by Rex Clementine
In the just concluded two match unofficial Tests between Sri Lanka ‘A’ and England Lions, the selectors of both sides seemed to be content in allowing players who had represented the country in recent months to find their feet and get back into form. England of course have a busy Test summer while god only knows what’s in store for poor blokes like Dimuth Karunaratne and Angelo Mathews. after New Zealand. One off Tests seems to be the way forward for Sri Lanka for nonprofit making tours like Ireland whom they will host in Colombo.
Quite a few guys who’ll go on the tour to New Zealand have done well in the unofficial Test series against England Lions like Vishwa Fernando, Chamika Karunaratne, Praveen Jayawickrama and Lasith Embuldeniya. This will excite the selectors and they have reason to back their decisions and play some of these players in New Zealand. But that combination is not going to help in a place like New Zealand. The selectors need to be bold and have to look beyond numbers.
Some may wonder why we have only highlighted the bowlers and not batters. Well, that’s because Sri Lanka’s batting is well set and opener Nishan Madushka will struggle to make it to the side despite his prolific form. However he should be in the squad. Christchurch and Wellington are part of the paradise and let the rookie get a feel of one of the most beautiful places on earth. As British adventurer Bear Grylls once said, ‘There is only one word for New Zealand – epic!.’ The selectors will be excited to give Chamika Karunaratne a go but they have got to realize that he needs to first cement his place in the white ball teams before developing into a longer format player. Chamika doesn’t have the pace to make breakthroughs against a Test side and at maximum can give you ten overs per innings and coming to bat at number eight, he’s not going to do a Ravichandran Ashwin.
Both left-arm spinners Jayawickrama and Embuldeniya impressed against England Lions and both shouldn’t play. Hagely Oval in Christchurch and Basin Reserve in Wellington aren’t going to help spin and Sri Lanka should stick to the lone spinner in their all-rounder Dhananjaya de Silva.
What that does is give them the luxury of playing four seamers, which they have rarely done overseas. Asitha Fernando picks himself as the leader of the attack and possessing good control he will have a field day in New Zealand keeping the slip cordon busy. Asitha gets his wickets with the older ball as well reverse swinging the ball to good effect.
Vishwa Fernando provides variety sharing the new ball while Lahiru Kumara’s extra pace will be quite handy.
Dilshan Madusanka should be the fourth pick. He’s got pace and his left-arm angle makes life difficult for batsmen. Sri Lanka are still not out of the equation for the World Test Championship final in June at The Oval and they need to be bold in New Zealand.