Exit Dickwella, welcome back Sadeera

Sadeera Samarawickrama gets runs on the leg side on his way to 

a maiden Test century in the first Test against Ireland at Galle

• “I’ve learnt a lot from being dropped from the side” - Samarawickrama

When Sadeera Samarawickrama crossed the three-figure mark against Ireland in the first Test at Galle, to bring up his maiden Test hundred it was the first time since 2016 that a wicket-keeper had scored a century for Sri Lanka in a Test match.

Why it took Sri Lanka so long to cross that barrier was because Niroshan Dickwella had made the Test wicket-keeper’s place his own with his splendid wicket-keeping skills. Dickwella was given a long run of 51 Tests since 2017 but failed to score a single Test century, although he crossed the fifty mark on 21 occasions where his top score was 96. He has often been criticised for playing too extravagantly with the sweep and the reverse sweep being his principal scoring strokes that has also led to his downfall on many occasions.

 But Dickwella being Dickwella nothing could change his style of play, which eventually led to him losing his Test place on the recent tour to New Zealand, initially to newcomer Nishan Madushka and then to Samarawickrama in the first Test against Ireland where the century drought was ended when he scored an attractive 104* that contributed to Sri Lanka’s immense first innings total and eventually their innings win over the Test minnows on Tuesday.

The century meant a lot to Samarawickrama who was recalled to the Test side after a lapse of six years. He made his Test debut as a specialist batsman against Pakistan at Dubai in 2017 and played a further three Tests in India the same year before being dropped from the side.     

“It was the first time that I played at no. 7, I was a bit nervous at the beginning because I had not played Test cricket for a long time,” said Samarawickrama. “By sending a nightwatchman ahead of me I was pushed further back in the batting order to no. 8. Because I came to bat with a positive mindset, the nervousness disappeared. I wanted to enjoy my batting in the middle. As I had prepared myself on how to build my innings, it became easy for me.”

Samarawickrama was fortunate to have Dinesh Chandimal as his partner which made his task easy. “I have batted with Chandi on several occasions. The wicket was slightly more difficult to play than on the first day, but I was prepared to play positively and hit the loose balls because I knew we were going for a declaration. As much as scoring my maiden century I also had to look at the team’s requirements. It was easy to bat with Chandimal because he has played a lot of cricket at this level. As both of us were in a positive frame of mind we managed to score boundaries whenever we got a loose ball. Our mindset was to play positive cricket.”

Samarawickrama and Chandimal added 183* runs for the eighth wicket equaling Sri Lanka’s highest at Galle held by Mahela Jayawardene and Chaminda Vaas against England in 2007.

“I’ve learnt a lot from being dropped from the side. I was about 20 years old when I played the three Tests against India who were one of the best teams in the world. Although I could not make any big contributions I fared reasonably well. What I learnt in those matches I brought it out here. After I was dropped I learnt how to play at the top level, worked at my game, on my basics and the mental side of it 90 percent,” said Samarawickrama.

“I had a great love to play a Test match in Galle since my childhood. I got that opportunity after six years. I performed well in the domestic matches and in ‘A’ teams. It was the result of my hard work I had put in that has finally got me there. I am extremely happy.”

During the time he was out of the Sri Lanka team, Samarawickrama worked on his batting with coaches Avishka Gunawardene and Naveed Nawaz.

“When I played in the under 19 team Naveed was my coach and when I played for the ‘A’ team Avishka was the coach. I have worked with them for a long time so they know my weak points. I gather a lot of information from them, they are two knowledgeable and experienced coaches. It was easy for me because I had worked with them for a long time.”  

Being a cricketer who has gone through the experience of being dropped from the side, Samarawickrama expressing his thoughts on taking over the gloves from Dickwella said: “Niroshan Dickwella is a player who has performed well as wicket-keeper on the difficult surfaces at Galle. It happens to all the cricketers at some point of time of their career where they get dropped. I had a big challenge to fill his place as wicket-keeper/batsman. How I can contribute to the requirements of the team. I am glad I managed to do it.”

At 27, Samarawickrama has a long career ahead of him if he can maintain the high standards of wicket-keeping and batting at a consistent level. The challenge ahead of him is to try and retain the position he has regained in the national Test team after so many years, because Sri Lanka is a country that is never short of quality wicket-keepers.