign Minister the late Lakshman Kadirigama said when the Aussies refused to tour here to play their World Cup game in 1996 saying that they cannot go shopping. ‘Shopping is for Sissies’, he said. What this great sportsman meant in lighter humour was that who cares about shopping when the focus should be on playing cricket. And the Aussies had no reply to that rejoinder.
SLC will do well to focus on the game and show appreciation to our hosts the Pakistanis for excellent arrangements and reiterate that we are now there for the long run.
Aussies mean business
The Australian selectors led by former Test player Trevor Horns have picked a strong Australian squad for the Three T20s against Sri Lanka beginning at the Melbourne Cricket ground today.
The selectors have picked this squad with also the T20 World Cup in mind which is to be played in Aussie land next year. They are determined to lay their hands on the T20 trophy what with the tournament to be played at home with conditions and wickets favouring them.
In the strong squad is the inclusion of their two top most batsmen former Captain Steve Smith and David Warner who are back after serving their sentence on the ball tampering issue.
Smith who along with Warner made a comeback to the Test squad during the recent Ashes series against England and had a glorious run with the bat scoring an avalanche of runs and being classed with the great Don Bradman which went a long way in helping his country level the series 2-2 is determined to continue his run scoring vein and break more records.
Smith’s former Test Vice Captain Warner who had a nightmare of an Ashes series in England with only one score of fifty which would have been anathema to him is also out to take the Lankan attack by the scruff of its neck and rinse it to all parts of the field by making big runs.
Warner’s nemesis was Stuart Broad the England paceman who bemused Warner and dismissed him regularly and cheaply with some high class well thought out clever seam and swing bowling.
Warner being dismissed regularly by Broad brought to mind the big made master of swing of the 1950s Alec Bedser of England dismissing Aussie opener Arthur Morris consistently which prompted the media to label Morris as the Bedser bunny. Similarly Warner should have been labeled the Broad bunny. But it was not so.
Having said that Sri Lanka who had a dream T20 series against the best team in the world Pakistan beating them convincingly in all three games led brilliantly by Dasun Shanaka will be determined to give continuity to their success and be in peak form for the T20 World Cup fling next year.
While the Sri Lankan selectors having had no option but to dethrone Shanaka from the captaincy and giving it back to ‘slinga’ Lasith Malinga, it will be interesting and of special interest to watch how the team will fare. If the Lankans flop, the selectors would not be faulted if they give back the captaincy mantle to Shanaka.
In Pakistan as the young team took wing not many gave them much of a chance.. But they did more and showed what young, mentally and physically fit bodies can by putting the Pakistanis to far second best.
While the youngsters proved beyond doubt that T20 cricket is meant for the young, especially for cricketers below 30 years of age, what with this type of game very fast forward, one aspect that they lagged behind was the running between the wickets. The team, would have struggled had the Pakistani fielders been spot on with their throwing at the wickets. Many of the frontline Lankan batsmen would have been run out had the Pakistani fielders hit the target and the team would have been struggling.
It is good when stealing quick singles in an endeavour to rotate the strike because it could be irritating and upsetting to the opponents because they have to rethink their field placing. Running between the wickets is not easy. The batsmen must understand each other’s speed getting from one end of the wicket to the other and not running blindly.
The batsmen at this level need not be told that a fielder’s throw travels far more quickly to the wicket than a batsman could run to his end. Also batsmen must remember that one should not run off a misfield unless two runs are possible. These two aspects should have been taught at junior level.