Galle Fortress breached

Wednesday, 12 February 2025 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

By Kumar Boralessa

The Galle Fortress was breached by the touring Australian team with Sri Lanka capitulating to a two-nil defeat.

Sri Lanka scored 900 runs for the loss of 40 wickets and Australia scored 1068 runs for the loss of 16 wickets.

What was the cause of this debacle?

Playing on doctored wickets in simple language. Underprepared.

By nature, Lankan batsmen are wristy stroke players. They favour true wickets. A good example was last summer in England at the Oval. They dominated England to win the 3rd Test by 8 wickets. Sri Lanka scored 482 for 13 wickets and England scored 481 for 20 wickets. Our fast bowlers took 18 of the 20 wickets that fell proving a point that they could win matches.

Pathum Nissanka scored a brilliant 122 not out in the second innings adding to his first innings 64 showing that our batsmen are better players on true wickets than on doctored wickets.

So why do we doubt our batsmen and sacrifice them for one spinner to decide the fate of a Test match?

We have performed very well outside Galle. Even the world record for the highest partnership is held by Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara at the SSC. The Colombo P Sara Oval and Pallekelle also boast of good batting wickets.

We should move away from the myth that Galle is the fortress and prepare our cricketers to play on ideal pitches which offer equal assistance to batsmen and bowlers. Have pace and bounce for fast bowlers and turn for spinners on the 4th and 5th days. This type of wicket does not heavily favour the batting or bowling side. Finally, we should not blame the curator; he only carries out team management instructions.

I trust these observations are taken in the true spirit of the game.

Wishing Sri Lanka cricket all the success in the future.

The writer in an honorary capacity prepared the Test pitches at the CCC grounds when Duleep Mendis’ team beat Pakistan on a seaming wicket in 1986.

He also laid the wickets when the Dambulla ground was built.

The writer in an honorary capacity prepared the Test pitches at the CCC grounds when Duleep Mendis' team beat Pakistan on a seaming wicket in 1986.

He also laid the wickets when the Dambulla ground was built.

Discover Kapruka, the leading online shopping platform in Sri Lanka, where you can conveniently send Gifts and Flowers to your loved ones for any event including Valentine ’s Day. Explore a wide range of popular Shopping Categories on Kapruka, including Toys, Groceries, Electronics, Birthday Cakes, Fruits, Chocolates, Flower Bouquets, Clothing, Watches, Lingerie, Gift Sets and Jewellery. Also if you’re interested in selling with Kapruka, Partner Central by Kapruka is the best solution to start with. Moreover, through Kapruka Global Shop, you can also enjoy the convenience of purchasing products from renowned platforms like Amazon and eBay and have them delivered to Sri Lanka.