Sri Lanka to field 3-pronged seam attack in Test series

 Kusal Perera who guided Sri Lanka to a historic win in South Africa on the last tour may partner Dimuth Karunaratne in the openers slot for the first Test

• Mental toughness will play a huge role in South Africa – De Mel

By Sa’adi Thawfeeq

Chief cricket selector and team manager Ashantha de Mel

Chief cricket selector Ashantha de Mel who will accompany the 32-member (21 players and 11 support staff) Sri Lanka team that leaves for South Africa yesterday said that mental toughness would play a big role on how successful they would be in the two-Test series which is part of the ICC World Test Championship.

The two Tests are slated to be played on two of South Africa’s fastest pitches the Centurion from 26-30 December and from 3-7 January at Johannesburg.

“It’s going to be a challenge in South Africa against their fast bowlers it all depends on how strong you are mentally. More than skill when you come to this level the mental attitude is important how much you want to be successful,” said De Mel.

“You’ve got to have a mindset not only your skill.  A good example is a player like Sunil Gavaskar how he built up innings and scored runs batting even without a helmet that is the mental toughness you’ve got to have. That is the part the coaches are playing – mentally preparing you to go and play. The present coaches are doing a good job at that so let’s see,” he said.

Sri Lanka has four overseas coaches in their support staff headed by head coach Mickey Arthur, batting coach Grant Flower, fielding coach Shane McDermott and fast bowling coach David Saker.

“We will definitely play three fast bowlers. Whether we play four fast bowlers and seven batsmen because Dhananjaya de Silva can bowl spin or whether we play three fast bowlers and someone like Dasun Shanaka who can bowl and bat or Wanindu Hasaranga, a leg- spinner who can bowl and bat. Those are options we have to decide. The fourth bowler can be a fast bowling or spinning all-rounder. Hasaranga is bowling well and with his leg-spin he might be useful on those wickets, which has bounce,” De Mel said.

Sri Lanka have seven fast bowlers in their squad headed by experienced campaigner Suranga Lakmal and comprising Lahiru Kumara, Dushmantha Chameera, Vishwa Fernando, Kasun Rajitha, Asitha Fernando and Dilshan Madushanka.

Sri Lanka is going into a Test match after almost a year, the last one took place in Zimbabwe in January and De Mel believes they will be short of Test match practice.

“We have not had much practice but one good thing is that the LPL was on and a lot of the players have been playing and been in touch with the game so that’s a good sign, other than that what can you do when you have a situation like this (COVID-19) to cope up with. All the other countries are going through a similar situation except for England and Australia,” said De Mel.

Playing at 6,000 feet above sea level

“The players are all motivated to play and are looking forward. It’s going to be quite tough because we are playing in South Africa on their home grounds and on bouncy pitches, but as international cricketers that is part of the challenges that you have to overcome to adapt to the altitude,” De Mel continued.

“There will be a little bit of rustiness but I suppose they will have to quickly rub it off and then go and play. All they need is one good knock and they will be back in form, the bowlers what they need is a good spell of bowling to get their rhythms right. The important part will be to get acclimatise to those high altitudes. Breathing is not going to be easy because they will be playing at 6000 feet above sea level.

“On the field the ball travels much quicker than in Sri Lanka because of the thin air and especially fielding in the slips you have to very careful the ball can hit you before you can react. Those are the areas we will have to concentrate on in the 4-5 days of practice,” he added.

Sri Lanka is due to arrive in South Africa on the night on 18 December and they will straightaway go into a bubble. “From day two we can start training in groups at certain times. There is no practice match it has been cancelled and we will practice for about four or five days before the first Test starts on 26 December.”

With Oshada Fernando (ankle injury) not available for selection until the second Test skipper Dimuth Karunaratne will have a new opening partner for the first Test.

“There are two schools of thought - one is to open with Kusal Perera. He likes the ball coming on and hoping that he can get us off to a quick start it can put the bowlers on the back foot like Sanath Jayasuriya used to do. If you score 30-40 runs very quickly you are up and running rather than scratch around,” said De Mel.

“The other school of thought is maybe to open with someone like (Lahiru) Thirimanne and play Kusal Perera at five or bat him at the top instead of Thirimanne and play Dasun Shanaka or Minod Bhanuka in the middle. At the moment no decisions have been made we will have to wait and see,” he said.

Thirimanne, Shanaka or Bhanuka is expected to take the place of the injured Angelo Mathews in the batting order.

Seeing off the new ball vital

“The important part is to see off the new ball. If they can bat for 20 overs without losing a wicket or lose only one wicket and take the sting off the new ball after that batting becomes a little bit easy. That is something the batsmen will have to concentrate on. The thing is you have to put the loose ball away for runs you can’t go all defensive and put the bowlers on top,” opined De Mel.

“The strategic thing the coaches’ feel is that in a country like South Africa when the bowlers are just starting and before they get their lines and lengths right if you can get off to a quick start, then you put them on the back foot. That is upto the coaches and the captain to decide.”

Sri Lanka will go straight into the two-Test series against England on their return from South Africa and how they will perform at home will largely depend on their performance in South Africa.

“It can work both ways, if we do well in South Africa we come back positive. If you get a massacring there you will come back bruised and low in confidence it’s up to the players. What the coaches will have to do is make sure they mentally prepare them,” said De Mel.

Of the 11 members in the support staff two will be doctors attached to the Sports Ministry – one of them is already in South Africa assessing the health protocols the team will have to    undergo, the other will accompany the team.