Looking to go the extra mile

Having come close twice,Islanders will be aiming to secure their first win when they face Aus

Doing his best to replicate the Stan McCabe statue in the background one that executes a perfect hook behind the Members Pavilion of the Sydney Cricket Ground Dinesh Chandimal flicked a bouncer from his nose inside the dingy confines of the nets area on Thursday. Yelling in a mix of Sinhalese and English from a pitch-length away,Marvan Atapattu,the batting coach of the Sri Lankan team,pointed towards where the fine-leg region would be on a cricket field and raised two fingers indicating the runs scored of that shot.

In Atapattu8217;s simulatory session,Chandimal had needed 14 runs off the last over of his throwdowns to take Sri Lanka over the line. Now,with two runs hooked off the penultimate hurl,Chandimal still needed five from the last throw. Atapattu tossed a good length ball,Chandimal drove crisply,before the two got into a playful war of words on whether it was fielded at the boundary or if it crossed over the imaginary ropes.

Time running out

Either way,like on this tour so far,Sri Lanka were still a short distance away from securing a win their first victory in the tri-series. And in the context of their time Down Under,the matches or a place in the final were quickly slipping away.

Had that drive gone over,Chandimal like MS Dhoni during the last ODI at the Adelaide Oval would have tied the match,simulating Sri Lanka8217;s best result in this series so far. But had that ball stayed true to what Atapattu reckoned,Chandimal would have found himself in the same stage that he was in,in the real world a couple of losses away from making his presence in this series an inconsequential one.

Like McCabe during the Bodyline series,Chandimal has been the only man standing through the ruins of Sri Lankan cricket,both on and off the field. While the side is currently undergoing a financial crisis away from the stadiums,their successes on the pitch too haven8217;t been all that different. Under the new-old regime of Mahela Jayawardene,Sri Lanka have lost two games and tied one. Almost unworthy of Chandimal8217;s contributions.

The 22-year old averages 60.66 in this series,is the second highest scorer with 182 runs,has two fifties to his name and has hit more boundaries than anyone else in this competition. All this,when his career is just 25 games old. But unfortunately,the ten others have found it hard to match up which include the lack of runs from Sri Lanka8217;s usual suspects Kumar Sangakkara and Jayawardene. The latter may not have been generous in his batting contributions this series,but he was in his praise.

8220;Dinesh just looks comfortable batting out there and is showing what he is capable of,8221; said Jayawardene on the batsman8217;s top-score of 81 on Tuesday. 8220;We introduced him soon after the World Cup,and he is batting beautifully. Hopefully he can keep doing that and we can rebuild a nice side around these young guys. Dinesh is the future of our team.8221;

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That future,however,could be extinct at least in this series if Chandimal doesn8217;t get his act together again on Friday when Sri Lanka take on Australia. Like Sri Lanka,Australia too have an unseasoned look about their side since the Test series. But where the Islanders are banking on the performance of youngsters,the hosts have decided to stick with the assurance that experience provides. Faced with the dilemma on who should captain the side in the absence of Michael Clarke out with hamstring injury the Australian selectors chose Ricky Ponting over David Warner.

Experience over youth

Australia chairman-of-selectors John Inverarity,apparently,wasn8217;t very keen on having a young man taking over the job during an ongoing tri-series against the world champions and the runners-up. The reason may also be that Australia are playing three newcomers in their starting XI,in Matthew Wade,Dan Christian and Peter Forrest. And to help them take more successful baby steps in cricket,the experienced hand of Ponting,rather than Warner,is the need of the hour. 8220;I did have a think about it and I had a good chat with John Inverarity about what some of my concerns were,8221; the second new-old skipper said the day before the Australia-Sri Lanka match. 8220;It is probably right for the team at the moment,8221; added Ponting

Arrested in various stages of redevelopment,both Australia and Sri Lanka on nine and two points respectively will look to use the game at the SCG on Friday to assert their positions in this series after non-wins against India 10 points in the previous week. Clarke8217;s men fell short by a decent distance during their previous game. But with Lanka,it was probably worse. They were neither here,nor there. Just ask Chandimal,he experienced it all over again at the SCG.

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