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| November 12, 2003 | Wednesday | Ramazan 16, 1424 |
Lankans upbeat about facing England
COLOMBO, Nov 11: Sri Lanka’s cricket captain is more worried about brittle middle-order batting and sloppy fielding than the political crisis that has gripped this tropical island as his team prepares for a three-Test series against England.
“It doesn’t bother us, we just concentrate on our game. The English tour is on so we have to keep focussed on it,” Hashan Tillakaratne said on Tuesday.
English cricket authorities expressed concern over traveling to Sri Lanka after the island plunged into a political crisis last week when its President Chandrika Kumaratunga sacked three key ministers of her rival Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s Cabinet.
She suspended parliament and briefly declared a state of emergency. The prime minister said he will meet with the president on Wednesday for talks.
Tillakaratne said that his team, coming off a long break after their West Indies tour in June, were well prepared.
Sri Lanka’s last two campaigns against England were a failure. They lost a home series 1-2 in 2001 and suffered a 0-2 series defeat in England last year.
Sri Lankans have since crashed to the seventh place of the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) Test rankings from third, losing to South Africa and the West Indies last year and drawing a two-match home series against New Zealand.
Tillakaratne rates England as a good side with top class batsmen and bowlers but said Sri Lanka still had an edge over them playing in their home conditions in front of home crowds.
“When I look back at the last two series against England, they won not because they played good cricket, just that we played bad cricket. We gave it to them on a platter,” Tillakaratne said.
“I’m sure if we identify our mistakes and can rectify those, we can give them a good fight.”
“I’m not bothered about the rankings. If we can play well and play as a team I’m sure we can come up in the rankings,” he said.
But worries for Tillakaratne are a fragile middle-order and sloppy fielding.
Mahela Jayawardena, Sri Lanka’s No. 4 batsman, has not scored a century since his 107 against England at Lord’s in May 2002, while Kumar Sangakkara’s last big score, 230, came in March 2002 in the Asian Test Championship final against Pakistan.
Sri Lanka’s bowling strength remains intact despite the absence of pacer Prabath Nissanka through injury, Tillakaratne said, rejecting opinions that key bowlers Muttiah Muralitharan and Chaminda Vaas have faded.
One cricket analyst commented last week that the last three Test series have seen both bowlers’ strike rate rise over 70 balls per wicket.
Left-arm spinner Rangana Herath, who emerges from a four-year exile since his first test series, could be a possible spin partner for Muralitharan.
Tillakaratne said that a “decent opportunity” would be given to uncapped pacemen Nuwan Kulasekara and Lasith Malinga to enable them to perform without pressure.
Tillakaratne, 36, who was reappointed captain in April in a restructuring process after a failed World Cup campaign, has not won a Test so far.—APP/AP
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