Hilal Suhaib
Rash strokes and poor decision-making cost Sri Lanka the P Sara Test. So says captain Dimuth Karunaratne.
It is a difficult summary to argue against, given the nature of Sri Lanka’s demise on the fifth day in Colombo. Lahiru Thirimanne essentially ran himself out, attempting a single to midwicket off the fifth ball of the innings. Kusal Perera was caught in the slips slashing at a short delivery. Kusal Mendis and Angelo Mathews were both out playing defensive shots, but later, Dhananjaya de Silva was caught at second slip after advancing down the pitch.
The first innings had been disappointing as well. Sri Lanka were all out for 244, before New Zealand replied with a declaration at 431 for 6.
What is it with our batting? Hand on a minute, we just won 3 tests in a row chasing including 300+ in SA and 250+ in Galle – no ordinary batting line up does that. So what is wrong with our batting?
This series, we have had shocker starts in all but 1 innings when we went to 160+ before losing a wicket. In the other innings, we were on the floor within 30 overs before someone saved us from total embarrassment.
It’s all down to shot selection. Just don’t seem to be able to build an innings over a reasonable amount of time. We need to get over this folks and just put some runs on the board.
before the start of day 5 roshan abeysinghe interviewed niroshan dickwella and dickwella was telling him they are going to be positive. why? why would thirimanne get run out going for a quick single so early in the innings? why were they looking for quick runs and trying to be positive? were they planning to wipe out nz’s lead and put a large enough total and bowl black caps out all in under 93 overs? who was the coach? rumesh ratnayake. who was the team manager ashantha de mel. who was captain dimuth. they all need to own this huge f**k up and take responsibility for not losing the golden chance to win the series! bloody idiotic thinking! anyone who thinks dickwella is leadership material and anyone who thinks ashantha de mel is doing a good job and coach rumesh is doing a decent job need to get their heads examined.