Bruised Sri Lankans prepare for Aussie invasion (15 August 1999)

15 August 1999

Bruised Sri Lankans prepare for Aussie invasion

Trevor Chesterfield

COLOMBO (Sri Lanka) - Unless you have driven through the streets of this colourful jigsaw puzzle in one of those dilapidated three-wheelers you are unlikely to understand the psyche of Sanath Jayasuriya.

Or, for that matter, the mood of Sri Lanka and the bruised ego of the former World Cup champions as they prepare for the invasion of the new rulers of the limited-overs order, Australia.

Whatever Steve Waugh may feel on the eve of leading the first lads from Oz on a tour of the island in six years, and misgivings Jayasuriya is likely to feel in his new role, the ride is likely to be as bumpy as any both sides have faced during four years of bitter rivalry.

"Yes, of course we have a few things to prove," was about the only comment emerging from the opening batsman of the triangular series which also involves India.

Perhaps it was the way he looked that Jayasuriya seemed troubled as he prepared for a net session at the Sinhalese Sports Club in leafy Maitland Place yesterdays. But there was also decisiveness about his nimble footwork and strokeplay against the bowlers the Australians are likely to face when the series starts in Galle on Sunday.

There is no doubt he would have said more on the subject but coach Dav Whatmore was waiting with some impatience any what else he wanted to say had to wait until the media conference after the Australians arrival today.

Minutes earlier Aravinda de Silva batted with all the style and grace missing in England during first round of the World Cup. He was as controlled in his driving and timing as he had been when Sri Lanka won the trophy in Lahore in 1996.

In this sort of mood it is fortunate for the Australians the Sri Lanka selectors have decided on several experimental changes for the sake of longer-term planning. Gone was hesitant, jerky strokes of those cold days last May.

Whether the selectors, already estranged from a hostile Sri Lanka public over what they politely term 'the redeployment of experience' and the retirement of Roshan Mahanama, said to be interested in playing for either a Melbourne club or Boland in South Africa, plan to revive De Silva's LOI career is another matter.

Selection convener Sidath Wettimuny has not contradicted a statement issued by the Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka which said the long-term aims was to rebuild the side with the next World Cup as the focus. Who issued the directive is another matter as the BCCSL are still floundering in troubled waters.

Jayasuriya comes from Matara, on the south-east coast, and for years batted the sort of abandon expected of the spectacular free rolling waves of that part of the country. Now he has to examine, with Whatmore, where he is to bat in the side.

"It is," admits the coach, "something still to be worked out. We haven't decided who is to open or who is to bat where."

Did this mean the Jayasuriya-Romesh Kaluwitharana partnership in the limited-overs series see someone else partnering the wicketkeeper-batsman?

"We'll have to see what the selectors feel," was Whatmore's last word on the subject.

Which could mean that the selectors have taken the decision away from Jayasuriya and create a problem area for the new captain. Barely has he been named captain than he is being told how to run the ship of by the 'off-shore control' of Messrs Wettimuny and Co. Surely not the right way to start a limited-overs series to relaunch Sri Lanka's hopes?

It was Kaluwitharana who had the last word before being bustled off to a fielding session on the well trimmed grass at SSC.

"Sure we are hurt by what happened at the World Cup, but we hide our bruises and know that one day we be free of them," he agreed.

Source :: Trevor Chesterfield, Pretoria News