Short-Leg
Sri Lankan skipper Chandimal was buoyant about the visitors’ prospects of causing a boilover in Brisbane and in fairness, he probably had reason to be.
Australia named an inexperienced side featuring two debutants and five players with less than seven games’ experience. Moreover, Tim Paine’s men were reeling from a series defeat to India, with public scrutiny over selection meeting them at every turn.
But instead of digging in, preserving themselves against the new ball and cashing during the second session, the tourists floundered in spectacular fashion.
Chandimal and Thirimanne playing Test cricket…haa haaa… what a joke… they are club level cricketers good for village cricket in Australia or England #AyyoSalli
What for the telling…ha.ha.haa . Chandimal & Thrimanne were given continuous chance even they failed repeatedly. Thirimanne never delivered in the middle for SL & Chandimal never delivered in ODIs and under-performing in Tests (no impact role played in most vital occasions – although has the highest Test Av) as skipper, even after 10 yrs of experience today… Chandimal is nowhere near his big talk as his coach Hathurusinghe. Both of these seniors (Thrimanne 23 Av after 50 Test innings /Chandimal 60 SR in Odis in past 3 yrs) were lavishly rewarded with Captaincy & vice-captaincy & constant chances, despite their pathetic failures… dragging SL down in most occasions in Tests/ODIs.
On the other hand, during past 3 years since Jan 2016, Upul Tharanga 37 Av in Tests (16 ings with 2 x 100 & 3 x 50+) played up to his unjustly elimination without recalling to date (at the end of 6 months break in Mar 2017 – that he requested to focus on ODI captaincy in Oct 2016).
Discarded Test batter, Tharanga placed at 4th best Test ranking (Av 36.60) among top-order (No1-5) batted SL Test batters in past 3 yrs since 2016 to date.
Past 3 yrs Since Jan 2016: it is interesting to note, readily discarded top order batter Tharanga’s Test Average (Av 36.60 – ranked 4) is just behind the highly talked about SL’s top Test duo; Dimuth Karunarathne (Av 38.26 – ranked 2), Kusal Mendis (Av 38.25 – ranked 3). Rest of most gratis opportunity grabbers including the senior pros (close to UT’s age 34 yrs) Mathews (32 yrs) / Kaushal Silva (33yrs) were given unlimited chances despite ranked lower in batting, with numerous failures during past 3 yrs as seen below:
AD Mathews 2016-2018 – 43 ings / 35.55 Av
DM de Silva 2016-2018 – 26 ing/ 27.92 Av
ARS Silva 2018-2019 – 5 ing / 27.60 Av
JK Silva 2016-2018 – 30 ing/ 23.16 Av
MDKJ Perera 2016-2018 – 15 ing/ 22.40 Av
D Gunathilaka 2017-2018 – 16ing /18.68 Av
L Thirimanne 2016-2019 – 9 ing / 15.44 Av
Sadeera S 2017-2017 – 7 ing / 13.14 Av
Most number of 50+ (including 100+) delivered by Dimuth Karunarathne – 19 x 50+ from 62 innings @ 3.26 inning per 50+ score.
But Upul Tharanga has the TOP 50+ scores delivery rate among all SL batters during past 3 yrs; delivering 5 x 50+ (including 2 x100+) from just 16 Test innings @ 3.20 inning per 50+ score.
It is a shame to overlook such an assertive batter from both formats.!
http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/stats/index.html?agemax1=34;ageval1=age;batting_positionmax1=5;batting_positionval1=batting_position;class=1;filter=advanced;orderby=batting_average;qualmin1=4;qualval1=matches;spanmin2=01+Jan+2016;spanval2=span;team=8;template=results;type=batting
Tharanga doesn’t have the technique to play in swinging/ seaming conditions. He just pokes his bat out and knicks off. He’s fine on flat pitches
Get the youngsters in – there is no point protecting them and watching them decline in sub par club conditions.
Prospects – Bats
– Minod Bhanuka
– Pathum Nissanka
– Avishka Fernando
– Manoj Sarathchandra (wk)
– Shammu Ashan
– Hashan Dumindu
Prospects – Bowlers
– Mohamed Shiraz
– Lasith Embuldeniya
– Jehan Daniel
– Nishan Peiris
– Asitha Fernando
Prospects – All rounders
– Kamindu Mendis
– Charith Asalanka
– Chamika Karunaratne