Success is due to teamwork: U-19 World Cup Coach

 Australia’s Tobias Snell is bowled by Sri Lanka bowler Matheesha Pathirana during the ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup match played at Basseterre – St. Kitts and Nevis.   

• Sri Lanka eye quarterfinal spot after win over Aussies

By Sa'adi Thawfeeq

If Sri Lanka’s four-wicket win over Australia was expected to generate a great amount of excitement within the team, unsurprisingly, it did not. It came on the back of a 40-run win over Scotland three days earlier and it saw Sri Lanka perched on top of Group D of the ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup standings with two wins and four points with only the match against host country West Indies to be played tomorrow.

Sri Lanka’s Under-19 Head Coach Avishka Gunawardene said that the two wins in the World Cup were not key factors. 

“I wouldn’t only put it down to these two games because the team has been playing together in the last few months, producing good results. The good thing about this team for the last so many months is, that everyone contributes in some way. For example, if you take Shevon Daniel, he failed when it comes to batting, but he bowled seven overs for nine runs. Everyone contributes in some way towards the result of the game. That is the beauty of the team. I would put it down to teamwork and everyone’s contribution. There are no passengers in the team.”

“It is always good to beat a side like Australia, their pace attack was very good, and it was nice to see us taking on the challenge and seeing it through,” said Gunawardene. 

“We had confidence anyway, but it’s just that when you beat a team like Australia, who are probably one of the favourites in this World Cup, it makes you feel good. We were up against three good fast bowlers and the wicket had even bounce. There was a little bit for the bowlers as well. At the end of the day, beating Australia with four wickets and 13 overs to spare was a very good effort.”

Gunawardene said that Sri Lanka was not taking any chances against the West Indies in their final group game although they were almost assured of a spot in the knockout round. 

“The team plan is basically take every game one-at-a-time and you give your best and try to win it. We are not going to take a step back. Once you make it to the knockout stage it’s anyone’s game.”

In the two World Cup games against Scotland and Australia, Sri Lanka batting suffered middle order collapses but recovered to win. Gunawardene said the top or middle order collapsing was not a concern, but he wanted a settled batsman to go and play a long innings.  

“The fact is we need to get whoever who gets set in the middle to go and get a big score. One of the targets are for one of the first four batsmen to bat throughout till the end. Against Australia, I sent (Dunith) Wellalage up in the in the order and he did it pretty well. That is one of the key things we are looking at in batting,” said Gunawardene. 

“We are still not consistent, we do it in one game and in the next we don’t. We’ve got enough talent to do that, it’s just a matter of them putting their head down and making sure whoever who gets going needs to bat through the innings. This is what we have been emphasising. It’s not a concern about middle or top order, just that the particular batsmen on the particular day should play the long innings. Hope they will do it in the next few games.”

The captain – Dunith Wellalage – has been in prime form with the bat and ball, winning back-to-back Player of the Match awards with two five-wicket hauls and a fifty to boot.

“We’ve told him when he is bowling or batting he should not think that he is the captain. When he tries to captain in the middle while batting he goes into a shell. If you are a batsman don’t try to captain, take that pressure off and it worked. He has handled the team very well,” said Gunawardene.