Sri Lanka gunning for the Proteas
● To win a Test series in SA — a feat not achieved by an Asian touring side — batting might and bowling prowess have to come together.
There’s also the swings of fortune, but those follow a prepared side.
That can’t be said of a Sri Lankan touring side that at best is short of a gallop, even though Wednesday’s first Test at Kingsmead in Durban is the same ground where they rolled over their hosts by 208 runs.
A key architect of that landmark victory, Dinesh Chandimal, has been banished to the vast nothingness of the Sri Lankan domestic tournament after scoring a paltry 24 in four innings on their forgettable Australian tour.
Another batting pillar, Angelo Mathews, has elastic hamstrings that seemingly snap at the click of a finger.
That’s 133 Tests’ worth of batting experience that’s vanished with the wind due to a chronic lack of form and fitness.
All that remains in an inexperienced middle order is the cumulative 59-Test bank of the erratic Dhananjaya de Silva and the mercurial, highly talented Kusal Mendis.
Stroke makers deluxe they are on their best days but SA’s pitches, even though Durban and Port Elizabeth are likely to serve up slower surfaces as compared to the Highveld and Cape Town, require a fair bit of patience and application.
Only once did Sri Lanka display these virtues and even then, it was on a Basin Reserve pitch that lost its early bite. Mathews and Mendis held the fort to help Sri Lanka get to 287/3 before the weather closed in.
In eight innings across four Tests in Australasia that was not only their highest score, but the only time they crossed 250 with a fair number of wickets intact.
They shipped 500 runs three times and they were dismissed for less than 150 on four occasions.
Granted, New Zealand and Australia have world-class bowling attacks, but on benign surfaces like the one Sri Lanka encountered at the Manuka Oval in Canberra, they surrendered without a fight.
Their bowling losses with Nuwan Pradeep, Lahiru Kumara and Dushmantha Chameera missing this series with an assortment of injuries are severely amplified.
The dust bowls that masquerade as pitches in Sri Lankan first-class cricket are in no way conducive to the development and the
Not even the dollop of history associated with them could work in Sri Lanka’s favour
nurturing of fast bowlers.
That’s the price Sri Lanka have to pay though for their spin strength as pace, through Chanaka Welegedara’s five-wicket haul in the 2011 win, laid the foundation for the win.
Not even the generous dollop of history that’s associated with subcontinent sides in Durban could work in Sri Lanka’s favour unless they somehow string together a cohesive performance that was sorely lacking in Australasia.
SA have lost to every major Asian side in Durban since 1998 and those victories by Pakistan (1998), India (2010) and Sri Lanka (2011) saw the marriage of batting, fast bowling and spinning minds.
While Test cricket — especially with the routing England experienced in the West Indies and Sri Lanka receiving the same treatment at home at the hands of England — can hold an ace up its sleeve, whether Sri Lanka have the resources to make it work for them is squarely in the hands of the cricketing gods.