Amerasinghe

[Aurelius]

This Ishara Amerasinghe looks like a very good bowler to me; a consistent fast-medium line-and-length type bowler who can get it up to the high 130's. I'm aware that he's 29 already, but despite that I believe that he should be pencilled in to the Test lineup, where his quickish seam bowling would provide a good contrast to Vaas' left-arm medium-fast swing and Malinga's fast outswingers. Dilhara Fernando just doesn't cut it for me, and Maharoof has plenty of time to work on his game, so I consider Amerasinghe to be the best Test first-change option.

[sanketh84]

maharoof's batting skills make him more valuable, its probably as valuable as a pathan for india. i dont see big hitters in the lankan ODI side except maharoof and kapugedera and that's what mattered in keeping them under 240 where i thought after that partnership between sangy and jayawardene, 250+ was very much on the cards. i thought sangy and mahela played too slowly for quite sometime. amerasinghe really needs more variations, fernando is a terrific ODI bowler but yeah doesn't cut it in the test side. but realistically speaking all of amerasinghe's wickets were coz of poor shot selection by batsmen. malinga yes a true match winner in both formats.

[Aurelius]

Well, I believe that there's room for both in the ODI side. But in the Tests, it's an incredibly defensive ploy to choose your third quick based on his batting ability, which betrays a lack of confidence in your top-and-middle order. As it happens, Maharoof averages only in the 20s as a Test batsman, and in the 50s as a bowler, so I don't think he should be in ahead of Amerasinghe in the Tests at this stage. As to his lack of variation- well, I saw a consistent line-and-length bowler of decent pace who would provide excellent support to Vaas and Malinga, the greater wicket-taking pace options.

And I see that he has in fact been called up for the Tests in the West Indies, so we'll see how he goes.

[wilyoldfox]

Some how he doesnt impress me much, there times you just dont look at averages, runs or wickets. There is a certain feel that tells you whether a person can make it big on the international scene or not.