The Second Test match in retrospect

Richard Dwight

The England-Sri Lanka Second cricket test at the SSC was marred by sporadic showers, bad light (brought about by longer nights and shorter days, making twilight to step in early at this time of the year) a placid unsportive wicket which enabled batsmen to score freely, and of course the woeful lapse or two by one of the umpires.

Quite a few batsmen from both sides made good use of the friendly wicket, to bat on an even keel to keep the scoreboard moving and pile up the runs, but with no avail. For the dismal gloomy weather was by no means a motivating factor, it served to encourage negative thinking and the test match in a sense distanced itself from a result to end in a draw.

Michael Vandort did well to register his third century and has to an extent cemented his place in the side as a dogged gutsy opener.

Evidence of this was seen recently when he fronting upto the Aussie pacie Brett Lee, he with the advantage of his height thwarted Lee's discomforting bouncers, for the ball straight from his bat, to drop dead at his feet.

However, he does tend to edge the ball into the slips and, the two close-in fielders on either side of the wicket have been irksome to him.

Tentative as Vandort is, he does not give one the impression that he is in command, to at times be unpredictable.

But he has it in him, to see his way through. This remarkable difference was noticeable, when he batted along with the accomplished Mahela Jayawardena, whose batting was most reassuring to lift spirits and bolster the confidence of the team.

It was heartening to witness the tidy compact batting of Prasanna Jayawardena, which certainly adds strength to the middle order.

This apart, he is found to be a very competent wicket keeper, who has the ability to gather the ball with lightening speed when keeping up-the question that emerges is why had such an agile, versatile wicket keeper batsman, to wait so long to play at the highest level.

Chamara Silva does seem to be getting into his stride to make runs and will do well to follow the example set by Prasanna, especially when it comes to batting he does seem to have potential as a spinner of the ball and should be made use of.

There is a tendency to allow batsmen to settle down to consolidate themselves, to grow in confidence to make runs at will and, then turn onto the spinner, who has to labour against batsmen who by now are well established.

Batsmen are wary of spinners and this should be exploited, not by delaying the spinner from the attack but by bringing him in early, or in short bursts. Away from the conventional, orthodox thinking of having pacemen bowling for long periods and to have them commence bowling after breaks as well.

We must be innovative enough to try a gimmick or two by bringing the spinner straightaway after a break in play. Fresh thinking is needed in this regard, and a supportive spinner for Murali seems necessary.

Jehan's body language on the field, does suggest that he isn't quite into this level of cricket. We have always said that our local domestic cricket tournaments aren't adequate to be the standard and criteria to asses a cricketer's ability at the international level.

Those performing well at the local tournaments have left us disillusioned when they fail at the international level.