Its too late now but I think the selectors missed a trick by not brining along oshada for no3 spot. Kusal P should open, thirimanne should be booted out. From the time he appeared on the scenes he keeps getting lbw trying to play legside or gets caught in slips or gully. Even when he lasts he cannot up the scoring rate for you so no point in selecting. Another disasterous choice is jeevan mendis, what is he going to give you? Can some one tell me when he last won a game for us? He should be replaced by another guine batsman my choice would have been dickwella. Another trick they missed in not bringing ina gunuine pacer like Lahiru kumara, these are English conditions every team has someone how can bounce batman push them on the backfoot but we don’t.

I agree, Gunathilaka and Dickwella are too timid and will take the easily option of slog and get out to the moving ball. So I would agree with most of your suggestion except I don’t think Dilruwan is going to win us matches in NZ. I would rather gamble on a another seamer instead (with a bit of difference – leftie) so I would bring in rajitha plus NZ condition tends to help swing ballers. I would also be tempted to consider another change for the struggling Mendis and slot in Thirimanne instead but it might be a harder choice to make because Thirimanne is not exactly oozing confidence either. I think while we are not even close to a settled side, as a captain Chandimal should be prepared to take on more responsibility of taking the gloves so vacating a spot for an extra specialist to balance the side. I think bring in Dickwella just to keep would be the worst decision in my mind as he would be a walking wicket.

Why is the island cricket
Why is the island cricket page full of spam these days? Every time you click somewhere it opens a spam pages. Some of the articles cannot be even read because it only opens the spam pages instead of the articles. I thought only our team was performing badly ?????

I find it amusing that people
I find it amusing that people are rejoicing at this pointless win. Its safe to say that years of horrible performance has blinded us from seeing whats worthy. A win in a dead rubber, at home, on a flat track, with no pressure, no expectation is all that its worth. I don’t even want to start with Kusal Mendis given another oppourtunity and this time told to go and blindly slog, happens to have a few that goes his way and we are suppose to believe its going to help us at the WC. Imagine this situation a knock out game at a major tournament, swinging green track, hungry opposition, hostile crowd and now can you even imagine this guy surviving an over – highly doubtful. Lets appreciate results for what they are, don’t get on the victory bandwagon too soon because we will get knocked down from it soon enough. It has happened time and time again for over three years now. What makes you think anything has changed, same bunch of disarrayed selectors, a coach who doesn’t have a clue of team compositions, half the team is part time all rounders swinging their bats hoping to connect one. A team that is constantly in transition phases and will continue to be for the next 3 year and even possibly beyond if things do not change quickly.

I’ve written this before but
I’ve written this before but will again write it. From the time he came into the international scene I could never see Kusal Mendis with his flawed technique being a breakthrough for SL cricket. I still believe this even though so many past players and coaches have repeatedly emphasized he could be the next big thing. He is always going to be a hit and miss player unless he changes his approach. The same cannot be said about Dhanangaya de silva though, I feel he has a solid technique, a great hand eye coordination and if given a the opportunity to perform at a single position for a reasonable period of time he will come good. But the selectors and coaches keep changing, swapping and chopping him around. Apart from the well-known fact that the long term solution lies in improving the domestic structure it’s not going to happen overnight and the politics will never let it happen. What I find is that Sri Lankan cricket as a whole has this mindset that we don’t need to correct players from their flaws we should let them be hoping that they could turn into a freak like murali, malinga or sanath. But the reality is it only happens in very rare cases. We (Sri Lankan cricket) think we can be world beaters using mysteries and freakish mindsets. It is never going to happen; reality is that the game has grown so much that oppositions these days will work you out overnight and figure out your strengths and weaknesses. The only way to prosper is to go back to basics, back the players that have good techniques, give them stability in the team. Approach the game with a mindset to occupy the crease not to play a quick fire 20 or 30.

Firstly I should start by
Firstly I should start by saying I hate myself for not being able to give up on these guys!

I don’t find the defeats shocking, I don’t find the losses unexpected, but what I DO find shocking is that we are the only team where you get a promotion for under performing as a player. Eg Kusal Mendis, has been in terrible form, scores ducks being 1 down, then gets sent in to open. As if we have a solid middle order who can steady the ship. Every player in this current team (except Akila Dhananjaya) is looking for a place to hide because they are terribly out of form and have zero confidence, they may not say it because they want to be in the team but that is the honest truth. I have played club cricket for a long time but I am not a cricket coach, it ONLY took me a few games to realize Kusal Mendis will never make it big because he has plenty of technical flaws. So many great people including the current coach, captain, past players etc… kept saying he will be our next best thing, but sorry NO ONE makes it big over a long period of time with a flawed technique. Otherwise you have say The tendulkars, Sangakarra’s of yesterday were just playing well time and time again by sheer luck, which is NOT true. The World Cup is already looking way out of reach for US. But here is my suggestion if we at least want to try :

1 – Dimuth Karunaratna and
2 – Tharanga must open.
(Over the last few months I feel that Dimuth has grown as a player, Test Cricket is always the test of real skills. He has shown patience and grit and here’s hoping he can transform that into the ODIs)
3 – Dhananjaya DeSilva or Kusal Perera as one down. (Dananjaya has a solid technique and can also bowl a few overs). Kusal has got plenty of experience. I trust one of these players to come good soon.
4 – Chandimal,
5 – Matthews
These two make up 4 and 5. (They have the most experience from the current lot and have to be in the team)
6 – Roshen Silva (A good lower middle order player who can hold an innings together. Again has good temperament and technique)
7 – Dickwella (Wicket keeper and lower middle order batsmen) or Kusal Perera if he is not in previous slot
8 – Thissara or Dasun Shanaka (I would simply pick this based on need, if you want a strong batting line up go with Dasun or a stronger bowling option Thissara might be the option)
9 – Akila Dhananjaya (The only player who is an automatic selection amongst current players)
10 – Suranga Lakmal – He has to be our number one fast bowling option based on performance over time.
Malinga is great has done great things but we cannot be a team that chooses on sentiments, we have done this over and over with many players and its not how the top teams do it. They simply select based on performance over time not a single game or a single series.
11 – Malinga / Chameera / Pradeep
But I still think we need a left arm fast bowler. We need variety to attack. We currently lack that, all our fast bowler are very much the same except Malinga and unfortunately he is not in his prime.

Firstly I should start by
Firstly I should start by saying I hate myself for not being able to give up on these guys!

I don’t find the defeats shocking, I don’t find the losses unexpected, but what I DO find shocking is that we are the only team where you get a promotion for under performing as a player. Eg Kusal Mendis, has been in terrible form, scores ducks being 1 down, then gets sent in to open. As if we have a solid middle order who can steady the ship. Every player in this current team (except Akila Dhananjaya) is looking for a place to hide because they are terribly out of form and have zero confidence, they may not say it because they want to be in the team but that is the honest truth. I have played club cricket for a long time but I am not a cricket coach, it ONLY took me a few games to realize Kusal Mendis will never make it big because he has plenty of technical flaws. So many great people including the current coach, captain, past players etc… kept saying he will be our next best thing, but sorry NO ONE makes it big over a long period of time with a flawed technique. Otherwise you have say The tendulkars, Sangakarra’s of yesterday were just playing well time and time again by sheer luck, which is NOT true. The World Cup is already looking way out of reach for US. But here is my suggestion if we at least want to try :

1 – Dimuth Karunaratna and
2 – Tharanga must open.
(Over the last few months I feel that Dimuth has grown as a player, Test Cricket is always the test of real skills. He has shown patience and grit and here’s hoping he can transform that into the ODIs)
3 – Dhananjaya DeSilva or Kusal Perera as one down. (Dananjaya has a solid technique and can also bowl a few overs). Kusal has got plenty of experience. I trust one of these players to come good soon.
4 – Chandimal,
5 – Matthews
These two make up 4 and 5. (They have the most experience from the current lot and have to be in the team)
6 – Roshen Silva (A good lower middle order player who can hold an innings together. Again has good temperament and technique)
7 – Dickwella (Wicket keeper and lower middle order batsmen) or Kusal Perera if he is not in previous slot
8 – Thissara or Dasun Shanaka (I would simply pick this based on need, if you want a strong batting line up go with Dasun or a stronger bowling option Thissara might be the option)
9 – Akila Dhananjaya (The only player who is an automatic selection amongst current players)
10 – Suranga Lakmal – He has to be our number one fast bowling option based on performance over time.
Malinga is great has done great things but we cannot be a team that chooses on sentiments, we have done this over and over with many players and its not how the top teams do it. They simply select based on performance over time not a single game or a single series.
11 – Malinga / Chameera / Pradeep
But I still think we need a left arm fast bowler. We need variety to attack. We currently lack that, all our fast bowler are very much the same except Malinga and unfortunately he is not in his prime.