The Sri Lanka vs England test series ended today with England winning the second test match at P. Sara stadium by 8 wickets to level the series at 1-1. It was a dominant performance by the Englishmen after they were beaten comprehensively by the Sri Lankans at Galle. Sri Lanka fought hard and did well to take the game to day 5. In then end , defeat was inevitable and the team failed to win a test series yet again.
What was noticeable in this whole test series was the inability of both teams to play quality spin. Almost all the wickets in both test matches went to the spinners and Rangana Herath and Graeme Swann made hay by taking a bag full. We can understand why the Englishmen were failing to play spin but can we forgive our team ? specially when they are bought up on pitches that are conducive to spin ?
Gone are the days when we had quality batsmen who can play brilliantly to spin. Aravinda was our best batsmen who played spin like a maestro and even Arjuna was brilliant in his own right. From the current crop, Mahela and Thilan seem to be the best players of spin. The rest ( including Sanga who seem to be more comfortable with pace bowling ) are just not good enough. They just need to go back to school and learn again.
It is very sad to see such bad performance by a cricket team who produced some brilliant spin bowlers like Murali. We should at least get his help and let him bowl to us to practice. That is the only way to learn, by playing quality spin regularly.
Another problem the Sri Lankans seem to have is to find a quality opening pair for test matches. Dilshan should be playing in the middle order during tests. If he wants to open , then he should sort out his temperament and should learn how to mix both attack and defense. The opener that will be partnering him should learn that too.
The next test series for Sri Lanka will be against the Pakistanis at home. If we don't learn the lessons from this series quickly then we will surely be in trouble with Ajmal and co. We should forget this IPL business soon and learn how to play quality spin, Mahela cannot do it all on his own .
If the Sri Lankans want to beat the best teams in the world, that is what they just have to do.
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