Dasun Shanaka and his team lost both the ODI and T-20 series in New Zealand, with the exception of the one T-20 game that Sri Lanka won in extra innings following a tie. Dimuth Karunaratne and his team recently lost the New Zealand test series in New Zealand and missed a golden opportunity to advance to the ICC test championship final.
Additionally, they lost a fantastic opportunity to win the championship T-20 and capture the first-ever T-20 series in New Zealand.
Lahuru Kumara bowled the final over that would decide the match, and the Kiwis smashed a powerful six on the first delivery, giving them the victory with four wickets still to spare.
It’s not simple to defeat New Zealand in New Zealand, but Sri Lanka have done it before. The way Sri Lanka lost to New Zealand was really sad.
They had a fantastic chance to defeat the Kiwis, but some team decisions opened the path for unexpected losses. Winning or losing is not unusual for any form of sport, but Sri Lanka’s manner of losing to the Kiwis was unusual.
In the first test, New Zealand defeated Sri Lanka by two wickets in Christchurch, and experienced Kane Williamson scored a brave century to take the lead in the series.
Sadly, Sri Lanka scored more than 300 runs in each of their two innings, while the Kiwis gained an 18-run advantage in the first innings owing to Matt Henry, who produced a powerful half-century in a single session, and the Sri Lankan bowlers underwhelmed in the latter stages of the innings.
In the second test, Sri Lanka was bowled out for 164 while New Zealand scored 580 for 4, declaring victory by an innings and 58 runs. Sri Lanka fared much better in the second innings, being all out for 358.
Sri Lanka’s test team lost both games in this format. Others criticized Sri Lanka Cricket Administrators, while others pointed the finger at the National Cricket Selection Committee. Though few of them gave responsibility to the athletes and coaches.
A former cricket administrator who is currently at home enjoying his retirement claimed that because our cricketers are professionals, they should know how to play in the middle and adapt to match situations in addition to using their brains to play the game.
Unlike in the past, Sri Lanka offers all facilities, players receive substantial match money and other advantages from the SLC, and they have excellent support staff, however recent events have shown some negative outcomes.
Additionally, when we lost, cricket officials and selectors were blamed, and the media emphasized all of this. However, in my opinion, these three areas are highly significant and we do not have any good motivators, psychologists, or nutritionists.
The majority of teams have effective nutritionists, psychologists, and motivators who have set the way for excellent outcomes. There is no point in criticizing cricket administrators and selectors if we are unable to obtain the services of these three people.
We are aware that England, New Zealand, and Australia already achieve positive outcomes and are worried about these crucial areas. Both our players’ schooling and their command of the English language are lacking.
Dasun Shanaka, the captain of the Sri Lanka white ball team, spoke about adapting to the conditions before the New Zealand series, but sadly, some key players did not do enough to do so after they left for franchise T-20 tournaments following the Indian series.
Test team players from Sri Lanka had the opportunity to participate in the first-ever one-week Radella training camp, but white ball players were not able to do so.
The defeats cannot be entirely attributed to the selectors or even the cricket officials; instead, it must be the players who bear responsibility. They compete for their team and their country, but what advice do the High-Performance coaches that work with SLC have to offer?
Lahiru was chosen to bowl the final over after the final T-20 match in Queenstown ended in defeat, according to Dasun Shanaka. These are the queries that come up after defeats: why couldn’t the bowling instructors give the players some advice? Why can’t the captain talk to other senior players?
The cricket selection committee decided to put together the best team possible for the tour, and they sent a selector along. However, the final team of eleven was chosen by the team management (the captain, head coach, and manager), and News discovered that the majority of the time, the skipper prioritized senior players over talented juniors when choosing the final eleven.
For instance, Niroshan Dickwella was given the opportunity before Nishan Madushka, and players like Kamindu Mendis, Lasith Crrosepulle, Sadeera Samarawickrama, and Dunith Wellalage were forced to sit out the entire tournament while young Matheesha Pathirana was disqualified after testing positive for Covid 19.
Former Australia captain Steve Smith was also used as a water boy during the T-20 world cup, but this type of “seniors mafia” only exists in Sri Lanka. This needs to change for the development of cricket, according to a former cricket administrator.
I don’t believe any cricket administrator or selector enjoys seeing their team lose, so we must talk about all crucial issues and fix them all to achieve greater success.
It is a good moment to start with the Ireland test series as we must band together and work diligently to succeed in qualifying for the world cup.