Perform or perish, coach Pothas tells Lanka’s batsmen
dubai — Sri Lankan coach Nic Pothas didn’t mince words after another shambolic display from the batsmen led to their 83-run defeat in the first match of the fivegame ODI series against Pakistan at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Friday.
Chasing a target of 293, Sri Lanka were reduced to 56/5 before the end of the 16th over.
Only a defiant half-century from Lahiru Thirimanna (53, 74 balls, 3 fours) and a lower-order resistance from Akila Dhananjaya (50 not out, 72 balls, 5 fours) and Jeffrey Vandersay (25, 47 balls) saved Sri Lanka (209/8) from an even bigger defeat.
This was their seventh straight defeat in the one-day format.
“From the batting point of view, the currency of the batters is runs. If you don’t keep making runs, your shop is going to shut down at some point,” the former South Africa Test player told reporters at the post-match press conference on Friday night.
“So our batters need to step up and take some accountability. Top six batsmen managed 96 between them and one of them alone got 53. So you are not going to chase down too many totals if we are in that position.”
Pothas admitted that Sri Lanka, who stunned Pakistan 2-0 in the Test series, faced a long road ahead in their search for ODI redemption. “Pakistan have won the Champions Trophy. They have found the formula to be successful in limited overs game, but we still haven’t found our formula. We haven’t been very good in this format of the game for a while now so we need to find some answers and we need to find them soon,” he added.
Sri Lanka would have failed to bat out their 50 overs if not for the impressive efforts from Dhananjaya and Vandersay.
Pothas said the team management had been working hard to improve lower order batting.
“We have a system within the team that we get those bowlers to score those small runs,” he said.
“You know Akila, he is just a little champion. He is a fighter, he has got a great character. It was only a matter of time before he played an innings like that but he is only going to get better and Jeffrey is exactly the same. So yes it’s pleasing but I would like to see them bat less to be honest!”