Sri Lanka must get back to basics

The famously fickle British weather has dominated the past week of the Cricket World Cup, rain and cold winds interrupting the summer and ruining several games, halting the momentum of a tournament that had started so positively.

Everyone hopes that the sunshine will return from this weekend, but the wet summer has clearly impacted the conditions and some teams have faced more challenges that others.

It’s obvious that drainage efficiency in the different venues varies greatly. In Bristol, we saw the game between Pakistan and Sri Lanka being called off in sunshine due to wet patches on the outfield while the match between England and West Indies in Southampton was played despite heavy rain throughout the week.

It’s the luck of the draw, but harder for some teams to take, especially when we are also seeing a surprising variation in pitch conditions. We have seen some noticeably green pitches, apparently to

Angelo Mathews and Kusal Mendis need to carry the middle order through. Both need to score effective runs and needs more spark and energy in their approach. Their body language has been a bit defeatist and they need to inspire that dressing room, with help from Lasith Malinga, for Sri Lanka to compete.

They need to take games deep and keep challenging themselves to rise to difficult occasions. They have the ability to do that and I believe deepdown they have the belief.

For India, the injury to Shikhar Dhawan is a big blow. His record in big tournaments is phenomenal. He has had a great start to this World Cup and his partnership with Rohit Sharma has been the foundation upon which India builds its imposing totals and allows the freedom to the other batsmen.

That is a reason why India, understandably, will allow Dhawan every possible opportunity to recover and postpone a full replacement even though that replacement is the brilliant Rishabh Pant.