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| Tuesday, 10 August 2004 |
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Forget slow turning pitches says Dyson by Sa'adi Thawfeeq, GALLE, Monday - Sri Lanka coach John Dyson said that Sri Lanka should forget playing Test matches on slow turning pitches and prepare tracks that give assistance to bowlers. "We have to get away from this thought that we must play on slow low turning wickets. We should play on wickets with a bit more bounce and pace and back ourselves to be better than the other team," said Dyson after the first Test between Sri Lanka and South Africa ended in a tame draw here on Sunday. Dyson's comments come in the wake of Sri Lanka's failure to beat South Africa at a venue, where the home team is heavily favoured to win because of the assistance the pitch gives the spin bowlers. But what the Galle pitch provided over the five days was low and slow turn, which didn't benefit either team. In the absence of any bounce and pace on the pitch Sri Lankan spinners were found to be unproductive while South Africa were able to successfully negotiate the 90 overs losing only three wickets in their second innings to earn a draw, which in their books was a morale victory for them. Four years ago at this venue South Africa suffered an innings and 15 runs defeat with Muttiah Muralitharan taking 13 wickets for 171 runs. But at Galle over the past five days, Muralitharan looked a shadow of himself unable to conjure the magic that had brought about the downfall of many Test countries when he finished with a match bag of five wickets for 167 runs. "Murali would admit that's not the best he's bowled. We have all on numerous occasions seen him bowl far better than he has today. But Murali is only human. I don't think he had his best day today," said Dyson. "The doosra has been there for a long time and it came into prominence in the last six months. It probably does make him a less effective bowler not bowling it. When the ball is going only in one direction or batsmen think it's going in one direction, it is easier to bat against him," he said. The doosra delivery that goes the other way (like a leg-break to a right-hander) has been banned by the ICC after it was reported by match referee Chris Broad at the end of the series against Australia in March. Research is being carried out during the ICC Champions trophy tournament in England next month and the future of the doosra hinges on the results. Dyson said that all bowlers appreciate a little bit of bounce and a little bit of pace, even the spinners. He said a combination of the slowness and lack of bounce in the pitch didn't help the bowlers. "SSC has definitely more bounce and pace. A result is more likely there for sure. The SSC side nets are the best in Sri Lanka." The second Test begins at the SSC tomorrow. "The declaration was excellent and gave South Africa a chance of winning if they really batted well or went after it. I think they decided very early on that they couldn't on that wicket taking into consideration that our batsmen had said that it was difficult to score runs on the fourth afternoon," said Dyson "South Africa obviously had in mind that they were going to bat out today. They didn't play any shots they batted very cautiously and they come away with a draw. They are happy with that," he said. Sri Lanka have failed to win their last three Tests played here drawing against England and losing to Australia before yesterday's drawn result. "The one against England we didn't win is because of the weather we lost time. We had them nine down. We lost to Australia because they played extremely well plus the wicket deceived everybody. The wicket here in the last two Tests has been deceiving," said Dyson. "This game here is disappointing because we won the toss and batted well in the first innings. They batted well in both their innings and we couldn't bowl them out," he said. Dyson said the positives to come out of the Test for Sri Lanka was the batting of vice captain Mahela Jayawardene who scored a magnificent double century which gave him the man of the match award. "Vaasy (Chaminda Vaas) played a tremendous innings and bowled well throughout the match. Kumar (Sangakkara) showed with his knock of 58 that he is on the verge of another really big innings. (Farveez) Maharoof bowled with good control and good length and line," said Dyson. |
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