Last chance saloon for seniors to make an impact

Dimuth Karunaratne and Joe Root

• Getting the wicket of Joe Root early is the key – Dimuth

THE OVAL: Unless Sri Lanka makes it to the final of the ICC World Test Championship final next year at Lord’s, the third and final cricket Test against England starting at the Oval, London on Friday will be the last chance saloon for the senior cricketers in the team most notably opening bat Dimuth Karunaratne who has yet to score a Test century on English soil in three tours to the country.

Two other senior players in the side Angelo Mathews have done it in 2014 and Dinesh Chandimal in 2016 but Karunaratne in 14 Test innings in England has passed fifty only twice, the last occasion being in the second innings of the second Test at Lord’s where he was dismissed for 55 when looking good for a hundred.   

“I have not scored a Test hundred in England and Australia. This is perhaps my last opportunity. So I’m really keen to do well. It is not easy. It involves a lot of hard work. If I get a chance, I will go on to get a big one,” said 36-year-old Karunaratne looking ahead on Friday.

“I thought I got a start and that it was my day. England dropped some chances. It was working on my mind. It was a personal goal and the team needed it as well. Too bad to miss out,” said Karunaratne.

“Too many legends have not scored a hundred at Lord’s so I am not really worried about having missed out. Glad I could play three Tests at Lord’s. I am not going to put any pressure on myself. Gutted couldn’t get a big one in the last game. Would like to finish the series on a good note. A win would be ideal before we wind things off.”

Karunaratne admitted that despite the many tours to England they had in the past, it was still a tough place for batters.

“Even England batters have struggled. Except for Joe Root everyone has struggled,” said Karunaratne. “This is England’s home conditions. We are competing after a few years. We have done reasonably well, but there were some sessions where we gave up the fight. We are chatting about how we can raise our game. The juniors have turned up for the challenge. Kamindu (Mendis) has been sensational. That’s the beauty of this game. Some adapt quickly and some take time. We are hoping as a unit to score a big total.”

Karunaratne is of the view that if Sri Lanka can dismiss Joe Root cheaply, they will have a chance of winning. Root has been a thorn in the Sri Lankan side with scores of 42, 62*, 143 and 103 in the series so far.

“One of the main things in our mind will be how we are going to dismiss Joe Root. The other one is how we are going to score runs and what our approach is going to be. We have a bowling meeting tomorrow (Thursday). One thing we want to come clear is a good plan for Joe,” said Karunaratne.

“Joe’s past performance we need to analyse and find out what we can do in these conditions. He has played some pivotal knocks. He scored a double hundred at Galle when England came to Sri Lanka. England batters score around him. We have been too attacking against him. We need to deny him boundaries and not give too many balls in his strong areas. If we get Joe early then we are in the game.”

Karunaratne said that if he gets the opportunity to speak to a past legend of Sri Lanka cricket Kumar Sangakkara he would do so. “He is busy with the commentaries. I might meet him before the game and get some tips.”

Sangakkara, a left-hander like Karunaratne played several seasons of county cricket for Surrey and made a pile of runs at this venue which is their home ground.

“We also have Ian Bell (batting consultant). We have been getting a lot of information from him. We are visitors and we need to get a lot of information to be at our best. The last Test match we played here in 1998 we won that game. Sanath knows the conditions well. He was telling us what happened in that game. That has given us confidence.”