Ford hoping for improvement as Dilshan bids farewell

By Madushka Balasuriya

Despite his team’s mauling at the hands of Glenn Maxwell in the first T20 where Australia shattered the world record for the highest T20 score, Sri Lanka coach Graham Ford was hopeful that his bowlers would put up a better showing in the final match of the series at the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo later today.

Sri Lankan cricketer Tillakaratne Dilshan (C) and Milinda Siriwardana (R) share a light moment during a practice session at the R. Premadasa Cricket Stadium in Colombo on 8 September, ahead of the second and final T20 match against Australia. 

“They’re desperate to try and end the series on a high note,” said Ford speaking to the press yesterday. “They’ve worked extremely hard today, just looking at some of the intensity in the fielding work, it was very impressive. It shows that they really want to try and improve on the performance of the other night.

“Without superstars like Malinga and with an inexperienced attack, we didn’t quite execute our plans as well as we would’ve liked to. We have thought about a few ways of going about our business a little bit differently but again it’s going to be execution that’s important.”

Sri Lankan cricketer Lasith Malinga bowls during a practice session at the R. Premadasa Cricket Stadium in Colombo on 8 September, ahead of the second and final T20 match against Australia.

Sri Lanka have only won three of their last 15 T20 internationals, and Ford said he was “surprised” by his bowlers’ inability to better contain the opposition on what was a good batting wicket, but was quick to concede that results would not be forthcoming until his players were exposed to more “high pressure” T20 cricket on a regular basis domestically.

“I was surprised by the lack of ability to really stay out of trouble on a good batting wicket, which is the art of T20 bowling. But as I said some of our bowlers are pretty inexperienced, we don’t really get exposed to high pressure T20 cricket very much. We have a very small competition here that’s played in front of no crowd at all - 10 of the 11 Australians I think all play IPL. They also play in the Big Bash League. It’s that kind of tournament that would certainly help our cricket and I think Australia have certainly benefitted from something like that.”

The pressure was also cranked up by the performance of Maxwell, who blitzed 145 runs off just 65 deliveries in his first appearance on tour. Ford acknowledged that while his bowlers might have been able to do better, Maxwell on his day can be unplayable.

“He hit the ball very hard in all directions. Lance Klusener was a fantastic striker of the ball as well but he had a couple of areas that he didn’t target very much, and wasn’t a player that scored 360 degrees, unlike Maxwell. That just creates huge pressure for the bowlers and huge pressure for the captain to try and set a field for a guy that’s just scoring everywhere and hitting extremely powerfully as well.

“If you look at his career, when he has a day out even some of the world’s best bowlers can’t contain him, and he had a fantastic day out. Hopefully he doesn’t do it again.” 

One player Ford will be hoping will perform at his vintage best again though will be Tillekeratne DIlshan, who will walk out in Sri Lankan colours for the final time today, when he draws to a close an international career spanning 17 years. Ford, who has coached Dilshan in both his stints as Sri Lanka coach, paid glowing tribute to a man he called a “Sri Lankan great”.

“He’s been a wonderful man since I’ve been involved. He had just lost the captaincy when I first got involved, but he came to Australia and played amazingly well. He really committed himself to the team and I had wonderful support the whole way through from him. 

“From then on whenever I’ve had him in the team it has been great to have his energy and his commitment and his vast knowledge which he passes on. For me it’s a privilege to have been involved and had a little bit of time witnessing his great performances first-hand. He can be extremely proud of what he’s produced over the years, and he certainly goes down as a Sri Lankan great.”