Sri Lanka Doom and Gloom Thread

[Flametree]

I've always had a soft spot for Sri Lanaka - they seemed able to punch above their weight for a long time and they've always had players who were fun to watch.

But now? In the past 6 years Vaas, Murali, Malinga, Sangakkara, Jayawardene, Samaraweera, and Dilshan have retired. Plus Prasanna Jayawardene. Throw in Attapatu and Jayasuriya a couple of years earlier, and that's a lot of quality to try to replace.

In their stead we have Mathews and Herath holding the fort, but Herath can't go on forever.

They've had a succession of openers who haven't really succeeded, though to be fair none were complete disasters. Vandort, Warnapura, Tharanga, Paranavitane, Karunaratne, and Silva. It looked like Silva might be the goods but his average is declining sharply towards 30.

The excellence of their middle order in recent times has obviously meant limited opportunities for other players, but Thirimanne has now played 20+ tests and averages 25 - we're getting into Daren Ganga or Devon Smith territory here. Vithanage didn't look a test batsman either. Chandimal is probably going to be ok, though I think he's not a number 4 if the side is regularly going to be 10-2.... his dismissal in the second innings of the last test was like watching an Australian bat at Trent Bridge.

Herath has taken up the spinning slack from Murali remarkably well, but for how much longer? And the second spinner? Mendis was the great hope but he turned out to be a one-trick pony, and as for Randiv, Perera, now Kaushal. Hmm.

Seam bowlers? Well, Dhammika has been great recently, but the rest? They're either not very good, or they get injured, or both. Kulasekera, Welegedera, Thushara, Eranga, Pradeep, Lakmal.... Allrounders Maharoof and Perera didn't come to much either.

They do always seem to have a reasonable choice of keeper.

In addition, their tail doesn't wag much, and their fielding standards seem to have slipped a bit.

Finally, their board is not exactly squeaky clean and the selectors seem to have random flights of fancy. Anyone remember Dickwella being picked as a batsman?

All in all I think it's a gloomy picture. What do people think - will they stay in the India/England/Pakistan/New Zealand pack or are they going to be scrapping with the Windies and Bangladesh for the 7/8/9 ranking in the near future?

 

[Athlai]

New Zealand's future looking too promising so we're now outsourcing our pessimism.

 

[CaptainGrumpy]

New Zealand's future looking too promising so we're now outsourcing our pessimism.

Flametree's location states he is in New Zealand. Its called "insourcing" foreign pessimism.

 

[Flem274*]

Could the op be more patronizing?

 

[the big bambino]

Hell yeah - he could. Its a good summary. 5 or 6 quality bats, 3 bowlers and a keep gone. All leading to home series loss after being one up seems a good indication reflective of that cummulative loss of personel. I thought Australia's batting was the biggest basket case in world cricket. Reckon you should reserve optimism for their bowling though as Prasad, Nuwan, Chameera look a good mix. If Eranga can get his **** together they have some depth with Matthews to support. Hopefully Herath can keep on until Kaushal establishes his place. Their batting has been a long way off for a long time now.

 

[Athlai]

Remove two or three pace bowlers from Sri Lankan history and you have their strongest ever pace attack.

Theyre still a bit **** though.

 

[OverratedSanity]

Their bowling isn't a problem. Batting is a massive worry. Literally none of the top 7 apart from Mathews and Chandimal are settled in test cricket right now and the constant shuffling of the batting lineup doesn't help. Hopefully Kunal turns out to be a gun for them, but they need genuine top order batsmen.

 

[Athlai]

Ehhh, there have been a lot of spots in the side that have only recently been filled. The most promising bats have been playing out of position for a long time. Now that it's up to them we can start to determine if Sri Lanka's batting will sink or swim. Silva, Karurumon, Mathews and Chandiguns are a pretty decent core.

I think it's probably going to hurt them more to lose Herath. Sri Lanka will be without a truly world class spinner for the time in about the last two decades. Sure there are a few solid options waiting in the wings, but how much of their success has been on the back of Murali or Herath?

 

[OverratedSanity]

I guess it comes down to whether you rate Kaushal as a spinner. I do and I think he'll be very good in a couple of years. Could be rough going until then though.

Batting wise I'm just not convinced. It's not as though they haven't had the time to bring in youngsters and settle them into the squad. Thirimanne and Tharanga have been around for a long time, and as much as I like Silva and Karu, they should have started producing better results by now. They're not really novices any more. You're right in that the batting order hasn't helped them though... They can easily play all of them at their proper positions but bafflingly keep tinkering with it.

 

[the big bambino]

What's actually wrong with Herath? I just took it for granted he'll be up for 3 or 4 more years but some have been writing as if he hasn't got long to go before retiring/breaking down. Has he got a touch of what ailed Clarke?

 

[Athlai]

Generally you expect at 37 and a half, he'd probably be close to quits.

 

[the big bambino]

Yeah maybe; but spinner so ...

 

[Migara]

SL batting doom and gloom will continue till selectors try to shield their sugar boy. In FCC in SL only Mubarak, Siriwardane and KJP had scored big. But I would not say batting is pathetic, not the level we had in 2003 when we lost 3-0 to Aussies at home.

"Tailunt" has to be kicked out. Silva and Karunarathne, do have technique to play seam bowling, so if the can continue to average 35 with the bat, I am happy with that. Chandimal had to cut his slack and indiscipline and bit the bullet at #3. Mathes at #4. KJP is dead set at #7. Milinda Siriwardane to come in at #6, who is hot in form with the bat and will be 5th bowler given Mathews is struggling with fitness despite bowling beautifully. #5 would be between Mubarak and Tharanga. Tharanga brings in flair against spin and Mubarak brings in a ton of FCC runs behind him.

Bowling wise, we might need a rotation policy between Eranga, Prasad, Pradeep, Lakmal and Chameera. SL had their quickest and most quality fast bowling pack in their cricket history with these five. It's unfortunate Malinga became fat and got indulged in IPL. Would have been one heck of an addition to the line up. Spin wise, Kaushal will improve slowly. With in 1 - 2 seasons expect him to enter the beast mode. Easily puts more revs on the ball than Murali, and built lot more powerfully than Murali. If get gets half of bowling IQ and accuracy of Muraly would be a beast for many seasons.

 

[hendrix]

In the absence of batting talent, Hesson would moneyball it and pick a few batting no-rounder/spinners the way Bangladesh do historically. Drop Kaushal for a couple of years until he's more accurate, Load up with 3 pace bowlers then a million left arm dart bowlers who can bat. Everyone in the side also has to be a gun fielder.

Not sure that it's the best way forward but they've persisted with the so-called talented players like Thirimanne for so long that we're seeing the part of the Emperor that might be upper leg hair but also could be pubes. OTOH, the world bowling stocks are pretty high right now so it's a tough time for any young batsman to build partnerships. Karunaratne is probably worth persisting with.

 

[viriya]

SL are ****ed. They have a trash specialist batsmen averaging 25 that's supposed to replace Sanga.

The NBA season can't come soon enough.

 

[viriya]

Spin wise, Kaushal will improve slowly. With in 1 - 2 seasons expect him to enter the beast mode. Easily puts more revs on the ball than Murali, and built lot more powerfully than Murali. If get gets half of bowling IQ and accuracy of Murali would be a beast for many seasons.

There is no way he will bowl as accurately as Murali ever. No one ever was that accurate with big spin. Should stop comparing him with Murali honestly.

 

[Migara]

I said half the accuracy of Murali mate.

 

[Flem274*]

I think a lot of the team is easy to pick, you just have to be patient.

Kaushal Silva
Dimuth Karunaratne
-
Mathews
Dinesh Chandimal
-
Kusal Perera (wk)
Rangana Herath
Dhammika Prasad
Tharindu Kaushal/Nuwan Pradeep/Nuwan Kulasekara/Charmander (depends who is in form/conditions)
Shaminda Eranga

I am very disappointed in Karunaratne, Silva and Eranga. The first two are going neither forward nor backwards and Eranga has gone backwards from the bloke who got sharp outswing at a decent clip two years ago. All three have "it" though and have proven it during their careers, just not often enough.

Chandimal is playing like a good young player with around ten tests to his name, better in fact, and both the offie and the keeper have come in and shown ability so there is plenty of hope. The #3 position is killing them though and none of the Spud Squad is the answer. Sri Lanka might have to bite the bullet and promote Mathews. There is no doubt in my mind Mathews could average 50+ there. The only flaw he has as a batsman is he is world class at getting out after passing 70. His dismissal in the first innings of the test just gone aside, he's the best player of swing bowling in the world.

Mathews and #3 and Chandimal being a bit of a dasher at #4 allows two new guys to come in lower down.

 

[viriya]

The problem with Angelo at #3 is that he will be at the crease by the 2nd over every other game.. the curse of Sanga will linger on.

That could be a good thing, but if Angelo gets out, I can see SL folding for <150 easily.

 

[AndyZaltzHair]

On one side it is perfectly acceptable to give room to Kaushal (spinner) so that he can develop and on the other side discard someone like Thiri. What's the cut off limit?