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Kusal Perera batted in tough conditions in South Africa to score two half-centuries and is likely to retain his position as opener for the England series
By Sa’adi Thawfeeq
Sri Lanka are confident of fielding a much stronger side against England than the one they put out for the two-Test series in South Africa, which they lost 2-0.
The two Test matches against England, which is part of the ICC World Test Championship starts in Galle on 14 January, which is three days away, and most of the players who were injured before and during the South African Test series have more or less recovered from their injuries and are up and running.
“The injuries are getting better now. Suranga (Lakmal) and Lahiru (Kumara) have started bowling, Oshada (Fernando) is also running and batting, and (Dinesh) Chandimal, when I spoke to him, said that he feels alright. With Angelo (Mathews) and all the others coming in, we’ll have a better side than the one that took part in South Africa,” said Chief Selector Ashantha de Mel.
Lakmal (hamstring) and Fernando (ankle) didn’t recover sufficiently from their injuries and were not considered for selection in the South Africa series although they were members of the touring squad, while Kumara and Chandimal both suffered hamstring injuries during the first Test played at the Centurion.
Mathews, who was picked for South Africa, pulled out with a hamstring strain from which he has now recovered and was recalled to the 22-member squad selected for the England series.
Kusal Perera is expected to retain his position as captain, and is Dimuth Karunaratne’s opening partner for the two Tests against England. In the absence of Oshada Fernando, Perera, who batted in the middle order in the successful 2019 South African tour, was promoted to open and he turned out to be one of the few Lankan batsmen to be amongst the runs in South Africa, scoring 64 and 60 in the two Tests.
“We didn’t fare as badly in South Africa. Our batsmen were amongst the runs, like Chandimal, Dimuth and Kusal Perera. Dickwella was okay, Shanaka got a few runs, and Wanindu. That should give some confidence for them to carry forward for the England series. It is not as bad as it could have been. The confidence level is okay. We’ve just got to go now and play on pitches that are flatter and more like what they are used to. It’s just a case of going and doing what they are supposed to do,” said de Mel.
Reflecting on the South African series, de Mel said: “The preparations were not enough. We didn’t have any practice matches. England has been here since 2 January, and they have already started practising and acclimatising. With the high altitude place and wickets being very fast, we didn’t have much practice. Two days before the match is not good preparation.”
“It’s not that we might have won but we could have taken South Africa on and given a good challenge. If Dhananjaya (de Silva) didn’t get injured, we could have got around 400; and if the bowlers were all there, we could have given them a good run for their money. But having five players breaking down in one game, it was very difficult,” he said.
