End of the road for Dickwella?

Niroshan Dickwella watches Kane Williamson score run on the off side during the first cricket Test between Sri Lanka and New Zealand at Christchurch. Dickwella dropped an easy catch when Willianson was at 33

By Sa’adi Thawfeeq

Will the first cricket Test against New Zealand which Sri Lanka lost so agonisingly by two wickets off the final ball of the match be Niroshan Dickwella’s swan song?

The result not only cost Sri Lanka the match but also shut them out completely from a rare opportunity of qualifying for a place in the ICC World Test Championship final against Australia at the Oval in June. Instead, India will be Australia’s opponents in the final.

Sri Lanka came into the two-Test series against New Zealand having to win both Tests and they did virtually everything to win the first Test, but some costly mistakes on the field when New Zealand were chasing 285 to win in 70 overs, saw their hopes of qualifying evaporate.

For quite some time Dickwella’s position as wicket-keeper/batsman has been questioned in several quarters and captain Dimuth Karunaratne had defended his gloveman on many occasions. As designated wicket-keeper Dickwella averages 31.62 with the bat (2751 runs) from 53 Tests with 96 as the highest of his 22 fifties and is his country’s most successful Test wicket-keeper with 160 dismissals (133ct, 27st).

In the pre-match press conference when the subject of persisting with Dickwella was brought up, Karunaratne replied: “We first look at Dickwella as a wicket keeper. Compared to others around him he is right on top. For Test cricket we need a good wicket-keeper unlike for the ODIs and T20Is. From the runs point of view Dickwella has not made many but he has done his bit with the tailenders. With Nishan Madushka coming in he knows there is pressure for his place. If he doesn’t perform, there’s a chance of Nishan replacing him?”

Well, how did Dickwella fare in the first Test? He was out for 2 and 0 and then dropped a catch offered by Kane Williamson on 33 off Lahiru Kumara. New Zealand were in a wobble at 89-2 chasing 285 and Williamson’s wicket at that stage would have made it 89-3. How huge a miss that was Sri Lanka was to find out 35 overs later. 

With that reprieve Williamson went on to score a sublime unbeaten century and seal the match off the last ball – that too, off a bye when all Dickwella had to do was to aim and hit the wicket, but he missed! And with that the match! New Zealand won by two wickets off the final ball.  

At the post-match press conference Karunaratne’s view on that missed catch: “If we could have grabbed that catch it would have been a different story. It is part of the game, catches can be dropped during tough periods. There were also a few misfields which cost us the game. If we are to beat a side like New Zealand at home we have to minimise the mistakes going forward.”   

The game was so close and could have gone either way. In such circumstances emotions can run high and Dickwella’s miss of Williamson will be the sore talking point, let alone other mistakes on the field, like when substitute fielder Chamika Karunaratne misfielded and allowed a boundary whereas if the ball was stopped, would have resulted in only a couple of runs.

Following a double batting failure and a costly lapse on the field the pressure will be high on Dickwella to be dropped from the second Test starting at Wellington on Friday.

The selector on tour is Romesh Kaluwitharana. Being a former Sri Lanka wicket-keeper batsman like Dickwella, Kaluwitharana knows the trials and tribulations he had to undergo during his career before finally hanging up his gloves. Will he show some empathy towards Dickwella and retain him for the second Test despite the setbacks? Or will it be too costly to preserve Dickwella for yet another Test after all that has taken place?

Dickwella is no doubt talented but lacks discipline. Remember that late night Durham bubble breach during the tour of England in 2021 that landed Dickwella as well as two of his team mates Kusal Mendis and Danushka Gunathilake in trouble with the local cricket authorities who fined and banned them from cricket. Pity some good mentors did not take Dickwella under his wing. He could have benefitted from some mature counselling.

If a change is to be made Sri Lanka have three in the mix for the position, two of them Kusal Mendis and Dinesh Chandimal and uncapped Nishan Madushka. While Chandimal has kept wickets in Test cricket Mendis has not although he has in the white ball. Both of them are currently picked as specialist batsmen but if Madushka is to come in he will have to bat in the top order. Will Sri Lanka want to make a change and upset a settled batting line up?

Madushka made all his runs in prolific fashion for Ragama CC in the Major Club League and then for Sri Lanka ‘A’ against England Lions either as a number three bat or as an opener. He is currently in terrific form with the bat and if at all he is to be given a break, now is the time when he is striking the ball in the middle of the bat with great consistency.