dailynews
 ONLINE


OTHER PUBLICATIONS


OTHER LINKS

Marriage Proposals
Classified
Government Gazette

Bandara should be pitted against the Aussies and Proteas

CRICKET: For far too long, spinner Malinga Bandara, though making up the cricket squad on tour - has had to time and again be content on being sidelined, cooling his heels in the pavilion, while his colleagues performed out there in the middle.

This paints a sorry picture indeed, so disheartening to be the sad side of our cricket. Not to mention the frustration and the demoralizing effect, that will begin to take hold of him, which in turn will lead Bandara to forget his bowling and, to commence questioning negatively, as to whether he is a bowler at all. A part of a wasted exercise in cricket, at the international level.

Encouragement, support and continuity playing at the highest level, is what spinner Bandara requires, if he is to realize his potential to the full as a spinner of the ball.

Bandara bowls with infectious enthusiasm, oozing with confidence, relishing what he does with a hopeful thrust, in every rhythmic delivery he sends down.

This apart, he is also a useful batsman and a safe fielder, which does make him a compact cricketer. Now it might surprise him, if he quite unexpectedly is selected to play, - which may see him taking time to settle down to find his rhythm - then the fault would not be his, but that of the powers that be in not providing him opportunities to play, especially whenever there is a need for a bowler of his type.

As we dwell on the batsmen of Australia and South Africa, we become mindful that they have all been nurtured and developed amidst a wide array of awesome pace bowlers. And so as batsmen, their forte lies against pace bowlers. They like the ball coming fast and comfortably score at a rapid rate.

Their weakness however lies in the fronting up to extremely fine spinners of the ball. They squirm against spin to be hesitant, batting tentatively to become vulnerable.

And the emerging question is why do we load our team with pace bowlers against the Aussies, and feed them with what they delight in. Rather we ought to be pressurising them with a three pronged spin attack in Murali, Sanath and Bandara with Dilshan chipping in. As for pace Vaas, Malinga and Maharoof would suffice.

The strategy against the head strong Aussies must be 'attack is the best form of defence'. We should psyche them before they do it to us. Create a dent in their confidence, to so frustrate them to make them desperate against our spinners with the support of specialised close-in-fielders, and then we would have them on the run.

For this the umpires must be fair, for more often than not, many an Aussie batsman keep making big scores on a regular basis, because the umpires have failed to weight the scale evenly, with legitimate appeals at times being turned down.

We do not profess to be cricket connoisseurs nor pundits of the game, but as laymen being ardent followers of the game for a considerable length of time - are led to believe that the talented spinner Bandara bowling in tandem with Murali could prove quite a handful for the Australian and South African batsmen.

EMAIL |   PRINTABLE VIEW | FEEDBACK

Gamin Gamata - Presidential Community & Welfare Service
www.srilankans.com
www.srilankaapartments.com
www.news.lk
www.defence.lk
www.helpheroes.lk/
www.peaceinsrilanka.org
www.army.lk

| News | Editorial | Financial | Features | Political | Security | Sport | World | Letters | Obituaries | News Feed |

Produced by Lake House Copyright � 2006 The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd.

Comments and suggestions to : Web Editor