Pull up your socks, Sri Lanka! (5 January 1999)

5 January 1999

Pull up your socks, Sri Lanka!

By Elmo Rodrigopulle

ADELAIDE, Australia, Monday - The Sri Lankan cricketers must treat their pathetic performance in Perth as a bad dream and take on the Australian 'A' squad in the second game here tomorrow with more guts.

Being the world champions in the limited overs game requires that they play that way and not collapse like a pack of cards.

Australians and the Sri Lankans in Perth were eagerly waiting to see the World Champions in action. They were keen to see and know what made them the champions.

But the Lankans disappointed and added insult to injury when they were forced to play a second game - a 25 over game which game too they lost.

The Sri Lankan batting collapse was triggered by some unimaginative play. Other than for Kaluwitharne and Ranatunga, the rest of the batting was spineless.

Coach Roy Dias would have told and showed them where they went wrong and the Sri Lankan supporters in Adelaide will be looking for a much improved display this time round.

The Sri Lankans rested Aravinda de Silva, Muthiah Muralitharan and Chaminda Vaas. It is likely that Vaas will play in this game, while de Silva and Muralitharan will also miss this game giving them more time to recover from their injuries.

De Silva who is fighting hard to be fit for the Carlton and United triangular series, had further misfortune befall him when he went down with a temperature and left midway during the game in Perth for more rest at the hotel.

In the meantime it was ice to see former Sri Lankan coach Bruce Yardley working at the nets with Muralitharan. Yardley took a liking to Muralitharan when he first spotted him as a schoolboy at St. Anthony's College, Kandy.

Yardley predicted a great future for this off spinning sensation and Muralitharan lived up to expectations. Yardley told me during the little training session that Muralitharan is bowling at his peak.

Yardley is one of those who is convinced that Muralitharan is a legitimate bowler. Being a bowler of similar type, Yardley knows what he is talking about.

Yardley was disappointed to find that Russel Arnold, Mahela Jayawardena and Kumara Dharmadasa are not on this tour. He could not believe it.

The Australian 'A' side led by Greg Blewett will want to perform a similar act like they did in Perth and show that their win was no flash in the pan.

It is up to the Sri Lankans to stand up to them and show them that it was one of those things that caused their collapse and led to their surprising eight wicket defeat.

The Sri Lankans have it in them to turn things around. What they need is to believe in themselves and then the pieces will fall together.

Source :: Daily News (https://www.lanka.net)