Another victim for R. Premadasa
A 97-run defeat is pretty damn disappointing (though not as devastating as Jamie Alter wants to make out: “any self-belief that lingered after the Tests [has] now vanished“). Remarkably however, this has been the best result for a team batting second at the R. Premadasa Stadium for the 2009 season. In two attempts in August, Sri Lanka was not able to get within 130 runs of Pakistan’s totals.
I was disappointed when the tour schedule was changed from 5 ODIs against Sri Lanka to a miniature tri-series with India, but considering how one-sided games in Colombo have been, cutting the number of ODIs featuring NZ from 5 to a likely 2 seems a blessing.
September 10th, 2009 at 1:14 am
Better luck on Friday mate
September 10th, 2009 at 3:28 pm
Ben,
I’ve Been a bit busy of late, so haven’t done any blogging/commenting. But I have been following the games off and on, and Tuesday’s defeat was particularly disappointing because the batsmen simply refused to adapt while chasing down what was a highly gettable total. I understand the Premadasa has been a nightmare for teams batting under lights, but it was merely a slow, low surface, with just a bit of nip (not unlike Eden Park in the 90s). The Lankan bowlers kept it tight, but by and large the batsmen were complicit in their dismissals – indicative that even in their preferred format they aren’t working hard enough on their games.
Grant Elliott, apart from his ugly dismissal – was the only one who seemed to understand what was required on this pitch – getting forward and not going hard at the ball, and this innings alone suggests he fits in better with the requirements of test cricket than most of his colleagues. As for the others, the less said the better but I can’t help cringing when I think of the manner of Brendon McCullum’s dismissal. Having (for once) shown extreme restraint at the crease, he played that atrocious shot off Malinga just when a partnership was forming. True, the runrate was abysmal at the time, but did he not remember there was virtually no recognised batting to come, and they had a batting powerplay in reserve?