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| Saturday, 8 November 2003 |
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Testing times ahead From the Press box by Sa'adi Thawfeeq The English cricketers will be here on Thursday and the country will once again be buzzing with excitement for the next six weeks when Sri Lanka come to grips with them in a series of three One-day Internationals and three Test matches. The current political situation in the country is unlikely to dampen the enthusiasm and spirit of cricket lovers contrary to the reports that have been appearing in the international media. For Sri Lanka cricket it is not only going to be a testing time, but a test of character. The challenges facing new coach John Dyson are tough. The cricket public at large will judge him on how the team performs and he will need every bit of luck to get his maiden series as coach off on a winning note. If the International Cricket Council (ICC) Test and One-day International Championship table are to be used as the yardstick to gauge the present ratings of a country, then we can without doubt say that Sri Lanka will start the England series from scratch. They occupy seventh position in both forms of the game which is not a good sign. Only West Indies, Zimbabwe and Bangladesh are below them in the Test rankings and, New Zealand, Zimbabwe, Kenya and Bangladesh in the One-day rankings. There were times when Sri Lanka cricket was on the rise and when they occupied the no. 3 position in both forms. That position is now England's. Their cricket under the competent guidance of coach Duncan Fletcher has gone from strength to strength so that they can no longer be regarded as the whipping boys which they once were. The change at the top with Michael Vaughan taking over as captain from Nasser Hussain, has not affected their transformation at all with the wins coming with constant regularity. Vaughan appears to have dealt with the swift transition from being England's best batsman to being the national captain, leading his team to thrilling victories in one-day series against Pakistan, South Africa and Zimbabwe and, a Test series-levelling (2-2) victory over South Africa at the Oval and, a 2-0 Test win against Bangladesh. Sri Lanka's Test fortunes has dipped so much that they have not had the sweet taste of success at the highest level for the past 16 months. They have gone through three two-Test series with three losses and three draws against South Africa, New Zealand and the West Indies. Their last Test win was against Bangladesh at the SSC on July 31, 2002. Sri Lanka's one-day record is slightly better with 16 wins and 18 losses since September 30, 2002, the day they last played in a tournament final. They shared the ICC Champions trophy with India. Since then they have gone through four tournaments - the VB series in Australia, World Cup in South Africa, Cherry Blossom Cup in Sharjah and the Bank Alfallah Cup at home failing to qualify for a final place in any of them. Muralitharan factor One of the reasons for Sri Lanka's lack of success at Test level is that their two key bowlers Muttiah Muralitharan and Chaminda Vaas have not been able to reap the same rewards as in the past. The last three Test series has seen their strike rates go up as high as over 70 balls per wicket. Muralitharan takes a wicket every 70 balls and Vaas every 76 balls. This type of strike rates is not going to bring a team much success and Sri Lanka's performance in Tests is truly reflected by it. Present day batsmen have adopted successful methods to counter Vaas and Muralitharan by wearing them down and making them work harder for their wickets. They have achieved a great degree of success with such measures. West Indies captain Brian Lara against whom Muralitharan has had many enthralling battles said during the series in the Caribbean early this year, his team tried very hard to deprive the bowler of five wickets in an innings. In two Tests Muralitharan achieved that figure only once. When they were last here in 2001, England was very successful in countering the spin of Muralitharan. They went home with the series 2-1 tucked under their belts. They employed similar tactics at home the following year against a somewhat unfit Muralitharan, who was recovering from a dislocated shoulder and went onto win that series too 2-0 (1 drawn). Thus, in the past two series between the two countries, England have been able to counter the spin of Muralitharan successfully to fashion out series victories both away and at home. England's success is reflected by Muralitharan's figures against them in the two series where he averages nearly 100 balls (98.7) for each of the 22 wickets England are certain to adopt similar tactics against him in the oncoming series as well and Muralitharan will be the wiser not to allow them to get the upper hand as they had done in the past if Sri Lanka are to make any headway towards fashioning out their first Test victory in 16 months. |
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