Hilal Suhaib
The absence of the DRS had its shortcomings with Sri Lanka being at the receiving end of it on a couple of occasions, but overall considering this factor and the slow pitches they encountered the 1-0 result they achieved was described by chairman of selectors Ashantha de Mel as “above average”.
“There was no TV and there were no replays and no reviews they had some live streaming that’s all. That also had an impact on us. We got some decisions that went against us,” said De Mel.
“(Dinesh) Chandimal was very unlucky to be given out caught off his boot in the first Test. In the second Test when he was needed he went in there and held the side together he batted for about 75 balls and scored 13 runs. Test cricket is not only the case of scoring runs but occupation of the crease and when the chips are down not get out but to go in there and grind. Chandimal showed good character. Those are things that the coaches are looking at.
“Then in the second Test Brendan Taylor was caught off his glove at 7 off Dhananjaya de Silva when he swept at a ball and he went onto score 62 at a run a ball that put the rate up. If we had got him at that time they would have been 50-3. Then (Lasith) Embuldeniya dropped an easy catch off (Sikander) Raza and he got 72. We were at the receiving end some from technology and some from our mistakes. But generally our fielding was good,” he said.
“Zimbabwe Cricket could not afford DRS because they didn’t have a sponsor for the series. It’s a rare occasion in modern day cricket to have a series played without DRS. Playing a Test series without reviews and taking all these things into account a 1-0 win is okay. We didn’t have an excellent tour but overall our performance was good. I wouldn’t say excellent but above average…”