Lanka plan two-part opening strategy

The question on every ones’ lips is whether the Sri Lankans could adopt this same approach in England in May. My hunch is that they will have to hold it back till the dry weather arrives later in the summer. Sanath and Kalu have a special sort of ability and they played their attacking brand of cricket in England the last time they were there and succeeded as they do in the sub-continent. But under dry conditions. One must however remember that these two play that way, as it is the only way they can and any otherapproach would be a detrimental step. The instruction to the two would be to attack but with some discretion.

Sri Lanka’s initial plan to carry out the assault at the beginning a little further with the inclusion of young left-hander Avishka Gunawardane did not materialise. Avishka is a tremendous striker of the ball and played some stunning knocks but he has a few chinks in his armour against the moving ball and will have to wait. His fielding too needs plenty more work.

My feeling is that Sri Lanka in the early part of the summer, if damp, will be happy with totals of around 225 to 240 and will settle for a more steady approach with the role of opening in the hands of Jayasuriya and Atapattu and push Kalu lower down the order. They will revert to their more aggressive approach in more dry weather where the targets would be in the 260 — 275 area.

The Sri Lankans, I believe, have a few new ideas to be put out but manager Duleep Mendis feels that flexibility is of utmost importance as he expects all theteams to come up with their own inventive strategies and believes that one has to be able to counter these and nip them in the bud quickly.

Duleep Mendis, Roy Dias (coach) and D.S.De Silva (cricket manager) together with skipper Ranatunga and Aravinda De Silva will form the nucleus of Sri Lanka’s think-tank and they have the right balance and experience to match wits with any opposition.

Sri Lanka’s last World Cup success was under the guidance of Dave Whatmore and if one was to ask what the contribution was I would unhesitatingly say considerable. In the same breath, however, it must be borne in mind that the team Whatmore inherited had been under many experienced hands over the years and was nicely peaking into a fine outfit and Whatmore very cleverly added the finishing touches to bring about the finesse. His dedicated methods went down well and the emphasis on fitness with the introduction of Alex Kountouri was an area which clinched the issue and was most significant.

The Sri Lankan Board recentlyopened a high quality Gymnasium and named it `GYM Kountori’. Alex has brought about a new culture into Sri Lankan cricket and his assistance has been invaluable. His greatest asset is that he is fine human being and there is mutual respect enjoyed by both the players and Alex.

The introduction of Bruce Yardley into the Sri Lankan scene did a lot to the spinners, particularly Muralitharan whose "drifter" from the leg to the off to the right hander has deceived many a batsmen and now makes him more and more difficult to play.

Roy Dias has been described as a Prince among batsman and he has been able to bring about plenty of character, particularly to the younger Sri Lankan players. It was Roy who ran the show on Sri Lanka’s glorious tour of England which was considered equal to the World Cup success and he has since then been unfortunately having to handle teams rather depleted by injury and experimentation. He has taken all that in his stride and I am sure has kept his best for England.

Duleep whobrilliantly guided Lanka to their last success will be also there together with cricket manager D.S.De Silva and Trevor Chappell and the team could be assured of a strong back-room combination to shoulder them.

Ranjith Fernando, former Lankan Test star, was till recently the manager of the team