‘Poor shot selection cost us the game’

Ravi LADDUWAHETTY reporting from Pallekelle

Sri Lanka cricket captain Tillekeratne Dilshan, addressing the post match news conference at Pallekelle on Wednesday night, said that poor shot selection cost Sri Lanka the first ODI against Michael Clarke’s Aussies.

He was responding to a question from the Daily News as to what went wrong with the Sri Lankan top and middle order after he and fellow opener Upul Tharanga were cruising along at one time at seven runs an over giving hopes of a 300 plus total, but slid down to 117/7 at one time. “We did not have enough runs on the board and 191 was simply not enough. It was a case of bad shot selection and that was why we ended by at 191 all out.

“We gave Michelle Johnson three wickets, but the other three wickets that we gave him were virtually gifted on a platter. We could have made a match out of it, had we got 250 plus,” he said.

When pointed out by this newspaper that it was the bowlers who did the batting for him with top scorer Suraj Randiv (41) and Nuwan Kulasekera (34) who, in a 60 run partnership, took the score to 191 all out, he rebutted: “We are an eleven member team and that was team work!” Asked whether he sees Michelle Johnson whose career best performance of 6/31 on Wednesday night was to be a threat, he said that it was not so.

“Upul Tharanga and I were facing the Australian bowling very comfortably, but it was the poor shot selection that was the downfall of the Sri Lankan innings,” he said.

However, he asserted that the team will learn from the mistakes of the first ODI and rebound strongly to win the others and the ODI series as well.

We have two days practice and to correct what went wrong in the first game and we will be playing good cricket, he said.

The skipper noted that Australia had to chase at a rate of only 2.5 runs an over and did not need to play reckless strokes, unlike in the T20s where they had to be consistent at around 7-8 runs an over.

He also said that the fitness of Lasith Malinga will be reviewed soon and he be recalled for the second ODI at Sooriyawewa on Sunday.

He also defended the decision to play Suraj Randiv in the first one day at the expense of Jeewan Mendis, claiming that the former had bagged five wickets in the previous encounter and added that it was hard to leave out a good player. He said that spinners- Rangana Herath and Jeewan Mendis were good bowlers, but reiterated however, that it was the batsmen who let the team down on Monday.

When asked at to why Dilruwan Perera was played in the T20 match at the expense of Suraj Randiv, Dilshan defended the decision, claiming that Perera was the best bowler in the T20 Provincial Tournament and that there was a world of difference between T20 and 50 over cricket! He also said that all the talents of the poolists would be effectively exploited to best of his ability. Further asked why Dilruwan Perera was left out for Suraj Randiv, Dilshan said that no team could have four off spinners for the same game!

Asked why there were fixtures at the Rangiri Dambulu Stadium for the entirety of the Australian tour, he said that it was the decision of Sri Lanka Cricket and that as cricketers, they had to be able to perform on any playing venue.