SI Cricket Talks
Sri Lanka has finally registered their first win of their ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 campaign with a five-wicket win over the Netherlands! As a result of this win, Sri Lanka keep their Cricket World Cup hopes alive but still require a tall order to make the semis with tough positions still to play. That said, this win will give the Sri Lankans some much-needed confidence going forward! Nevertheless, despite the win, Sri Lanka still huffed and puffed throughout the game revealing some areas of concern together with areas of improvement, shall we take a quick look into those areas? We shall!
Pros with the ball and in the field:
- Took early wickets within the first 20 overs
- Bowlers were given extended spells to set up the batters
Con with the ball and in the field:
- Didn’t take wickets from overs 20 up until overs 45
- Released pressure by allowing easy runs
- Missed opportunities in the field (missed runouts, dropped catches, and etc.)
Pros with the bat:
- Nissanka scoring yet another 50
- Sadeera’s match-winning innings of 91
- Handy middle-order contributions from Asalanka and DDS
Cons with the bat:
- Lose shots from the top-order (resulted in wickets)
Overall, Sri Lanka was able to address certain issues in the game plan resulting in them gaining their first points of the World Cup but it certainly wasn’t an ideal game for them as they should have never let the Dutch score 262 after having them 91-6 and shouldn’t have taken 48.2 overs to chase the total down! As a result, Sri Lanka must enhance their killer instinct to finish off teams and matches without allowing them to come back into the game. So, what are your thoughts on this? Do you agree? Comment below!