Sri Lanka Thread

[Richard]

Kumara retired and is an umpire now, Zoysa had plenty of chances and doesn't delivery when required, goes missing way too often. No doubt that Dilhara had more chances, but its time we looked at some young guys and give them as many chances.

A great shame - a waste of one of the best ODI spinners of the modern era.

Seriously - how many better young seamers are there than Zoysa? Kulasekura certainly isn't one, and has been picked ahead of Zoysa on terrible credentials more than once.

 

[Prince EWS]

A great shame - a waste of one of the best ODI spinners of the modern era.

Seriously - how many better young seamers are there than Zoysa? Kulasekura certainly isn't one, and has been picked ahead of Zoysa on terrible credentials more than once.

I disagree. Kulasekura has the accuracy to really succeed in ODI cricket IMO, even if he hasn't performed brilliantly to date. I even started a thread about him and called for his test inclusion on the grounds that he could do a holding job for Vaas, Malinga and Murali without releasing the pressure like Maharoof/Fernando tend to.

 

[Richard]

He's better than Fernando\Maharoof, undoubtedly, and I happen to think he has real potential as a ODI bowler, thought that from the moment I saw him on debut (having read his domestic record beforehand).

But that doesn't change the fact that there've been 2 or 3 occasions recently where Nuwan Zoysa has had a far better case for selection and has been ignored.

Most ridiculous being this....

Zoysa takes 8 wickets at 15 in the warm-up games. Kulasekura takes 1 for 130-odd. Who gets picked for the First Test?

You've guessed, haven't you?

 

[Prince EWS]

He's better than Fernando\Maharoof, undoubtedly, and I happen to think he has real potential as a ODI bowler, thought that from the moment I saw him on debut (having read his domestic record beforehand).

But that doesn't change the fact that there've been 2 or 3 occasions recently where Nuwan Zoysa has had a far better case for selection and has been ignored.

Most ridiculous being this....

Zoysa takes 8 wickets at 15 in the warm-up games. Kulasekura takes 1 for 130-odd. Who gets picked for the First Test?

You've guessed, haven't you?

Quite possibly for the reason I said above - the selectors wanted someone to do a holding job and keep the pressure on while the other bowlers attacked. Zoysa clearly had a better case though.

Anyway, if you believe he has potential to be a good ODI bowler, then why did you pick on him in your post and not the ridiculously pathetic Fernando?

 

[Richard]

I've picked on the ridiculously pathetic Fernando so many times I just get tired of saying the same thing.

To the certainties in life of death and taxes you can add: "Dilhara Fernando will continue to be picked for Sri Lanka no matter how many times he bowls the biggest heap of **** in history, and regardless of how well others perform relative to that".

 

[chaminda_00]

Its hard to tell how many good young seamers are in Sri Lanka, cus so many dominate domestic cricket even more then Dilhara and Zoysa. But not many get a decent run in the national side to tell how good they are. They might get one or two games, have one bad match and we go back to Zoysa and Dilhara. There have been occassion where Zoysa has warranted selection over others, but there been a lot more occassions when the others have warrent selection over Zoysa.

Take someone like Ganegama who has been in the national squad for six months. He never got a game to show that he had improved since he was last picked. Then Zoysa has a good month of domestic cricket and he gets called back into the side. Even though Ganegama has been preforming that well for 2 years at domestic level before hand. There are a lot more fast bowlers like Ganegama who are dominating domestic cricket, but never seem to get a run infront of Zoysa or Dilhara. They might prove to be crap, but atleast they should get a decent run.

For guys like Kulasekura and Maharoof is one cus they can bowl tight lines and keep the pressure on. I think you'll find long term Kulasekura will have similar problems to Maharoof interms of letting off the pressure. But the main reason they keep getting selected is cus they can hold a bat. There are mainly other similar bowlers in Sri Lanka, but cus these two can bat the will always be selected first.

 

[Richard]

I seem to recall a guy called Ranjith a while ago, and seem to remember Gangegama, despite bowling utterly terribly, getting something of a raw deal.

Personally, though, I've always thought there was something in Zoysa, if not Fernando, and have always loved to see him and Vaas opening the bowling. Sadly it may never happen again.

 

[chaminda_00]

Zoysa will be back his still very young, but for guys like him and Dilhara (who still young himself). They should go back to domestic cricket or Murali should get on the blower to Neil Fairborther and get them a run in league cricket in England. They just need a solid 12 months of domestic and i think they will reach their potential again.

Everytime they comeback they don't seem to every learn from their mistakes, they made last time. At their best we do have two pretty good fast bowlers to go with Malinga and Vaas. But we'll never get the most out of them until we send them the message that what they are producing is not good enough to play for Sri Lanka.

 

[Richard]

I just can't believe that Fernando is ever going to solve the problem of serial-no-balling and impossible waywardness if he hasn't by now.

Zoysa, however, has suffered from such things much more sporadically, and that's what's made me think he has more potential than dear old Dilhara Slower-Ball.

 

[Pup Clarke]

dear old Dilhara Slower-Ball.

Yeah,it's about the only skill he's mastered

 

[Richard]

Crazy thing is, he's mastered it better than just about anyone, ever.

Really remarkable that he's done that so well and everything else so abysmally.

 

[chaminda_00]

I just can't believe that Fernando is ever going to solve the problem of serial-no-balling and impossible waywardness if he hasn't by now.

Zoysa, however, has suffered from such things much more sporadically, and that's what's made me think he has more potential than dear old Dilhara Slower-Ball.

He never slove the no ball problem unless he stops becoming a professional net bowler. You can only solve those things by bowling in a real match (i.e First Class Match). Since his latest return from injury he played in two A series and a handful of matches for SSC. His basically spent the last 12 months bowling in the nets and the odd ODI. I don't think he would have played more then 10 FC matches in the last 12 months.

 

[Salamuddin]

Sri Lanka have a good chance to win the damn thing I feel.

They have good batsmen, do their basics excellently (running between wickets and fielding) and have two excellent bowlers in Vaas and Murali.
I think Bandara is pretty underrated but I feel SRi Lanka's chances could hinge on how their other seamers (e.g Dilhara, Malinga and KUlaskara) fare.

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

I'm entirely unconvinced by Sri Lanka's late order hitting.

 

[Richard]

But their top-order hitting is equalled by no-one.

 

[chaminda_00]

I'm entirely unconvinced by Sri Lanka's late order hitting.

The main reason why Kapugedera should have been selected regardless of form. The main area in the side we lack is lower order hitting, outside our back up bowlers.

 

[shortpitched713]

This is what I think they should go in with for the first match, assuming everyone is fit.

Sri Lanka XI
1. Sanath Jayasuria
2. Upul Tharanga
3. Kumar Sangakkara+
4. Mahela Jayawardene*
5. Marvan Atapattu
6. Tillakaratne Dilshan
7. Farveez Maharoof
8. Chaminda Vaas
9. Malinga Bandara
10. Lasith Malinga
11. Muttiah Muralitharan

Looks to be a well balanced team. Lower order hitting could be a problem, but Maharoof has shown some potential in that regard. Probably has one of the best opening pairs in ODI cricket right now, and one of if not the best WK-batsmen in the world. Vaas, Murali and Malinga form the very capable core of this bowling lineup, and Jayasuria is solid enough of a bowler, but the performance of Maharoof and Bandara to fill out the rest of the overs could prove key either for or against SL.

 

[Pup Clarke]

I would go with

Upal Tharanga
Sanath Jayasuriya
Mahela Jayawardene
Kumar Sangakkara
Marvan Atapattu
Tillakaratne Dilshan
Chamara Silva
Farveez Maharoof
Chaminda Vaas
Muttiah Muralitharan
Lasith Malinga

 

[Richard]

This is what I think they should go in with for the first match, assuming everyone is fit.

Sri Lanka XI
1. Sanath Jayasuria
2. Upul Tharanga
3. Kumar Sangakkara+
4. Mahela Jayawardene*
5. Marvan Atapattu
6. Tillakaratne Dilshan
7. Farveez Maharoof
8. Chaminda Vaas
9. Malinga Bandara
10. Lasith Malinga
11. Muttiah Muralitharan

Looks to be a well balanced team. Lower order hitting could be a problem, but Maharoof has shown some potential in that regard. Probably has one of the best opening pairs in ODI cricket right now, and one of if not the best WK-batsmen in the world. Vaas, Murali and Malinga form the very capable core of this bowling lineup, and Jayasuria is solid enough of a bowler, but the performance of Maharoof and Bandara to fill out the rest of the overs could prove key either for or against SL.

Atapattu must bat three IMO.

Swap him and Sangakkara.

And what wouldn't I give for Dharmasena instead of Bandara...

 

[shortpitched713]

Atapattu must bat three IMO.

Swap him and Sangakkara.

And what wouldn't I give for Dharmasena instead of Bandara...

Hasn't Sangakkara been batting at three for a while now? Hasn't been too ineffective there either, I daresay. The skipper Jayawardene is at four so I don't see any room for him above five. Weird considering that 2 years ago no one would have thought that Atapattu would be batting anywhere but three.