Favorites Prevail

[12th Man]

At the start of the ICC world cup (it seems a long long time ago now!) I wrote an article that had the following statements, I said “when South Africa chokes and when Sri Lanka runs out of steam, the X factor that the Aussies posses may prevail” or words to that effect. Now I am not making a claim to be a prophet but I would like to explain what I said;

South Africa had the best team you could ask for on paper. They had just been given Number 1 ranking by the ICC (the fruit of over 18 months of careful planning by the RSA cricket authorities and contriving by the ICC – my opinion) but they are well known for lacking the mental strength to prevail in tight situations. Not surprising coming from a society where the dominant people where there by right and the others where used to losing all the time until apartheid ended just a few decades ago! They did “choke” as predicted by so many and ended their campaign with a sorry defeat to the mighty OZ.

Sri Lanka ran out of steam in the lower middle order! Here I would like to play on the words I have used for a title. The reader may assume that I was referring to the dominance of the Australians in my title. No, I have said before and continue to say that this was the most professionally managed world cup campaign ever BUT the Sri Lankan style of management has an inherent flaw. That is “Favorites Prevail”! We saw mystifying selections of Arnold in the lower middle order, we saw the easily identifiable weakness of having 3 left handers in the top three of the batting order, prevailing without being addressed or rectified. Ultimately we paid the price. If one separates the wheat from the chaff so to speak and looks at the final from the point of view of a simple game of cricket. We lost an early wicket, this set us back and we had no “six hitter” in the side to accelerate and give us some hope even at the bitter end. Gilchrist was clearing the boundary (with or without a squash ball) but Jayasuriya was hitting it one bounce for four. It is true that the light was disgracefully bad at the end of the game but have you ever seen Dilshan or Arnold hitting the ball in the mould of a Justin Kemp or even a Kaushalya Weeraratna (just to mention one insignificant name of those waiting in the sidelines !) ??

In my humble opinion this is where we lost the game. We got most things right and we did a brilliant job both on and off the field . If only we could have nullified the one great flaw of endemic Sri Lankan management i.e. the prevalence of the favorite or MY MAN….. We may have found true greatness in a largely forgettable 2007 ICC world cup final.

[Nostromo]

Well, Sri Lanka might have lost in the final, but they went out fighting and can hold their heads high. I think they need a big hitting all rounder to fill the No:7 spot that Russell Arnold will be vacating by his retirement. Most importantly, that player should be a good enough pace bowler to do his full 10 overs if necessary. I think SL should leave themselves the option of 4 pacemen on some pitches without weakening the batting. Getting good part-time spinners will never be a problem in the subcontinent.

Are there any promising youngsters who can take Arnold's place?

[12th Man]

When you leave out the obvious Maharoof there is a guy called Kaushalya Weeraratna who played a few games in the late nineties. He broke a finger badly during a NZ tour and never made it back to the side. He has been doing well in 20-20 cricket recently.

He bowls at around Maharoofs pace , maybe a tad faster and hits the ball like a rocket !

[arsalan660]

the big fault was the hitter in the end in lower order. I think Sri Lanka should play a hitter in the Arnold's place and he should be a fast or medium bowler to have another option of fast bowler like Abdul Razaq in Pakistan side. Sri Lanka need player like this which can bowl well and hit the bowl outside the boundary in last overs.

[outswing]

Contrary to popular belief, Dilshan, CAN actually give the ball a good whack.

The reason Arnold was selected, in my view, is that the selectors were counting on the top order doing relatively well, and enable someone like Dilshan, or Arnold to manipulate the field, and score bonus runs down the order.

In hindsight, Maharoof would have been the obvious choice, but if he did make it into the team, it would have been to replace Dilhara Fernando, and not Russell Arnold...

Also, am i right in saying that Kaushalya Weeraratne one scored a 50 in 18 balls? (or something like that?)

[12th Man]

That's the Kaushalya I am talking about. I have watched Dilshan for years, he hits the ball hard but does not have the ability to either pick the gaps or clear the boundaries. Arnold played because he is backed by Aravinda and the NCC. The whole thing was carefully managed and it included sending Arnold with the A team to the West Indies etc.

[Nostromo]

Dilshan is very good, but he is basically a batsman who does a bit of part-time spin. While such bowlers can be useful, the team cannot depend upon them to fill in a whole position regularly. Moreover, 4 pace bolwers would be required on surfaces not very conducive to spin. This Weeraratne chap looks promising, but he has not had many chances by the look of it. Might be worth encouraging him and a few others in the similar mould.