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| Friday, 14 May 2004 |
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Lanka looking for motivation ahead of Bulawayo Test Sa'adi Thawfeeq reporting from Zimbabwe BULAWAYO, Thursday - Sri Lanka are looking at various options of trying to motivate themselves to give off their best against the weak opposition put up by Zimbabwe going into the second cricket Test which starts at Queens Sports Club here tomorrow. They won the first Test inside three days by an innings at Harare and are leading 1-0 in the two-Test series. A repetition of that Test could happen here again considering the fact that the contracts of the 15 rebel cricketers have been terminated by the Zimbabwe Cricket Union. "It is difficult to motivate the boys than at Harare. We haven't had enough competitive cricket in the five one-dayers and one Test played so far. We'll have to make up our minds and say that this is the last game and try to finish the tour on a winning note," said Sri Lanka captain Marvan Atapattu. With Sri Lanka's short tour to Malaysia for three one-dayers against Pakistan later this month being postponed, the tour selectors have had a change of plans and are strongly in favour of retaining Nuwan Zoysa. The earlier plan was to rest Zoysa and given Dilhara Fernando a Test. "Zoysa deserves another go. If he picks up another five-wicket haul it will do his confidence a lot of good," said Atapattu. "It is unfortunate that the Malaysian tour is off. I am afraid Dilhara may have to return home without playing in a Test." Fernando has not played in a Test since December 2003 against England at the SSC because of a stress fracture in his back. He recovered from the injury and was included for the Zimbabwe tour where he played in two one-day internationals and in a three-day practice game. In the meantime, Zoysa who took his place bowled superbly at Harare to pick up his first five-wicket innings haul in a Test match with figures of 5 for 20 (match bag of eight wickets). Sri Lanka will also retain Wesley schoolboy Farveez Maharoof who performed fairly well on his Test debut making 40 runs and capturing two wickets at Harare. "It is not fair to give him one chance and to leave him out. He didn't have the worst of Test matches at Harare. Considering the fact that he had got some runs and wickets we are looking at him as an all-rounder," said Atapattu. "He has been around with the under 19 side for a while and his talent is showing. He looks like a player with a lot of confidence." However Atapattu was totally against awarding Test caps to players with ease as happened two years ago against Bangladesh. "Test caps should not be thrown to each and everyone just because you are playing a less competitive opposition. I don't want to get into controversies but sometime back players were given Test caps and they are not even in the present team. That is something that I won't approve," said Atapattu. "We work hard for a Test cap and we play competitive cricket 99 percent of the time. Just because we play a team like Zimbabwe, everybody is talking about getting freshers in. I don't think that is fair enough," he said. Sri Lanka will also retain Prasanna Jayawardene as wicket-keeper. "We want to give Prasanna a full series and see how he fares and then decide how we go from there onwards. With Sanga around (Kumar Sangakkara) we have an option to switch wicket-keepers at any time," said Atapattu. "I think this is the best way to go against an opposition like Zimbabwe. To pinpoint a player and take the chances and see how he fares." With the pitch expected to have more grass than at Harare, Sri Lanka will stick to their combination of three seamers and one spinner. "Although conditions are much drier and less cooler than at Harare I don't think we need to play another spinner. It has enough grass to play three seamers," said Atapattu. Zimbabwe made two changes for tomorrow with batsman Mark Vermeulen and uncapped right-arm fast bowler Tawanda Mpariwa replacing bowlers Blessing Mahwire and Prosper Utseya. The ZCU decided to drop Mahwire after his bowling action was reported by match referee Mike Procter to the ICC at the end of the first Test at Harare. Zimbabwe's concern has been their batting, which has failed them in both one-dayers and Test. The return of Vermeulen (from injury) who has played in seven Tests including a century and, who was not part of the rebellion with ZCU will add some strength to the faltering batting. Cricketers relax Having finished off the Harare Test inside three days the Sri Lankan team had five days off during which time they celebrated off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan becoming the highest wicket-taker in Test cricket and also made a visit to Victoria Falls, the main attraction for any tourist in Zimbabwe. Skipper Atapattu relaying the events said: "We had an enjoyable five days. We had champagne in the dressing room. Ordered some dinner and had a get together in the hotel room with a quiz nite thrown in for good measure. The trip to Victoria Falls was a little bit tiring. It took us 10 hours to go and return, but nevertheless we all enjoyed it." With the exception of three players (Sanath Jayasuriya, Chaminda Vaas and Muralitharan) who went to the Falls on the tour in 1994/5 it was a first time for the rest of the team. The teams: SRI LANKA (from): Marvan Atapattu (captain), Sanath Jayasuriya, Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Tilan Samaraweera, Prasanna Jayawardene, Chaminda Vaas, Nuwan Zoysa, Muttiah Muralitharan, Dilhara Fernando, Upul Chandana. ZIMBABWE (from): Tatenda Taibu (captain), Stuart Matsikenyeri, Brendan Taylor, Dion Ebrahim, Mark Vermeulen, Elton Chigumbura, Alester Maregwede, Mluleki Nkala, Douglas Hondo, Tinashe Panyangara, Tawanda Mpariwa, Visu Sibanda. UMPIRES: Rudi Koertzen (South Africa) and Billy Bowden (New Zealand), Match Referee: Mike Procter (South Africa). |
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