England’s former coach masterminds Sri Lanka’s win

Sri Lanka Head Coach Chris Silverwood

Lahiru Kumara

• “He got involved in a lot of the planning and told us about the combinations to go with” – Gamage

BENGALURU: Defending champions England are on the brink of being eliminated from qualifying for a place in the Cricket World Cup semi-finals and if that happens, it will be the defeat against Sri Lanka that they will rue the most. This game was vital for both teams who came in with only one win and three losses and England’s defeat leaves their hopes hanging on a thread.

Masterminding England’s defeat was their former Coach Chris Silverwood who would have gained some satisfaction over Sri Lanka’s win. Silverwood was England’s Head Coach till February 2022 when a terrible 4-0 Ashes drubbing in Australia saw him being sacked. But Silverwood didn’t have to wait long for within two months of his sacking Sri Lanka grabbed him as their Head Coach for a period of two years.

Since he took over Sri Lanka has won 2, lost 2 and drawn 2 series in Tests, won 21 of their last 35 ODIs (including 2 no results) being champions in the WC qualifier and runner-up in Asia Cup, and won 12 of their last 22 T20Is including becoming Asia Cup champions.

Under Silverwood’s guidance Sri Lanka’s cricket at international level has improved vastly and the team is gradually showing signs of performing consistently in all three formats. Their win over England was the most convincing in the ongoing Cricket World Cup.

Prior to the match England all-rounder Moeen Ali expected his former coach to be charged up: “I’m sure deep down, like everybody else would, you’re trying to prove a point or whatever it is. It might motivate him even more. But he’s not the one going out to bat and bowl, it’s his team. He’ll be just trying to get his players ready. He’s a very good coach. He’s a nice guy, and I enjoyed him. I’m sure he’s got that motivation to do well against us.”

Sri Lanka’s fast bowling Coach Darshana Gamage after the match heaped praise on Silverwood.

“When we planned, we got a lot of input from Chris. He was their former coach and he got involved in a lot of the planning and told us about the combinations we should go with in bowling against the English batters. We got a lot of help because he had a lot of experience being with the England team.”

One of the bowling combinations that worked really well for Sri Lanka was the inclusion of fast bowler Lahiru Kumara for spinner Dushan Hemantha, so that they went into the match with three seamers and one spinner.

“Lahiru came back after injury and he struggled in his first match. So, we decided to make use of him in the middle overs in this game,” said Gamage.

“At team meetings and practices, we focused a lot on bowling disciplines because we had given away too many extras (wides) in the previous games. If we manage to maintain a good line and length, we can control the game and if we play to our strength, we can win matches. We worked on that with Lahiru because he has pace and bounce. What he lacked was the consistency in line and length.”

“We had an issue with the middle overs so we worked hard and Lahiru managed to get some wickets because he has the speed. That was our plan to give England a hard time in the middle overs.”

That ploy worked magnificently for Sri Lanka as Kumara with a disciplined bowling effort prized out England Captain Jos Buttler, Liam Livingstone and Ben Stokes to end with figures of 3/35 and win his first Player of the Match award.

“I am extremely happy to be the man of the match because it comes on the back of the hard work I put in to get there,” said Kumara. “We spoke and took the decision that Dilshan (Madushanka) and (Kasun) Rajitha to swing the ball. My job was to go with pace and bounce. That was the plan. After my injury I didn’t do anything different but focused only on spot bowling and doing the basics right.”

Kumara said of the three English wickets the wicket of Ben Stokes gave him the most satisfaction. The England all-rounder top scored with 43 before holing out to deep midwicket.

Kumara also spoke of the role played by Angelo Mathews in Sri Lanka’s win.

“Angelo’s inclusion definitely had an effect on the team. He is a vastly experienced player who has played a lot of cricket. To have a player like him in the team is a big bonus. He shares his experience with us during practices and at matches. During the team meetings, he gave his input and ideas. We also talked about him fielding at mid-off so that he can give important tips to the bowlers.”