Sri Lanka cricket what it was and what it is today

Sri Lanka team gets into a huddle before the World Cup game against Netherlands at Lucknow

Sri Lanka’s cricketing standards at international level has dipped so low that it’s a crying shame to see that beating an associate member team like Netherlands can amount to being called an achievement.

Past Sri Lankan teams have simply swept away the opposition that a country like Netherlands possess, but today’s side lacks those quality players and the experience that goes with it to make winning look more convincing.

No doubt, Netherlands has grown as an international cricket side over the years, but when countries like Pakistan and New Zealand are simply sweeping them aside hardly raising a sweat, that’s where the difference lies between a team like Sri Lanka and the rest of the top ODI sides.  

Without a win in three matches of the ongoing Cricket World Cup, Sri Lanka were desperate to beat Netherlands and chalk up their first points. They eventually did so, but not with the ease which one would have associated a Sri Lanka side to win, it was one hard struggle to get to the target of 263 that they consumed 48.2 overs.

It was tough going no doubt in the middle, with the ball holding up and stroke making not all that easy, but what made it difficult for Sri Lanka to score was the discipline in the lines and lengths maintained by the Dutch bowlers. It is an area where the Lankan bowling unit should learn from. They simply bowled wicket to wicket and made the batsmen play at almost each and every delivery. The other notable aspect was that Netherlands were never afraid to keep their fielders inside the 30-meter circle and attack the batsmen challenging them to go over the top at their own peril. We hardly see Sri Lanka keep so many fielders inside the circle, but always outside it which amounts to a defensive ploy.

One could say that the Sri Lanka team is going through a transition period and that the side lacks experience in its bowling unit with so many injuries to its key bowlers who were not available for the World Cup. But the same cannot be said of the batting where the talent is there but the execution and judgement is poor. The batsmen have still not learnt to build an innings. How many times have we seen the batsmen doing all the hard work and then simply throwing away his wicket? This has been Sri Lanka’s achilles heel with this present unit as we have seen in their matches of the World Cup against Pakistan and Australia, matches they could have won had it not been for the batsmen’s indiscretion.

This young Sri Lanka unit is extremely talented and has the makings of achieving bigger things if they are kept together for the next 2-3 years without meddling too much with it. Injuries are part and parcel of sport and like the weather you cannot control it. It is just sheer bad luck if you lose your best batsman or best bowler ahead of a major tournament like the World Cup.

For a tournament as big as the Cricket World Cup, experience plays a big part because of the pressures the players have to absorb in the middle, the expectations, the spectators, the conditions and to keep the motivation going for the length of the tournament. Sadly, Sri Lanka left their experience at home and are paying a heavy price for it.