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Fielding is the catch

Asanka Gurusinghe

The job of selecting a national team has never been an easy task.

This time, the Sri Lankan selectors found it harder still, because they were faced with more problems than usual. Our team has performed poorly during the last three one-day tournaments. And in that time, many combinations that were experimented with have proved unsuccessful.

With the World Cup just a couple of months away, the time has come for some hard decisions and drastic changes in the team. The dilemma that the selectors were in at this point became quite apparent when the selection process went on for over three hours. I believe that the changes have come too late -- there is an obvious lack of planning and management, which has left the world champions in disarray.

Hashan Tillekeratne

Surprisingly, Sri Lankan selectors first announced an 18 member squad, when they had the option of selecting 19 players. Is there such a dearth of cricketing talent in Sri Lanka that the selectors could not find that one extra player? This kind of thinking on the part of the selectors was baffling, to say the least. And to add to the confusion, Hashan Tillekeratne, who had performed well during the Australian tour, was not named in the 18 member squad. He was then subsequently added on, and picked to play in the Pepsi triangular tournament in India, which is the last tournament that Sri Lanka will take part in before the real showdown in England begins.

Sanath Jayasuriya

My ideal team to represent Sri Lanka in England, when it goes there in May to defend the title we won in 1996, would be: Arjuna Ranatunga, Aravinda De Silva, Sanath Jayasuriya, Romesh Kaluwitharana, Marven Attapatu, Mahela Jayawardena, Hashan Tillekaratne, Upul Chandana, Muttiah Muralitharan, Chaminda Vaas, Pramodya Wickramasinghe, Kumar Dharmesena, Avishka Gunawardhena, Chandika Hathurusinghe, and Nuwan Zoysa.

The million dollar question at the moment revolves around the fitness of Sanath and Murali. Are they one hundred per cent? It is no secret that Sri Lanka relies heavily on these two players to make any sort of impression in this tournament. Sanath will be returning to the team after a two month layoff from a wrist operation. Since he will play no competitive cricket before the World Cup, we will not know till that point whether he will be his usual flamboyant self, or if the operation has effected his stroke play.

Muttiah Muralitharan

Although less serious than Shane Warne's operation, Murali too will be making his first appearance after surgery to his shoulder. As we all know, Shane Warne is yet to recapture his old form since the surgery. Therefore, there is bound to be some apprehension as to how well Murali's bowling arm recovers from the surgery, and how effective he will be in England. And again, like Jayasuriya, Murali has no competitive cricket scheduled to tune himself up, which means he will be testing his shoulder in the toughest competiton of them all.

All of this means that Sri Lanka is faced with an uphill task in defending its title. I think much of the blame should be placed on some short-sighted actions on the part of the coaching staff and the selectors. Judging by Lanka's past few performances, there is a lot of work that remains to be done if we are to have even a half chance of making it to the Super Six, let alone retaining the title.

Arjuna Ranatunga with the  1996 World Cup

The defeats suffered in recent times has put team morale at an all time low. The coach has, first up, got to find a way to revive team spirit and motivate them to play to the best of their ability. Our strength has always been our batting, but it was also quite apparent during the last World Cup that our fielding played a major role in deciding the winners on the day. However, the present standard of fielding displayed by the team is so pathetic that I can't believe it's the same team I played in just a few years back.

Obviously, sufficient attention is not being paid to this very important aspect of the game. During the time I was a member of the Sri Lankan team, I remember we used to be rated as one of the best fielding sides in the world. This sort of achievement did not come by chance -- it was sheer dedication and hard work put in by the coaching staff and the players that elevated us to this level. And Lanka will need to recapture that ability if it is to do well in England. During the next couple of months, Sri Lanka needs to concentrate on quality fielding sessions during training, rather than just going through the motions, which has become the practice at the moment.

In terms of strategy, I think that during the World Cup, Lanka should plan on batting second whenever possible, as we have been more successful chasing rather than defending. The obvious reason for this is our mediocre bowling attack, which is not equipped to defend even sizeable totals.

During the months of May/ June in England, one would find that there is considerable movement of the ball, in the air as well as off the wicket, during the first session of the game. And that is one more reason why it is advisable for our team to stick with the option of batting second. Our unique style of batting has been the main factor in most of our victories, and therefore, it makes eminent sense to continue with a formula that has worked for us, and allow our batsmen to play their natural game.

In one day cricket, everything you do has to be perfect. Reputations don't matter -- on the day of the match, the side that bats, bowls and fields well will win. Our batting is world-class, so what we have to do is to try and field briliantly, give a mediocre bowling attack the teeth it needs to turn into a match-winning attack.

After all, that is exactly what we did in 1996, when we won the Cup.