“Our close catching has to improve”: Dimuth

A catch off West Indies batter Nkrumah Bonner missed by Pathum Nissanka at leg slip during the final day of the first Test in Galle 

• Lanka look to make one change for second Test

By Sa’adi Thawfeeq

Having gone into the first Test against the West Indies in Galle with two fast bowlers at the expense of a batsman, Sri Lanka will be reviewing that combination before deciding on their final XI for the second Test starting at the same venue on Monday.

“We played two fast bowlers in this Test because if we had lost the toss, we would have required them,” said Karunaratne, assessing his team’s performance at the end of the first Test which they won by 187 runs.

“As it had rained a lot here, we had a doubt how much the ball would turn on the surface, that’s why we as batsmen took the responsibility that the six batters would put up a big total collectively. Now we have come to realise that even with the rains there is a little grip and turn on the wicket. The small doubt is if we have to bat second whether six batsmen will be sufficient. We will take a decision going forward whether to include an additional batsman for a fast bowler or replace a batsman with another.”

Fast bowlers Suranga Lakmal and Dushmantha Chameera bowled a total of only 18 overs out of the 165 overs Sri Lanka completed in the match.

Karunaratne said that he was happy with his three spinners Lasith Embuldeniya, Ramesh Mendis and Praveen Jayawickrama, all of whom bowled well in tandem and made his job easy.

“Playing three spinners I can rotate them, the only small doubt we have is in the batting. We have some concern in case we lose the toss, how we will play in the fourth innings. Because of that doubt there could be a change for the next Test. I cannot tell exactly what, whether to replace a batsman for another or a batsman for a fast bowler. It could be either one of them.”

Although they won by a convincing margin to retain the Sobers-Tissera Trophy for a third time, Karunaratne said that there were a few areas his team needed to improve going into the second Test.  

“We have to improve against spin. We have improved a lot, we are playing the sweep and reverse sweeps shots more often than before, but we have to sharpen them a little bit.

Sri Lanka’s close-in fielders missed quite a few chances that came their way on the fifth and final day as they pressed for victory against impending rain, and the Lankan skipper felt that was another area in which they needed to brush up.

“We have also to improve a lot on our close catching on these types of wickets because it is through close catching that the course of the game can change. Bowling line and lengths also need to improve to play a complete match without making any mistakes.”

By winning the first Test, Sri Lanka notched up their first points in the ICC World Test Championship table. Sri Lanka has in total 12 Tests (six at home and six away) to play over a period of 12 months.  

“If we are to progress to the top of the ICC World Test Championship, we must win all our home series matches. In addition, if we can win a couple of matches abroad then we have a good chance of qualifying for the final.”

Sri Lanka will host Australia (2 Tests) and Pakistan (2) and play India (2), Bangladesh (2) and New Zealand (2) away.

Karunaratne also lamented the paucity of Test matches played by Sri Lanka during a calendar year, saying that it was depriving young players from learning the game. Sri Lanka will play only nine Tests for 2021 ending with the second Test against West Indies.

“It’s a loss for us not playing more Test matches, if you take a lot of other nations like England, Australia and India they play a lot more Tests – about 16-17 a year. If we can play more Test matches, we can learn quite a lot, especially the youngsters. More than ODIs and T20Is, there is a lot for them to learn from playing Test matches.”