Role of selectors and support staff come under the spotlight

Mahela Jayawardene (consultant coach) and Pramodya Wickramasinghe (chief selector)

Some members of Sri Lanka’s support staff during a practice session (from left): Piyal Wijetunge (spin bowling coach), Chris Silverwood (head coach), Darshana Gamage (fast bowling coach) and Naveed Nawaz (assistant coach and batting coach).

• Following defeat at the hands of Afghanistan

Sri Lanka’s defeat at the hands of Afghanistan in their Cricket World Cup match played at Pune on Monday, that has placed them in dire danger of failing to qualify for a semi-final berth, has raised questions about how much input the players get from the massive support staff that goes along with them and the thinking of the national cricket selectors.

The big question is whether Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) is getting the desired results for the $ 65,000 per month they are pumping into paying the salaries of the support staff which numbers to almost a playing 11.

SLC needs to seriously review the performances of each and every member of the support staff and assess whether any changes need to be made for the betterment of the players and the team.

Some members of the support staff were recruited during the time of the former Sports Minister, who at the time abided by the four-member technical committee appointed by him. Since then, times have changed and even the national selection committee which has been functioning since April 2021 needs to be replaced and fresh thinking introduced.

The present selection committee headed by former fast bowler Pramodya Wickramasinghe adopted a youth-driven approach to Sri Lanka’s white ball cricket which meant that senior players like Angelo Mathews, Dinesh Chandimal and Dimuth Karunaratne were overlooked for selection. However, the selectors were soon to realise their folly of leaving out experience at the expense of youth and when the defeats started to pile up, they gradually brought in Karunaratne for the World Cup Qualifiers and then Mathews for the ongoing World Cup.

Dasun Shanaka was appointed the white ball captain and Sri Lanka tasted a few successes under his leadership but when he lost his batting form, the selectors were reluctant to replace him, instead they continued to retain him in the team despite the continued failures with the bat. Eventually it took an injury to Shanaka, to oust him from the captaincy with the selectors not having the resolve to take a tangible decision.   Under Coaches Mickey Arthur and presently Chris Silverwood, the national team had varied success, but the chastening loss suffered at the hand of Afghanistan has brought the role of the selectors and the support staff under the spotlight.

True, the Sri Lankan team has struggled throughout the World Cup so far beset by injuries occurring almost after each and every game, so much so that the team is not a settled side with so many players coming in as replacements.

After their emphatic win over England, Sri Lanka was expected to beat Afghanistan whom they had met on 10 occasions in white ball cricket over the past one year and had a better understanding of their strengths and weaknesses than any of the other opponents in the World Cup. But to everyone’s disappointment and to say the least, they were outplayed in all three departments. It seemed that Afghanistan had done their homework well on the Lankan players more than vice versa.

The Afghanistan defeat has left Sri Lanka’s chances of qualifying for a semi-final place hanging by a thread. Sri Lanka is not completely out of it yet. Mathematically, it is still possible that two teams finish on 12 or more points, and as many as seven teams end up on eight, fighting for the remaining two spots.

Sri Lanka who has four points from six games can still finish on 10 points if they win their last three matches. But given how poorly they have played so far, and that two of their remaining games are against India and New Zealand (the other is against Bangladesh), the chances of them progressing are extremely slim.

Afghanistan on the other hand with six points from six games have to play Netherlands, Australia and South Africa. Pakistan, the other team on the same boat as Sri Lanka with four points from six games, have matches against Bangladesh (yesterday), New Zealand and England.