Ramesh Mendis could lose Test place to uncapped Peiris

 Nishan Peiris

• Sri Lanka looking to play three-pronged spin combination for second Test

By Sa’adi Thawfeeq

A poor bowling performance in the first cricket Test could see Ramesh Mendis losing his place to uncapped 27-year-old off-spinner Nishan Peiris in the second cricket Test against New Zealand commencing at the Galle International Cricket Stadium tomorrow.

Peiris was drafted into the Sri Lanka Test squad of 16 replacing injured fast bowler Vishwa Fernando, and looks like he would walk into the Test side straightaway.

Peiris recently returned after touring South Africa with the Sri Lanka ‘A’ side and has been a consistent wicket-taker in domestic cricket. He was the leading wicket-taker for champions Galle in the National Super League (NSL) four-day tournament, with 35 wickets (avg. 14.68) from six matches. He also took 45 wickets (avg. 19.62) for Negombo CC in the SLC Major League. In a first-class career spanning eight years, Peiris, a former Peterite cricketer, has taken 172 wickets from 42 matches at an average of 24.37.

Although he took six wickets in the match and helped Sri Lanka win the first Test by 63 runs, Mendis was not at his best in both innings of the Test, leaking away too many runs from one side and easing the pressure, which made it a difficult task for Sri Lanka’s main spinner Prabath Jayasuriya to be effective.

Off-spinner Dilruwan Perera, now a national selector, played the role perfectly, blocking off one end, so that left-arm spinner Rangana Herath could run through the opposition from the other. The same role is expected from Mendis, but he has been inconsistent with his lines and lengths. A Test match that Sri Lanka could have won quite comfortably inside four days was allowed to drag into the fifth day as the New Zealand batsmen capitalised on Mendis’ limitations and picked up easy runs. 

As a result, Captain Dhananjaya de Silva was forced to bring himself on with his part-time off-breaks. He did a good job of not only containing but affecting important breakthroughs for his team in both innings.

de Silva expressed his disappointment with Mendis’ bowling in the first Test: “Prabath adapted quickly but Ramesh needs to improve. If Ramesh can improve and bowl like Prabath, we can win games easily. I did not have much of an idea to bowl. I gave Ramesh the ball and he bowled in and out, not up to expectations. That is why I had to bowl.”

By picking a spinner (Peiris) for an injured fast bowler (Vishwa Fernando), Sri Lanka have given an indication that they are looking at going in with a three-pronged spin attack for the second Test.

“That combination will largely depend on the type of wicket we will get for the Test. We will take a final decision after practice tomorrow morning,” said Selectors’ Chairman Upul Tharanga. “Vishwa had this hamstring problem internally, but he was passed fit to play the first Test. It recurred during practice.”

If Sri Lanka plan to go with a three-spin combination, then leg-spinner Jeffrey Vandersay, whose solitary Test appearance was at this venue two years ago, will be in the mix along with Jayasuriya and Peiris or Mendis. Otherwise, they will go with the usual two plus two combination, with Asitha Fernando and Lahiru Kumara or Milan Rathnayake.

Fernando and Kumara bowled a total of only 23 overs in the entire first Test dominated by spin, which raises the question of whether it is worthwhile playing two fast bowlers on a spin-oriented surface.

Sri Lanka lead the two-match series 1-0 and will look to make a clean sweep and add up the percentage points to put themselves in line to qualify for a place in the final of the ICC World Test Championship. The first Test win saw Sri Lanka move to third place, pushing New Zealand to fourth.