Most Sri Lankan stars to retire after the World Cup

[Fuller Pilch]

Sorry if this has been posted in the Asia Cup (or another thread) but it looks as if the SL team is going to be decimated by retirements. Unless they produce some new talent, SL may really struggle.

By Channaka de Silva
Sri Lanka national cricket team will be going through a crucial period of moulting in the next few months as some of the few stalwarts will draw curtains over their glittering careers to mark the end of an era, informed sources told “Daily Mirror” yesterday.
The first major change will take place after the forthcoming ICC World T20 tournament which to be held in Bangladesh from March 16 to April 6, as the team’s long-standing icon players Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene would announce their retirement from the shortest format of the game, they added.
However both former Sri Lanka captains would continue to play the other formats and will call it a day after the 2015- ICC World Cup in Australia and New Zealand to be held from February 14 to March 14 next year.
Another former Sri Lanka captain Tillekaratne Dilshan, Star bowlers Lasith Malinga, Nuwan Kulasekara and Rangana Herath would all retire from the international game after the 2015 World Cup creating a huge vacuum in the team, sources added.

Full article at Six top guns to retire within a year : Mirror Sports

 

[YorksLanka]

yes, this wasnt news to us SL fans to be honest, it is expected..in terms of replacements, they are starting to form in the faces of Kusal ,Thirrimanne, Chandimal , Senanayake ,Lakmal , Priyanjan , Prasanna, Pradeep and Eranga Test wise, we are forming a decent opening pair in Kushal Silva and Karunaratne and our bowling is getting better with Lakmal/Pradeep/Eranga..Mathews is blossoming into a decent captain(he learning from his mistakes)

Yes they will take time to get to the levels of those they are replacing but this was the same when Sanga/Mahela/Dilly/Herath came in for the likes of Sanath /Aravinda / Arjuna/ Tillekaratne/ Vaas/Murali..I dont think we will set the world alight but being realistic, we are a poor country with only 25milllion people so as long as we are still competing with teh big boys then what more can we ask for,,,

 

[_Ed_]

Definitely going to have to try to make it to a SL game during the World Cup, then.

 

[YorksLanka]

wish i could, my best mate has tickets too as he lives in Auckland but the old purse strings say no..

 

[Maximas]

All the players mentioned are either not irreplaceable (Kula) or are already being phased out somewhat, with the exception of Malinga, who will be a huge loss from our short form teams. Sanga and Mahela will be big losses, but with Thirrimanne and Chandimal coming in (both somewhat proven outside the SC at international level) as well as guys like Vithinage and Prinjayan coming through to supplement Matthews (who has been an excellent performer at international level with the bat) our batting stocks suddenly don't look so bad. Tag that onto our newly found and well functioning opening combination and the seeds of a strong batting line-up like the one we've had for the last decade are being sown. As for the bowlers, Herath is really the only guy who will leave a gap at test level, but I have high hopes for Tharindu Kaushal, and there are always guys like Sekkuge Prassanna and Suraj Randiv waiting in the wings, at the right age to start a Herath-like career, the fast bowlers as mentioned by YorksLanka are looking very promising, at least Eranga and Lakmal, the third seamer is still an issue

 

[ajdude]

our our our we've

you live in geelong

 

[Maximas]

you live in geelong

I'm also Junaid Khan, but above all I'm a Sri Lankan fan boi

 

[ajdude]

I'm also Junaid Khan, but above all I'm a Sri Lankan fan boi

is that "fan boi" or "fan, boi"?

 

[Maximas]

Both really

 

[Shri]

Would be funny to watch the 5th day of a tight test match between India and SL with Dhoni and Matthews as opposing captains.

 

[Furball]

All the players mentioned are either not irreplaceable (Kula) or are already being phased out somewhat, with the exception of Malinga, who will be a huge loss from our short form teams. Sanga and Mahela will be big losses, but with Thirrimanne and Chandimal coming in (both somewhat proven outside the SC at international level) as well as guys like Vithinage and Prinjayan coming through to supplement Matthews (who has been an excellent performer at international level with the bat) our batting stocks suddenly don't look so bad. Tag that onto our newly found and well functioning opening combination and the seeds of a strong batting line-up like the one we've had for the last decade are being sown. As for the bowlers, Herath is really the only guy who will leave a gap at test level, but I have high hopes for Tharindu Kaushal, and there are always guys like Sekkuge Prassanna and Suraj Randiv waiting in the wings, at the right age to start a Herath-like career, the fast bowlers as mentioned by YorksLanka are looking very promising, at least Eranga and Lakmal, the third seamer is still an issue

You're kidding yourself on if you think Mahela and Sangakkara aren't irreplacable.

 

[Shri]

Replaceable as overseas performers. Will be missed in sub continental pitches.

 

[brockley]

IPL factor?

 

[Prince EWS]

You're kidding yourself on if you think Mahela and Sangakkara aren't irreplacable.

He's kidding himself if he thinks Lakmal is very promising too IMO. He's gone through a very short period of for once not being completely useless. He still hasn't been particularly good. Lakmal has a vague chance of becoming a mediocre Test bowler, and that's his ceiling. I'd still have my money on him getting dropped shortly and finishing with an average of 40+.

I'll give him Eranga; still don't think "very promising" is quite the right way to describe him but he's decent enough.

 

[Maximas]

You're kidding yourself on if you think Mahela and Sangakkara aren't irreplacable.

Didn't say that, I said they are being phased out, Kulasekara is the only truly replaceable guy on that list. Of course it will be very hard to adjust to the loss of these players, but the OP seemed to suggest that there was nothing coming up behind them, which is simply not true, even if the same quality isn't quite there

 

[Maximas]

He's kidding himself if he thinks Lakmal is very promising too IMO. He's gone through a very short period of for once not being completely useless. He still hasn't been particularly good. Lakmal has a vague chance of becoming a mediocre Test bowler, and that's his ceiling. I'd still have my money on him getting dropped shortly and finishing with an average of 40+.

I'll give him Eranga; still don't think "very promising" is quite the right way to describe him but he's decent enough.

With the continued development I expect them to have under Vaas for a while longer and more exposure to a variety of conditions, I expect both Lakmal and Eranga to further improve, they way they bowl, they should at least be able to perform a decent role in the SC, remains to be seen how they will go outside.

Of course, when talking about Sri Lanka, you have to lower your standards a bit when you use words like "very promising" for fast bowlers

EDIT: Test matches played since Vaas took over as bowling coach: 5
- Lakmal average: 32
- Eranga average: 24

I think that's worth getting reasonably excited about tbh keeping in mind the conditions they've played in over that period

 

[YorksLanka]

i think Maximas is right, no one is saying Lakmal willbe the next Johnson/Steyn, just that he will be a decent bowler and we all know that fastbowling is not Sri Lanka's strength..From what i see both Lakmal and Ernaga have definately moved forward under the wing of Vaasy and that will hopefully continue..What we really need is Nuwan Pradeep to do a bit more with his pace, in terms of variety and control and then we should be ok for a while...

 

[Hurricane]

He's kidding himself if he thinks Lakmal is very promising too IMO. He's gone through a very short period of for once not being completely useless. He still hasn't been particularly good. Lakmal has a vague chance of becoming a mediocre Test bowler, and that's his ceiling. I'd still have my money on him getting dropped shortly and finishing with an average of 40+.

I'll give him Eranga; still don't think "very promising" is quite the right way to describe him but he's decent enough.

I like Lakmal's action - I don't know why he isn't more successful. Actually I do he doesn't get enough movement, but that aside he looks ok to me in the basics of bowling.

 

[hendrix]

he's a medium pacer who gets no movement...pretty easy to see why he hasn't done particularly well.

 

[Maximas]

he's a medium pacer who gets no movement...pretty easy to see why he hasn't done particularly well.

Pretty consistently in the mid 130s now and he gets some gentle away movement whilst being very accurate and consistent, as well as being more durable these days, he's made quite a bit of progress since the pre-Vaas days, but yeah, no surprises why his average blew out to nearly 70 for a bit there