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| Friday, 1 October 2004 |
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Pakistan tour a big test for our spinners - Dyson By Sa'adi Thawfeeq Sri Lankan spinners cleared their first hurdle in the absence of the redoubtable Muttiah Muralitharan when they fashioned out a remarkable 313-run win at the SSC to give Sri Lanka its first Test series win over South Africa. They followed this up with another noteworthy performance by helping Sri Lanka to clean sweep the Proteas 5-0 in the one-day series. But Australian-born coach John Dyson believes that the tour to Pakistan offers them their biggest test without chief spinner Muralitharan who is still recuperating from a shoulder operation. "We have shown in Sri Lanka that we can win without Murali. He was missing for the South African matches and in England. This will be a bigger test because it is outside Sri Lanka and against one team in particular, which I think is very good," said Dyson reflecting on the upcoming one-day Paktel triangular series and two Test matches in Pakistan. Sri Lanka's opening match of the tournament is against Pakistan at Karachi on October 6. "On their day Pakistan can be really good but they can fluctuate very wildly. They've got some superb players and batsmen. Our spinners will be put under a lot more pressure this time. It will be interesting to see how they handle it," continued Dyson. "They handled it well once in the Test against South Africa. That was a big test for them because the decision not to play Murali was made on the morning of the match. To suddenly find that you are without your best spinner and to be thrown in with a job you would have thought you would not going to do, was a good test for them and they came over that pretty well. This Pakistan tour will be a further test because the opposition is very strong," he said. The three spinners picked to play the part are leg-spinners Upul Chandana and Kaushal Lokuarahchi and left-arm spinner Rangana Herath. "Upul and Ranga (if given opportunities) will have to bowl the best of his form. It is the same with Loku. Whoever is in form and whoever is troubling the batsmen will be given the matches," said Dyson. But with Sri Lanka going straight into the Test series after the one-day triangular without any practice games Dyson said: "We'll have a good look at the form of the spinners in the one-dayers and get a feel of how they are performing also in the nets. We'll take it from there." Settled batting line up Sri Lanka's batting line-up for the one-dayers and Tests according to Dyson will very much the same with Kumar Sangakkara playing the role of wicket-keeper only in the shorter version of the game. "The batting order is fairly settled. We go in with the opening pair and Marvan (Atapattu) at no. 3 followed by Sangakkara, Jayawardene and Dilshan. Whether we play six or seven batsmen depends on the opposition we are up against and the wickets that we are playing on. If the deck gives the bowlers a bit of help we will decide for the extra batsmen. If we play on batting belters we might decide with six batters and go with an all-rounder," said Dyson. "In the Test side we have shown that Kalu (Kaluwitharana) batting at no. 7 has allowed Sanga to concentrate on his batting. We've done that for the last two Tests. It is not something new and I can see it continuing for the two Tests against Pakistan," he said. Apart from the spinners Dyson will also be looking at other areas of development during the tour. "We've got a couple of young guys like Maharoof who is still very new and developing. He's shown tremendous form. He's got tremendous potential in all areas of the game. "I will be keen to see him being given opportunities with the bat on this tour and further develop his bowling," said Dyson. "It will be good to see Kandamby grab his opportunity if he gets a break in the major games. He hasn't been able to do it yet and it will be good for Sri Lanka cricket too if we can find a comfortable middle-order player who is also a comfortable hitter. Dilhara (Fernando) has shown some excellent form in the nets and in the practice games. He is rearing to go back in providing he gets the opportunity," he said. Sri Lanka who have been playing some very good cricket in the past 12 months or so are not going to let the disappointment of failing to defend the ICC Champions trophy in England get in their way. "We have been in very good form for the past few months. We have played pretty good cricket and the fielding's played a big part of that. We had one bad day. We fielded particularly well for the last 12 months and we had a few lapses. You expect that occasionally when you have played 22 one-day games and won 18 of them and out of the 12 Test matches we played we have won four and drawn four," said Dyson. Similar conditions "We are going to a country where the climatic conditions are very similar to here maybe a little cooler in certain places. I think our boys will like the sort of wickets they get in Pakistan. I expect them to continue their good form," he said. Reflecting back on Sri Lanka's disappointing exit from the Champions trophy at the Rose Bowl where they lost to England, Dyson said: "We were caught on a day which was cold and wet and given the vast change in climatic conditions it affected our fielding game which had been good for so long. "We missed a couple of critical chances and we paid for it in the end. I am not being critical of the two guys who dropped the catches because they have fielded brilliantly for us for a long time. In this particular game our fielding let us down." Evaluating the on-going one-day triangular series, Dyson said that Pakistan play well under home advantage although their loss in the ICC championship semi-final to West Indies will be viewed 'with a bit of kick in their backside'. "Everyone expected them to beat the West Indies and no one expected West Indies to win the tournament with the form that they've shown for such a long period of time." "Zimbabwe are still struggling to come up with wins but some of their players are putting good performances on the board. Because we have played so much against them they are getting to know us almost on first name terms," said Dyson. "We've already spoken of guarding against complacency against Zimbabwe. The players are aware of that. They know they need to be on their game to make sure that Zimbabwe does not slip under their guard," he said. Dyson paid a tribute to physio C.J. Clarke and trainer Shaun Duff keeping the players not only free from injuries but also in 'keeping them match fit and on the park'. "There's been a lot of cricket. CJ and Duff have done a tremendous job. We really haven't lost anyone. Murali's was a long term injury," he said. |
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