Sri Lanka ODI batting : A bleak shadow of the past?

[Precambrian]

Once considered as the ODI powerhouse in World Cricket itself, Sri Lanka's fortunes have taken a dip since the World Cup in the Carribean. While it has found excellent bowling resources in Mendis and Kulasekara in addition to that untiring champ Murali, the batting has taken a turn for the worse. None, I repeat, absolutely nobody averages above 40 since World Cup. The dependence on Jayasurya has never been so evident. Let's have a look at their figures.

They are neither scoring big nor scoring fast. Adding to that is the factor that, SL has played aroudn 33% of its ODIs against Bangladesh, Zimbabwe and UAE, 14 out of 45 ODIs in this period, despite which the poor averages persist. In fact, the ignominy would have been much bigger had they lost the finals of the tri-series to Bangladesh, which seemed sure at one point, but was narrowly averted thanks to an unexpected cameo from Murali.

Here are their stats opposition-wise since the World Cup.

Mahela Jayawardene, the captain, is averaging an Ashrafulesque 24 in the last 2 years, and at 31, is not going to get better in this format. One wonders whether it is decision time for him as regards to his future career in ODIs, and concentrate on test matches, where he is doing alright.

Even more puzzling is the form of Sangakkara, who's at the peak of his career in test matches, yet has somehow failed to replicate the form in ODIs, even though he remains the highest scorer for SL in ODIs in the period under review.

Sanath Jayasurya, the one man army, is still going alright, even though his averages have taken the inevitable dip. His SR is still an excellent 91. However SL cannot pin it's ODI hopes on this ageing warrior for long, and needs to find replacement for him as soon as possible to cover for contingencies.

So what's your take on the issue?

 

[Nishan]

As a fan of them, i am facinated by the change in dynamics of Sri Lanka team it used to have such reliable batsmen now evver since the world cup the flucutating form is scary. The way Sanath at 39 is still best ODI batsman is worrying. They have for so long tried Tharanga and Mubarak instead of giving form players with better techniques a chance. Kandamby only now has got a game.

Mahela has been captain for a while now he has been through a patch in 03 before and came back he needs a rest. Its good Dilshan has had a good year so far but he also was unreliable, Charmara Silva is also case of inconsistent play.

Its a shame for a country renowned for its Batsmen now are struggling but I think it was always going to happen the Sri Lankan Schools cricket is not as strong as it was a decade ago, batsman dont have great footwork.

 

[thierry henry]

I think there must be a lot of pressure on Sangakkara's shoulders. His s/r is simply not good enough, it smacks of a really highly rated player feeling the pressure and focusing mainly on not getting out.

 

[pup11]

I think its not really a secret, is it, it been quite evident for some time now that Sri Lankan cricket isn't progressing in the direction that it should be heading in, when Attapattu called the Sri Lankan cricket administrators muppets in Australia the cricket world really didn't give much importance to what he was saying, he clearly stated that new players aren't being groomed to replace the seniors and Sri Lankan cricket could be in big trouble due to this.

The Sri Lankan team practically rely on two batsmen in ODI', Jayasuriya and Sangakkara, now Jayasuriya is touching 40 so he might not be there for long and Jayawardene has clearly failed to step-up when playing outside Sri Lanka, the likes of Tharnaga, Warnapura or Udawatte showed promise but they just haven't come along, but still there should be some sort of thought process that the Sri Lankan selectors should work on to build the team for the upcoming years, but i guess one can make out how serious they are about something like that, when you see Jehan Mubarak's name time and again in the Sri Lankan squad.

 

[Precambrian]

There is something seriously wrong with SLC when Mubarak has played 18 ODIs when his SR is 67 coming in at No.6 or 7.

 

[inbox24]

There is something seriously wrong with SLC when Mubarak has played 18 ODIs when his SR is 67 coming in at No.6 or 7.

Clearly he's still being picked for that single T20 performance against Kenya back in 2007. Unbelievable.

When are the likes of Warnapura and Udawatte going to be groomed?

 

[Zinzan]

Once considered as the ODI powerhouse in World Cricket itself, Sri Lanka's fortunes have taken a dip since the World Cup in the Carribean. While it has found excellent bowling resources in Mendis and Kulasekara in addition to that untiring champ Murali, the batting has taken a turn for the worse. None, I repeat, absolutely nobody averages above 40 since World Cup. The dependence on Jayasurya has never been so evident. Let's have a look at their figures.

Top analysis that, really surprised to see they've struggled quite this badly tbh

 

[TT Boy]

Clearly he's still being picked for that single T20 performance against Kenya back in 2007. Unbelievable.

When are the likes of Warnapura and Udawatte going to be groomed?

A popular belief is that he gets picked because of his old man.

 

[chaminda_00]

Changing of guard really. The nature of Sri Lankan cricket and most countries with poor domestic comps. Is that once you get a couple retirements it going to take a couple years for players to be groomed to perform at the levels required at NT level.

The losses of Arnold and Atapattu in the batting. As well as the lose of Chandana and Dharmensena as all round options have hurt our batting line up.

The other factor is the lack of quality U19 bats coming through. Apart from Kapu and Tharanga the guys that have been groomed were average U19 players and have made their name at domestic level. Which fine and positive thing, but they are making sides due a lot of runs in poor standard comp. They are going to need a lot more work then a player with just talent.

A lot of our top batsmen in the past have came straight from U19s to the NT side and it all about converting that talent into performances at NT level.

This side will peak by the 2015 WC, just like the side after 99 (the major last lot of retirements) peaked by 2007. Expecting 2003 to be repeated again in 2011.

 

[Uppercut]

I think there must be a lot of pressure on Sangakkara's shoulders. His s/r is simply not good enough, it smacks of a really highly rated player feeling the pressure and focusing mainly on not getting out.

This. When you're S/R is 68 in ODIs you're either not playing any match-winning knocks or are balancing the match-winning ones with match-losing ones.

But i don't think things are that bad really. Sanga and Mahela being out of form at the same time is a big contributor, especially with Jayasuriya inconsistent.

 

[Migara]

The problem SL faces is lack of quality batting. eversince school cricket changed from matting to turf, bowlers became better and batsman lost. (Matting has much more bounce and pace, and the way players like de Silva and Gurusinghe played pace was evidence for that).

Sangakkara and Jayawardane are like ODI batsmen og early 90s. De SIlva was definietly a player suited for this era.

Tharanga must go, and go for ever. He's such a waste of space. We are left with Warnapura and Udawatta for opening slot.Udawatta is a powerful hitter, but Warnapura with a test average close to 50 is choice for me. Since he has all the shots in the book he's a good choice there

 

[Migara]

Mubarak is performing well. All his runs came when SL were in dire need of runs. He deserves his place, but Kandamby and Matthews are simply better than him.

Kapugedara is a real waste of talent. Unbeleivable when he hits it, but soo after hitting a big one he gives it away. Not oddly, Mubarak is averaging more than Kapugedara!

 

[Athlai]

Since the 2007 WC (qualification more than 400 runs scored) and ranked by average:
Chanderpaul # 1 1085 @ 83.46
Gayle # 2 1187 @ 62.47
Mohammad Yousuf # 3 1334 @ 58
MS Dhoni # 4 2009 @ 51.51
Salman Butt # 5 1385 @ 51.29

TM Dishan # 38 940 @ 34.81
Sanga # 39 1355 @ 34.74
Jayasuriya # 47 1065 @ 28.78
Jayawardene # 51 1198 @ 27.86
Silva # 52 698 @ 26.84
Kapu # 58 792 @ 24.75
Tharanga # 62 464 @ 22.09

To compare with a similar team

Ross Taylor # 11 798 @ 46.94
McCullum # 20 1087 @ 43.48
Oram # 22 467 @ 42.45
Styris # 32 557 @ 37.13
How # 36 789 @ 35.86

Every single NZ player with more than 400 runs in this period has been more prolific than every Sri Lankan batsman.

That my friends is messed up.

 

[Arjun]

The problem SL faces is lack of quality batting. eversince school cricket changed from matting to turf, bowlers became better and batsman lost. (Matting has much more bounce and pace, and the way players like de Silva and Gurusinghe played pace was evidence for that).

Sangakkara and Jayawardane are like ODI batsmen og early 90s. De SIlva was definietly a player suited for this era.

Tharanga must go, and go for ever. He's such a waste of space. We are left with Warnapura and Udawatta for opening slot.Udawatta is a powerful hitter, but Warnapura with a test average close to 50 is choice for me. Since he has all the shots in the book he's a good choice there

What would your top six have? That would mean Dilshan going down or Udawatte playing out of place. There was one Dilruwan Perera; what chance does he have? I've noticed that some Sri Lankan batsmen in the squad (this one, as well as some before) have a batting average a little over 20 in FC and List-A, while having dug up a few figures then, some batsmen with averages over 35 have not made their international debut. Michael Vandort (the Test opener who had a disappointing debut ODI) and Sajith Fernando were two such batsmen. Why don't they get a chance? A common sentiment among fans for some time is it's not how well you play but whom you know that gets you into a team.

Interestingly, Kandamby's average has shot up a great deal recently- a few years ago, that was also in the 20s, as also Mubarak's. Any idea how this change happened?

 

[chaminda_00]

What would your top six have? That would mean Dilshan going down or Udawatte playing out of place. There was one Dilruwan Perera; what chance does he have? I've noticed that some Sri Lankan batsmen in the squad (this one, as well as some before) have a batting average a little over 20 in FC and List-A, while having dug up a few figures then, some batsmen with averages over 35 have not made their international debut. Michael Vandort (the Test opener who had a disappointing debut ODI) and Sajith Fernando were two such batsmen. Why don't they get a chance? A common sentiment among fans for some time is it's not how well you play but whom you know that gets you into a team.

Interestingly, Kandamby's average has shot up a great deal recently- a few years ago, that was also in the 20s, as also Mubarak's. Any idea how this change happened?

Fernando too old now, but should of got run back in '99. Vandort is too slow. Perera is no where near ODI standard. He is barely FC standard as a specialist bat.

Until this season and occasionally at a few grounds in the last couple years. Pitches in Sri Lanka have not been up to FC standard and are poor to bat on. That why a lot of guys have poor averages but many guys making the side have significantly improved averages recently.

The next generation of batsmen coming through like Ashan Priyanjan will average mid 30s to 40s. Though that doesn't nessary mean they are better batsmen then Udawatta who averages low 30s, due to the pitches he played most his career on. Though Priyanjan is probably better then most coming through.

Averages are relative to the standard of pitches in SL.

 

[Migara]

Well described mate.

 

[Migara]

Heartnening to see Kandamby perform. The last innigs was not up to his potential. He can hit them little harder than that.