SL’s Niroshan Dickwella takes a catch during a practice session at the Sher-e-Bangla Stadium – Mirpur on Thursday ahead of the third and final ODI against Bangladesh – AFP

Sri Lanka’s Batting Coach Grant Flower said that there will be quite a few changes to the side that lost the first two ODIs to Bangladesh and that Niroshan Dickwella will take over as wicketkeeper for the third and final ODI today.

“Dickwella will be considered for selection and there is a good chance of him playing tomorrow (Friday),” said Flower in a virtual media conference yesterday. 

“He played very well in the warm-up match and he’s been good in the nets. We got a good keeper in Kusal (Perera), but obviously there might be a change; Dickwella will keep wickets. It won’t be only Dickwella, it will be quite a few. The guys have been working hard in the nets and waiting for their turn. We hope to see a better performance and a win for Sri Lanka.”

Flower attributed the poor batting of the Lankans not only to spin but also to the seamers. 

“They have not been good enough to rotate the strike and put away the bad balls and they are struggling with some of the seamers as well, it just hasn’t been spin. We haven’t been good enough by quite a bit and the results have shown.”

“In the middle, it looks like a combination of technical and mental, but mostly mental. When I see the guys playing in the nets, they look really good. They are playing with freedom, but in the middle it›s different, there’s pressure and they are hitting it to a lot of the fielders. It looks like the guys are freezing. We worked on a few things, we›ve spoken about it quite a bit, so hopefully, we’ll see a positive difference tomorrow,” said Flower.

As Batting Coach, Flower said that he is under pressure just as much as the players.

“It’s hard – it’s energy sapping. There’s no lack of hard work. The guys have got great attitudes. But the results aren’t coming through. As batting coach, there’s pressure on me, but that goes with the job. At the moment, they’re under pressure and I’m under pressure. It’s not from the lack of work. It’s a lack of execution of skills under pressure out in the middle.  Hopefully, they can free themselves tomorrow and show how well they can bat,” said Flower.

“They should take more calculated risks and play to their strengths and play the way they do in the nets. That’s what you work on. Good bowlers at this level are going to keep landing it on the spot. But if you are not proactive, don’t move your feet, play the odd sweep and get deep in the crease, you are going to be in trouble. Mushfiqur (Rahim) is not a big hitter, but he manipulates the ball brilliantly. The guys have got a great example playing against him. I think the guys are just done by the occasion, I am not sure why, but it’s more of a mental thing.”

Asked what impact the exodus of senior players has had in the series, Flower replied: “It looks like it’s had quite a big impact at this stage. The young guys who were selected are good players but are lacking a lot of experience. When you look at Mushfiqur’s experience or Tamim Iqbal – they’ve played a hell of a lot of cricket. Mehidy’s just got to No. 2 in the rankings, so he’s a very good off-spinner. I think we’ve played him with too much respect.” 

“It’s tough on the senior players who have been left out, but that’s cricket. As you get older and maybe some of your performances have gone down a bit, maybe the selectors have gone for the young guys who haven’t played as well as they can so far. Sometimes it takes a while for guys to get into the swing of things. They have been overcome by the occasion so far, some of them played better in the West Indies, hopefully we’ll see some better performances tomorrow.” – (ST)

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