Challenging cricket lies ahead of us - Moody
 

by Sa'adi Thawfeeq

Sri Lanka's Australian-born coach Tom Moody said the tour of India will be the start of a series of challenging cricket that lies ahead of them.

"It is an important tour for us. We've got some challenging cricket going ahead and this is the first stage of it. It is important that we continue the positive momentum we had at home," said Moody.

Since Moody took over as coach four months ago Sri Lanka has had an easy run at home beating West Indies and Bangladesh in Tests and one-day internationals and winning the IOC tri-series against India.

"The Indian Oil Cup final was a good test for us where we played well. In Test match cricket we played a depleted West Indies side and Bangladesh who are an emerging side. This tour is going to be a tough one like any country touring India finds it difficult. Sri Lanka's hasn't had Test success there before but only one-day success. I am looking forward to it," said Moody.

"There's a lot of cricket coming up which obviously involves a lot of travel. Those two things combined can be tiring. We might have to be mindful of maybe rotating a couple of players at certain stages. Overall, it's got a lot of disadvantages when you are playing challenging cricket," he said.

Moody said the conditions in India were similar to Sri Lanka. "Batting is a little bit freer over there. We stuck to the same squad because it is important that we keep some continuity. The selector have felt that we've got the right balance at the moment. Hopefully at the end of the seven matches everyone agrees with that."

Moody said that Sri Lanka was fortunate to have a team with a lot of experience playing in India and that he hoped to draw on that experience.

"We hope to tap their knowledge on the grounds at the various venues. We have done a little bit of research and seen what's happened there in the past in previous ODI games. What average totals there are at each ground and what percentage of pace and spin had been used throughout the games in the past. We are going there with a fair amount of knowledge with what we are going to be facing," he said.

Moody said that if Sri Lanka concentrates on what they do best and they play to their strengths and achieve all the things they aim to do whether training or in matchplay, they could overcome the obstacles. "There is no question about that."

He rated Upul Tharanga as 'a fine young player and a bright prospect'. "He has been given the opportunity to establish himself as an international player. He is a natural striker of the ball and a free flowing batsman."

On the role Tilan Samaraweera will play, Moody said: "His role is to add to the depth of the middle order. We felt that we needed another middle order player. Given that we have four players who can open the batting Marvan, Sangakkara, Jayasuriya and Tharanga, we felt that we needed to get an extra batsman in the middle. Sammy is a player who is in form and given that he is playing in the Test series straight after the one-dayers, it seems to make logical sense."

Moody said that Dilhara Lokuhettige was learning about the game as a young player. "He had a poor series against Bangladesh. I am sure he is looking forward to try and bounce back. It is going to be tough work for him because conditions in India are quite harsh on bowlers. He has got to draw much on the experience of others and learn from his experience and continue to develop as an all-round cricketer.

He is one of the all-rounders who plays the role in all three aspects of the game, batting, bowling and fielding."