Venomless Sri Lanka let it slip again

Lord's 2014 - Sri Lanka bowl first and claim the first four England wickets for 120. The score is 209 when the fifth falls. Yet, Joe Root and Matt Prior rally, put on 171 together, before the England tail plunges the knife deeper. The eventual first innings score is 575. The last five wickets had cost 366. Sri Lanka have effectively been batted out of the match.

At Headingley a week later, Sri Lanka have England on the run. The hosts are chasing 350 for victory, but in no time, they are 57 for 5 with a full day yet to play. Sri Lanka toil on a worn pitch, Moeen Ali and the tail resisting them staunchly. In the end, Shaminda Eranga closes out the victory sensationally, with the penultimate ball of the game. But the bottom half of England's XI had held out for more than 90 overs.

Not long after, in Galle, South Africa are 266 for 5, with AB de Villiers, Hashim Amla and Faf du Plessis all dismissed. Again Sri Lanka concede rearguard runs. JP Duminy signs up Vernon Philander and No. 10 Morne Morkel for sidekicks. South Africa proceed to an excellent 455 for 9.

At the SSC a week later, Sri Lanka have South Africa by the throat, but again the tail rallies, and Nos. 7, 8, 9 and 10 see out 212 balls combined in the second innings. The visitors have faced 111 overs, but have lost only 8 wickets on a dustbowl, by stumps. Match drawn.

In Wellington in January this year, perhaps the most dispiriting slide of all. New Zealand are only 24 runs ahead when they lose their fifth wicket, in the third innings of the game. Thanks in part to several lazy drops, Kane Williamson and BJ Watling mount a record unbeaten 365 for the sixth wicket, and turn the match on its head. Sri Lanka bravely attempt to chase the target, but lose by 193 runs.

On Saturday, after Pakistan had swept the rug from Sri Lanka's feet then trussed them up in it, Sri Lanka coach Marvan Atapattu had this to say: "I don't think we did too many things wrong. Some of the things the tailenders happened to work. Some of the big shots connected, and it's one of those days. [Asad] Shafiq and the wicketkeeper [Sarfraz Ahmed] also batted really well to get hundreds from a situation where they were down and out. A lot of credit should go to them."

He's half right. Pakistan began the day 182 runs adrift, with the last recognised pair at the crease, on a pitch already taking substantial turn, yet Sarfraz was as precise as he was fearless with his hacks, cuts and slashes. Shafiq was a sublime foil until Sarfraz's ambition got the better of him. Then Shafiq marshalled the tail maturely, striking a fine balance between farming the strike and trusting his partners.

Yet it seems strange that Sri Lanka appear oblivious to the fissures that have emerged in their own cricket. Opposition batsmen often play well. That happens in Test cricket. But Sri Lanka have routinely had the opposition's head on the chopping block, only to stab themselves in the eye instead, then flop around, bleeding to death.

There are days when Rangana Herath, in his mesmeric spells, inspires in his field the predatory instincts that made Sri Lanka a menace at home in the nineties. But too quickly, the mood dissipates. The close-in fielders had been like bull sharks encircling prey when five wickets had fallen on the third evening in Galle. On Saturday, it only took a few Sarfraz swipes to dull them to apathy. When Herath's bite deserts him, fight seemingly leaves his team-mates.

It doesn't help that the attack itself is monochrome when Herath is flat. The slow bowlers are almost mirror images of one another - two finger spinners who turn the ball a bit, but excel at maintaining control. More diversity exists in the higher ranks of Sri Lanka's domestic cricket. Tharindu Kaushal sits inert in the squad for this Test match, but he delivers offspin with his wrist and bowls a mean doosra (which as far as anyone can tell, is sent down with a straight arm). Chinaman Lakshan Sandakan waits in the shadows too, and legspinner Jeffrey Vandersay had a decent outing against Pakistan in the warm-up encounter.

Nor is it helpful that Angelo Mathews - for all his fine qualities as a batsman and leader - remains a modest strategist. In his field placements you get the impression he's a captain who wants to be aggressive, but to whom defence comes more easily. He trialled several unorthodox positions on day four, but the traps seemed too loosely set to work. It's unfair to measure him against the likes of Brendon McCullum and Michael Clarke because Sri Lanka's attack is inferior, yet he plays in a rich tradition of captains who have felled better teams, with meagre resources. Mostly, they have done so with creativity and innovation.

Sri Lanka now face a tough final day to stay even in the series. But enough of a pattern has emerged in their fielding efforts now, to warrant introspection. All four oppositions they have played in the past 14 months have turned Tests with substantial lower-order gains. Some of them have done it more than once in a series.