Ranatunga expresses concern (11 November 1998)

11 November 1998

Ranatunga expresses concern

Chris Dhambarage

Sri Lanka skipper Arjuna Ranatunga expressed deep concern about their continuous batting debacle in the recent past which he said was the worst he had seen in seventeen years. Ranatunga was speaking after his team had been bowled out for just 98 runs in their third match of the Coca Cola Trophy triangular limited over cricket tournament in Sharjah.

Normally two or three batsmen from the top seven get going, but now there is no one who is really performing well, said Ranatunga. He further said that now there is hardly any time to perform miracles and they only need to concentrate more on the important tour of Australia starting in the month of December.

The team need to improve their batting, bowling and fielding too and also reorganise themselves during the next one and a half months if they are to make an impact in the future. Asked to comment on the umpiring decisions Ranatunga said that he just cannot make a statement right now and if he did so he could be in trouble according to the tournament regulations.

The Sri Lanka captain praised his two medium pacemen Chaminda Vaas Pramodaya Wickremasinghe who in his first match of the tournament returned excellent figures of 2 for 27 from 8.5 overs. He also said that the spinners too bowled well but it was their batting that has failed to click well. Ranatunga said that Ajay Jadeja's knock of 64 was an important one and that helped the Indians reach a decent total of 179 runs.

The two medium pacemen Ajith Agarkar and Javagal Srinath also bowled well and we just succumbed under pressure said Ranatunga. Meanwhile Russel Arnold joined the team on Tuesday ahead of the final group match against Zimbabwe, after Upul Chandana was sent home for further treatment.

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