Adjust and adapting to three different types of cricket

Richard Dwighi

Most if not all of us know that Test cricket, the ODIs and the Twenty/20s differ considerably from each other. Come to think of it, they are completely at variance with each other - not only from the point of duration but also from the way in which you approach it, and the attitude you take towards the aforesaid types of cricket.

It’s common knowledge that Test cricket though long drawn out, is primarily a waiting game, that calls for much patience and thinking - where as the match progresses rival skippers keep resorting to strategies and ploys at every stage of the game, to outdo the other.

But in the shorter versions of the game there isn’t, as the term itself implies, much time for strategy and thinking.

The need of the hour is to just keep flogging the ball with quick fire action, be it in the ODIs or in the twenty/20s, and the side that does it better than the other wins.

It’s against this background, that the mind dwells on the forthcoming 52-day tour of the Sri Lanka cricket team to India - where between the months of November and December, it will be engaged in playing 3 tests, 5 ODIs and 2 twenty/20 matches.

Indeed a tightly scheduled spate of matches, with one form of cricket closely following on the heels of other. Cricket, understandably due to time constraints is now played in such circumstances, with as well to bolster test cricket may be.

Notwithstanding this, the cricketers for their part will, like quick changing artistes have to adjust and adapt themselves to the exacting demands of test cricket, the hurry and haste of ODIs and the speed of the twenty/20s.

This therefore will not be easy specially on the younger emerging cricketers.

It’s perhaps with this in mind that the selectors have with much thought picked three separate squads, whilst maintaining senior players to front up to all three versions of the game.

As we see it it’s not going to be easy to take on the Indians at this point of time.

For the reason that our morale in low in that in the recent past we have suffered a reverse or two and have not come together collectively as a team.

The Indians on the contrary are proving to be a formidable side, brimming with confidence on having defeated the Aussies convincingly in two consecutive ODIs and losing the first narrowly by 4 runs after the top order batsmen failed.

But in a game of cricket anything can happen and if we do spring a surprise and come out on top, it will certainly do a world of good for our cricket.