Pathum Nissanka, of sturdy constitution and brisk manners, marching towards his hundred and a memorable Test victory in England; Kamindu Mendis, of vibrant eyes and ice-cold veins, Sri Lanka’s storm-rider; Asitha Fernando, of a feral grunt and bristling action, harassing batsmen of repute. Sri Lanka would remember the England tour of 2024 through a heap of images and with sunny affection, even if they had lost the series, even if they had self-combusted in moments that could have yielded them a brighter outcome, even if the fear of a familiar false dawn stalks every moment of glory.
Stand-in coach and all-time great Sanath Jayasuriya rolled back the memories to the era-defining Test victory at the same venue, the Oval, 26 years away. “We won a lot of respect after winning that match. Earlier, we used to play one-off Tests. After this, teams began to invite us for a three-Test series,” he said. The latest Test win, he asserts, was tougher to win than the 1998 one . “The conditions were difficult this time, the pitch was green and the ball was moving around, it was difficult to bat,” he said.
A trigger-happy batsman in his heyday, he is more prudent with his words. He didn’t over-romanticise the win or sprinkle lofty words like renaissance or phrases like coming of age. He is, without a doubt, well acquainted with the dizzy fluctuations of fortunes in Sri Lanka cricket, of wasted potential and unfulfilled promises.
There are several walking embodiments of strayed gifts. At the stroke of the previous decade, Angelo Mathews was primed to conquer world cricket with his pristine stroke-making, lively seam bowling and a winsome smile that endeared him to even his bitter adversaries. He shook the world with a thunderous 160 in a famous and series-clinching win at Leeds, months before England hammered India. But a decade later after he was adjudged the Wisden player of the year, his career slumped, chiefly due to injuries, burden of captaincy, self-doubts and the general directionless nature of Sri Lankan cricket this century. He chisels out useful performances, an odd spell of incisive dibbly dobblers, or a vintage assault of fours, but never conquered the peaks he was touted to scale. A Test batting average of 45.15 suggests diligence, not greatness.
Similarly, Kusal Perera, a Sanath Jayasuriya clone with a short backlift and closed-in arms, could never build on his Durban knock, always in the conversations of greatest-eve Test knocks and occupying a spot in the top-five. Thirteen more Test innings of nominal yield, he became a one-knock wonder, a proverbial shooting star, his last outing in the longest version coming in 2021. There are others too, like Roshen Silva, architect of a thrilling draw in Kotla, or Dinesh Chandimal of the Galle heist against Ravi Ashwin and Co.
But Perera is perhaps most symbolic of the fits and flashes nature of Sri Lankan cricket. In the last decade, Sri Lanka produced what no other Asian side could; win a Test series in England and South Africa. They nearly pulled off a heist in New Zealand too, where no Asian team has won a Test in 15 years. Yet, for a team predisposed to be competitive in all conditions, they have not cracked the consistency code. It could be that the crisis their country had been riding in the past few years had derailed them in sports too; the chaos in cricket administration could have disillusioned them; the frequent shuffling of the coaching pack might have disturbed them; the pandemic years might broke their wave of progress and continuity; recession might have forced some of their most talented cricketers into seeking the riches of the franchise leagues. In white ball cricket, it won the Asia Cup, defeating a strong Pakistan side, yet crashed out in the second stage in the T20 World Cup that tailed it.
The paradox of Sri Lankan cricket is that just when you give up on them, they conjure something magnificent to reinstate hope and joy. Few would have believed that Perera could subjugate Dale Steyn and Kagiso Rabada, or or Nissanka could blitz through Olly Stone and Chris Woakes under sullen skies. The excited faithful cling on, but they contrive to self-destroy. The cycle repeats, making the exercise of following them an equally fascinating and frustrating experience.
Only time would denote whether the Oval win is a concrete sign of missing and repelling parts falling into place to solve the giant-scale sudoku or just an incidental, sporadic victory that eventually leads to another false dawn. The parts and promise, no doubt, exist. The batting order has a mix of style and steel. Nissanka bludgeons; Dimuth Karunarathne stonewalls. Kusal Mendis, Mathews, Dinesh Chandimal and Dhananjaya de Silva are capable of match-turning acts. Kamindu Mendis, the tour’s discovery, injects balance and calmness. The seam-quartet of Fernando, Milan Rathnayake, Lahiru Kumara, Vishwa Fernando, apart from the injured Dilshan Madushanka and Kasun Rajitha, could make life harrowing for batsmen. On turners, they have the guileful left-arm spin of Prabath Jayasuriya to lean on.
Whether they could combine in tandem and harness the potential would colour the memory of Oval afternoon. It could be an era-defining moment; it could be another of those numerous false dawns the tear-shaped island would have woken up too.
*******
Hysteric highs, crushing lows
2014 Leeds
With the stalwarts phasing out, the 100-run win ushered in hope that the transition would be smooth. It didn’t exactly pan out the way they hoped. Sri Lanka immediately lost a series at home against South Africa, defeated Pakistan and then lost series to New Zealand (away), India (home) and Pakistan (home).
2019 Gqeberha
One of the greatest Test series wins raised genuine optimism about Lanka’s resurgence. But it was not to be, as they waited for two more years to register their next series win against a top-nine nation. The phase included drawn series against New Zealand, Pakistan and West Indies, besides series defeats at the hands of England and South Africa.
2022 Asia Cup
After a shock defeat in the opening game against Afghanistan in the opening, they fought back strongly to win the next five games and clinch the trophy. Yet, they barely managed to qualify for the T20 World Cup a few months later, losing in the qualifiers to even Namibia, and endured a forgettable campaign in the main event.
Sri Lanka's Pathum Nissanka celebrates with Angelo Mathews after winning the match. (Reuters) 
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