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| Monday, 23 August 2004 |
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Lanka 'A' tour to England - a refreshing approach by Sa'adi Thawfeeq Stan Nell may not be everyone's favourite cup of tea as a cricket coach, but he certainly did a fantastic job with the Sri Lanka 'A' team on their recent tour to England. The team's outstanding tour record was part of the contribution he made towards their success. They won seven out of seven one-day games against English county sides, and had a won-draw-lost record in the three first-class matches they played. "But more than winning it was the whole approach to the game which was quite refreshing," said Michael Tissera who managed the team. "Stan did a superb job as coach. He was very professional, very aggressive and he had that real Australian approach. He worked the players really hard and they responded fairly well. The players' attitude and success on the tour was the way he handled them. There's no question about it," said Tissera. "They learnt that professional cricket demands a lot of hard work. The tour has given the players an inkling of what is expected of them at the top level and how hard they have to work if they want to be professionals. "They got a lot of confidence the way they batted. People say the ball moves on English wickets and all that. But you have to see to believe the way the batsmen dominated the bowlers," he said. Tissera said that against West Indies' full Test bowling line up of Best, Edwards, Lawson, Bravo and Banks (only Pedro Collins was missing) at Shenley, Sri Lanka 'A' got 350. "Mind you we were without Avishka (Gunawardene), Saman (Jayantha) and (Thilina) Kandamby, all of whom had returned home for the Asia Cup. We batted really well. The pace didn't worry them," said Tissera. "The West Indies bowled quick but (Ian) Daniel and others didn't bother about it. They got in line and batted well. In those days when someone comes and bowls quick the batsmen are worried and apprehensive," he said. The confidence to face the fast bowlers was borne out of the work they did at home befoe they went on the tour. "We practiced at the R. Premadasa Stadium where the wickets were bouncy and quick and that helped them to get behind the ball. They got hit on the knuckles and on the helmet but they didn't flinch. When they went out and played on good wickets in England it was like a carnival for them as they had overcome the hard part at home," said Tissera. "I must say I recommend that any team making a tour abroad should practice on quick bouncy wickets at home. We got those wickets made at Premadasa Stadium and I think it helped the boys tremendously," he continued. "Another good thing is that every player in the squad got half an hour's batting at the nets including all the bowlers. At some stage on the tour the bowlers also contributed," he said. Tissera said the itinerary was really tough. The first 14 days they played seven one-dayers every other day while on the intervening days they were traveling, having practice and gym work. "The coach and physio (Lal Thamal) did a good job keeping them fit considering the hard itinerary." After coming through the nine of the 10 tour matches with an unbeaten record the one game they played badly against Somerset. "It was as if a switch had been switched off. It was mental more than physical. We should have saved the game. But we had no excuse. We just played badly," said Tissera. On top of that Prasanna Jayawardene got injured in the first session of the game when he went to stop a ball to his right. He fell and hurt his back and didn't keep wickets again in the match. Gajanayake substituted for him. In the second innings (Nuwan) Kulasekera cut his finger while cleaning his bat with a blade and could hardly bowl," he said. Tissera said that the cupboard was not all that bare as had been made out with spinners. "All this time we have said we have no spinners. Two to three spinners have come on in the first side. We had Bathiya Perera bowling more overs on this tour than he has bowled in the last four years in club cricket. He is a leg spinner and has got a good loop and turn," said Tissera. "The spinners are not getting the opportunity because the club captains are just not bowling them. They get hit for two fours and off they go. Unless you bowl you can't get the confidence. I think this tour is going to help Bathiya quite a bit," Tissera continued. The three spinners on the tour Kaushal Lokuarachchi, Suraj Mohamed and Perera recently went to India for a ten-day spin clinic soon after their arrival from England. They came under former Indian spinners Laxman Sivaramakrishnan and Maninder Singh. "With Bathiya, Suraj and Loku I don't think our spin cupboard is all that bare. Given a year or a year and a half the spinners will come on," said Tissera. "Suraj bowled well. He is a tall boy and a good off-spinner. He has a good temperament and is also good fielder. I hope they don't push him. I don't think he has got that experience to play in the higher division just yet," summarized Tissera. "Loku will come on. A lot of people are of the impression that he is more of a roller of the ball than a spinner. We had a chat with him about this and according to D.S. de Silva he used to turn the ball at the beginning. According to Loku some overseas coach had come and changed his action and ever since then he has stopped turning the ball. Stan is going to suggest to DS that they look at the old videos of Loku and see whether they can get him back into his own action," he said. The manager praised the behaviour of the players on the tour and said: "They were a superb bunch of players. We made the ground rules before we went and everybody just fell in line. My job was made pretty easy. The discipline worked beautifully without anyone telling them." In his tour report Tissera has suggested to the cricket committee that they take a hard look at the present squad and decide in future that the 'A' side is going to comprise players with potential of playing for the country. "Otherwise it is going to be a waste of money. Up to now I think they have also given players who have done well in club cricket an opportunity of playing. But if you are not going to make that final step then you are wasting money on such players. I have suggested they keep a squad of about 20 carefully chosen players going so that they will be ready replacement for anybody in the first side," said Tissera. He said that if the players are to maintain their present fitness levels there should be continuity. "Although their fitness levels were okay, according to Stan there were only about three boys who reached the level of a top professional athlete. Others have to work. Given the training they've done, in a month or two more players will reach that standard," said Tissera. TOUR RECORD: Limited overs matches: Played 7, Won 7 (British Universities, Yorkshire, Durham, Worcestershire, Glamorgan, Sussex, Kent), Lost 0. First-class matches: Played 3, Won 1 (Glamorgan), Lost 1 (Somerset), Drawn 1 (West Indies). |
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