Sri Lanka players complete 10-day training camp in Pallekele

Sri Lanka captain Dimuth Karunaratne (right) in conversation with head coach Mickey Arthur during practice

• Big disadvantage playing international cricket after 8 months: Dimuth

By Sa’adi Thawfeeq

Sri Lanka captain Dimuth Karunaratne said that his team will be at a big disadvantage when they take on South Africa in a two-Test series starting later next month as his squad of players whom he is likely to take on the tour completed a 10-day training camp in Pallekele on Saturday.

“Definitely you will feel it. After the ODIs against West Indies my first competitive game was the practice match at Pallekele. I didn’t play in the domestic because I had a calf injury. I found out that I lacked the confidence, struggled a bit, and had doubts in my mind. All these come and it is normal when you are out of cricket for a long time,” said Karunaratne.

“To clear them only we try to play as much practice matches. When we go to South Africa also we are playing a practice match to clear all doubts. If we keep on playing matches consistently the doubts will clear because we are in touch. 

“As we have not played international cricket for a long time that disadvantage will always be there. However much you train, when you play your first international match after eight months there will be nervous moments and all that. You can release yourself from that by going there and performing and getting some runs behind you,” he said.

The COVID-19 pandemic had affected sports across the globe, but Karunaratne feels that South Africa will have the advantage over his team as they have already begun their domestic season and have the advantage of playing under home conditions.

Low in confidence

“We are going into a tough series without proper training and with a low confidence level. That is where we don’t have an advantage, so we must find a way to overcome that. The South African players are in touch and they are playing a one-day series against England and some of their players have played in the IPL and some of them are playing in the leagues. By the time they come for the Test series they will be in good touch,” noted Karunaratne.

Sri Lanka is slotted to play the two Tests on two of South Africa’s quickest surfaces – at Centurion and Johannesburg.

“Although we have travelled a lot most of us haven’t played at the Centurion. Only Angi (Angelo Mathews) has the experience of playing at both venues. Some of them may have played ODIs or T20Is but not Tests apart from Angi,” said Karunaratne.

“Test cricket is a challenge, we have to play on the pitches and conditions provided by the home side. Through training in Colombo or in South Africa is how we can adjust to these conditions and pitches. Adjusting is in the hands of the player, we can’t blame the conditions and it is not an excuse. To train and play on such surfaces is in the hands of the players. Then only you become a professional cricketer,” he said.

The Sri Lanka team leaves for South Africa on 17 December and they have at least 10 days to acclimatise themselves to the conditions over there before the first Test on 26 December at Centurion. They have a three-day warm-up match at Benoni but it won’t be against any South African opposition.  

“We have to play that amongst ourselves as South Africa is not giving us a squad to play against because of the COVID-19. As we are going into a bubble in South Africa no players from outside will be allowed. We will get conditions to train and we will have to play amongst ourselves. That is why we are taking 22 players on the tour including extra bowlers to cover up for that,” explained Karunaratne.

Mickey Arthur as coach

The Lankan captain said that holding the 10-day camp in Pallekele was a great relief after the lockdown.

“I told the coach (Mickey Arthur) because of the COVID (second wave) we stopped practice for about two weeks. We can’t go to South Africa and within six days play a Test match in conditions that are not in our favour, so I requested the coach to have a camp and to get the LPL players released for it. SLC agreed to it. I think those 10 days are important to us before going to South Africa to do some proper training,” Karunaratne stated.

“We didn’t do anything big in Pallekele, but we practiced a lot with the red ball because we won’t get an opportunity to train with it before we go to South Africa. We trained for eight days and on the last two days we played a practice match. There were 22 players so we divided into two sides and played a match. We mostly did the basics not anything big, the balance we will have to do after going to South Africa,” he said.

Karunaratne said that the biggest advantage they had having a coach like Mickey Arthur is the amount of confidence he injects into the team.

“Although he is a South African coach if the players don’t perform well there is no advantage. The coach’s role is to give us information and what we can get from him. As professionals we should know what the opposition is and under what conditions we will have to play etc. Skill levels we have to do it amongst ourselves. 

“What I see of Mickey is that he gives a lot of confidence to the players and he strengthens the mental side of a player. That’s what I like with him as a coach and what I expect from him. When we come to this stage what we require is the mindset and the confidence which is what we are getting from the coach. That is the biggest advantage in having Mickey with us,” Karunaratne said.