News, Rugby April 21, 2019

Sri Lankan Lions tamed as Proteus pile on the pressure.

Sri Lankan Lions tamed as Proteus pile on the pressure.
With two months to go until the start of the ICC World Cup 2019, Expat Sport takes a closer look at the woes Sri Lanka find themselves in on the back of an 8-match losing streak undermined by in-camp turmoil during their latest ODI series against South Africa.

As the fifth and final ODI match against South Africa, at Newland, Cape Town looms, it’s plain to see that Sri Lankan confidence and form is shot. Riding an ignominious wave of 8 straight defeats, with only one victory in their last 13 outings and not having won a match since October last year, things could not be going worse for Sri Lanka’s World Cup preparations.

And it’s not just a string of near misses or bad luck, they are playing poorly. So much so that Ashley de Silva, the chief executive officer, is scheduled to arrive in South Africa for talks with the head coach Chandika Hathurusingha. Hathurusingha has been asked to return home ahead of the Twenty20 International series, with fielding coach Steve Rixon to take over.

An SLC press release also confirmed that Hathurusingha will be required to return to Sri Lanka following the ongoing ODI series in order to “discuss the Sri Lanka team’s preparation for the upcoming ICC Cricket World Cup”.

Although the board wants to remove Hathurusingha, its hands are somewhat tied by Hathurusingha’s contract, which runs up until the end of 2020, and requires a substantial compensation to be paid in the event of early termination. As such, de Silva and the boards are expected to broach the possibility of Hathurusingha working for SLC in a limited capacity back in Sri Lanka in the short term.

In all four games in this current series against South Africa, Sri Lanka’s top order batsmen have been dismal. The opening pair have totalled a measly 48 runs in total not exceeding 13 runs in each match. Upul Tharanga, the most experienced opener, has claimed a pair of single-digit scores in the two matches he has played. Niroshan Dickwella has averaged 24.5 in six ODIs this year. Newcomer Avishka Fernando has, in fact, shown the most promise, with scores of 23 and 29, but it has amounted to little in the face of the rest of the line-up’s failures. A compounding stat is that in none of their four innings have the team collectively managed to bat the full 50 overs without being bowled out.

Such is the disparity between the two sides that Sri Lanka’s most prolific batsmen, Kusal Mendis and Oshada Fernando, have only accumulated 251 runs between them a sum which is just three runs more than SA Captain Faf du Plessis’s individual total, who himself remains a clear 100 runs behind series top scorer Quinton de Kok.

De Kok has been at the heart of South Africa’s dominance with scores of 81, 94, 121 and 51. In fact this has been his most prolific series to date, eclipsing his fine series against India in the 2013-14 season where he bagged three successive centuries.

Between them, de Kok and du Plessis have amassed 59% of all South Africa’s runs, jointly totalling 595 so far.

So one could imagine that Sri Lanka might be looking forward to getting past this series and wiping the slate clean as best they can to try and regain some confidence and form. Particularly as history is in danger of repeating itself, as the last time they played an ODI series against South Africa they were whitewashed 5-0.

Talking after the fourth defeat in a row, Sri Lanka captain Lasith Malinga cut a disconsolate figure, commenting:

“The wicket was very suitable for the bat, but the batsmen didn’t realise the value and the opportunity to play a long innings. And with the ball, we could only get four wickets.”

“Being six down inside 18 overs, it’s very hard to come back,” Malinga said. “We always talk about taking responsibility and putting our hands up to bat through the full fifty overs, but the last few years, we’ve been struggling to do that.

“This is a good, tough side to play before the World Cup. All the players need to realise these are the conditions we need to prepare for at the World Cup.”

Meanwhile South Africa are taking full advantage of the confidence these victories have instilled with Captain, du Plessis, saying:

“We’re playing some really good cricket. All the stuff that needed to happen over the last six months or year has happened. We’re clear in what we want from a balance point of view.”

After this Saturday’s fifth ODI match against South Africa, Sri Lanka have just four more matches to try and string some semblance of team spirit and confidence together. Their first two of those matches will be against minnows Scotland in May, but having seen what they can do to a team like England, a defeat at the hands of Scotland in either of those two games could spell complete meltdown of any World Cup chances. A convincing brace of victories however just might steady the ship sufficiently to get things back on track. Sri Lanka’s final two warm up matches will once again be against South Africa (but in England on very different wickets) and then against Australia, who themselves are seeking to find redemption and form before their title defence begins. But just like in politics, two months can be a long time in cricketing terms and perhaps a break, some clarity between coach and board and a few deep breaths, just might bring the lions back roaring into contention.

Sri Lanka are on the back foot in terms of both administrative wrangling and on-field performance, the stark reality is that the muted Lions are running short of time to change what is an extremely negative vibe in their build up to the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019. Expat Sport’s Dan McTiernan reports.