Sri Lanka is a country where some of the best talent is first spotted while playing tennis ball cricket. Soft ball cricket tournaments are held in Colombo,Galle and Kandy,which are keenly followed spectacles. Talent scouts travel from one game to another to find special bowlers. Here bowlers with unorthodox actions are supported rather than dissuaded and their skills are fine-tuned by school or academy coaches. It is little surprise then that Nuwan Pradeep,the 23-year-old fast bowler,was first spotted just three years ago,while he was playing one of these tennis ball games in Colombo. Pradeeps story runs rather similar to Lasith Malingas,who he has replaced for the second Test. For Malinga playing tennis ball cricket was an advantage because it helped him develop his sling-shot action,which in turn helped in bowling yorkers,the most effective delivery on sandy wickets. Pradeep bowled at the Sri Lankan cricket teams nets on Saturday. He has a round arm action and not a slingy one but was rather quick even in his warm-up deliveries. The Sri Lankan pace bowling coach Campaka Ramanayake told The Sunday Express that like Malinga,Pradeep was a special talent. Malinga picked up seven wickets in the first Test but will play no part in the second after experiencing stiffness in his knee even as the selectors and team management are hoping to get him fit for the last game at the P Sara Stadium. Like in the case of Malinga,Pradeep was first spotted by Ramanayake. Malinga impressed with his pace during a Sri Lanka Cricket Foundation trials,while Pradeep seemed so quick with the tennis ball that the talent scouts quickly got hold of a speed gun to confirm what they had just seen. I saw him bowl and realised that he was really fast. I used a speed gun and it read 140 kmph. I was pleasantly surprised that he managed that kind of pace and immediately put him in the academy, Ramanayake said. That was before Pradeep became a finished product. He has been with the Sri Lankan academy for the past three years. He hasnt played too much of domestic cricket,but he is one of the most exciting fast bowling prospects we have in the country. His pace is what makes him stand apart, Ramanayake confirmed. Pradeep is a raw talent. He needs to develop further. He can also reverse swing the ball at a good pace. He did very well during the Sri Lanka A tour to Australia, the Sri Lankan bowling coach said.
