Evaluating Rangana Herath with Plaudits – Rex and Scyld

The Lessons We could learn from Herath –Rex Clementine in The Island, 31 March 2012

The country’s one of the most respected cricketers, Kumar Sangakkara once called Rangana Herath ‘the work horse’ of the team. Now that he has emerged as country’s premier bowler, we should talk about his other virtues as well and how tough the rise for him has been having represented two unfashionable entities – Maliyadeva Vidyalaya and Moors SC. (Only two seasons back he left Moors after an association of 14 years after the club got demoted).

Loyalty and perseverance are two virtues of Herath that we should admire. Although HeThe rath made his debut in 1999, opportunities were rare for him due to the presence of champion Muttiah Muralitharan and Sri Lanka always had Sanath Jayasuriya to bowl a bit of left-arm spin.

But occasionally Herath was used in Test cricket, particularly against Pakistan once John Dyson developed this idea that Pakistan were in fact susceptible against left-arm spin.

Knee-jerk selections and failures in Tests without Murali

Rex Clementine,in the Island 1 November 2011

 Pic from Island

 The barren period for Sri Lanka without a Test win continues as the national cricket team has now spent 15 months without tasting success in Test cricket. In that period Sri Lanka has played 13 Test Matches, losing four games and drawing nine matches. Naturally, Sri Lanka’s bowling deficiencies due to the retirement of Muttiah Muralitharan and the absence of Lasith Malinga is seen as the main reason for the disappointing run. True the bowlers have not been penetrative enough, but the four matches that Sri Lanka lost in that period were due to   batting collapses that cost the team dearly as on all those instances barring the current one the fate of the series was decided on that batting collapse.

Pic by M Kiran for AFP

Lessons learnt from the Australian and English cricket series for Sri Lanka

Ravi Ladduwahetty,  in the Island, 14 October 2011

The Sri Lankan cricket team will be very disappointed that it lost the Test and the One Day International Series to Michael Clarke’s Australians. If one were to critically analyse it,Sri Lankawill also be disappointed that the batsmen did not have any solutions to the disciplined bowling attack of the Australians, especially the seamers. Special mention should be made of Ryan Harris and it was he who kept it very simple. He kept the deliveries outside the off stump, got the Sri Lankans to play those swung that away from both the right and left handers.

The Galle wicket for the first Test was prepared to suit spinners. Australian skipper Michael Clarke, walked up to the media box and said that he wished he could bat on that track. What he said by innuendo was that the wicket was very dry and that the side that batted last was going to have a torrid time. In all due fairness to Clarke, it was a pitch that was difficult to bat on. That held true withAustralia, still one of the best batting line-ups, was against what was a very mediocre Sri Lankan bowling attack. But the rider is thatSri Lankadid not have Muttiah Muralitheran and Chaminda Vaas who have retired and Lasith Malinga, who does not want to play Test cricket. So,Sri Lankadid not have the depth in bowling and was struggling on a dry track.

Aussies celebrate their hold on the Murali-Warne Trophy

 Pic from Sunday Times

Tom Moody reviews Sri Lankan Cricket Scene

From SKYNEWS at http://www.skynews.com.au/sport/article.aspx?id=662380&vId=

Sri Lanka haven’t won a Test since Muttiah Muralidaran retired back in July last year, a run stretching over 10 matches following the draw with Australia in Kandy. The game’s administration in the country is also struggling, a permanent replacement is yet to be appointed for former coach Trevor Bayliss. The Australian departed following April’s World Cup, before the country’s sports minister dissolved the cricket administration in July amid allegations of corruption and mismanagement, while rumours continued to circulate about players who were unsure of new captain Tillakaratne Dilshan’s leadership qualities.

But former Australian Test player Moody, who coached Sri Lanka from 2005-07, believes getting past the departure of retired greats like Muralidaran, fast bowler Chaminda Vaas and batsman Sanath Jayasuriya will be the nation’s biggest challenge.

From Murali to Mendis, there’s method in the madness

Peter Roebuck, in the Sydney Morning Herald, 8 September 2011

Pic from AFP

Pic from Reuters

No country has in recent times produced more original cricketers than Sri Lanka. Sanath Jayasuriya, Lasith Malinga, Murali and Ajantha Mendis stand out as the most unorthodox players of their generation. In that time,Sri Lanka has endured a civil war, reporters have been eliminated, the defeated presidential candidate languishes in jail, and the cricket community has for 15 years been run by interim committees. Maybe chaos can be liberating, maybe organisation can stifle.

Murali’s freakish style has been admired and debated but not copied. Like Thommo, he has been inimitable. In his youth, he turned the ball prodigiously but latterly he relied as much upon disguise. Jayasuriya was the first of the modern breed of blasting openers; he struck the ball with awesome power. Malinga is a round-armer, a bunch long assumed to be extinct who ruled the roost briefly between the underarmers and overarmers.

Life after Murali less of a Struggle

S. Rajesh in ESPNcricinfo, 1 September 2011

 

 

Murali etching by Joe Hoad

Pic from Daily Mirror after Murai’s last Test Match in Galle

and Dav Whatmore congratulating  Murali –as so often

For overseas teams, batting in Sri Lanka has surely been one of the more challenging assignments of recent years. Battling an army of spinners in conditions suited perfectly to slow bowling is an examination that several competent batsmen have failed to pass, but things just might be getting easier for them now, with Muttiah Muralitharan no longer around to torment them. It’s been a little more than a year since Murali retired, and Sri Lankaare still searching for their first Test win post Murali. They won the last Test he played, thrashing India by 10 wickets in Galle, with Murali himself taking eight to reach the 800-wicket milestone, but since then things haven’t been as rosy. After managing 614 runs in two innings of that Galle Test, India scored 707 in a single innings in the second Test, and then won the third to level the series.