Lahiru Thirimanne has been around the Sri Lankan setup for quite a while now. The elegant left-hander on occasions has been simply brilliant but inconsistency has often dragged him down. The left-hander had a fantastic 2015 World Cup, but soon his form deteriorated and he was in and out of the team.
Ahead of Sri Lanka’s tour of England, former batsman and consultant to the Sri Lankan team, Aravinda De Silva drew comparisons between Thirimanne and batting great Sanath Jayasuriya. De Silva said that like Jayasuriya, who initially struggled in his career, Thirimanne too deserved to be backed, as he had the potential to excel.
“There are certain players we have even found in the past, who take longer than another person to be successful,” de Silva said. “As an example, even Sanath Jayasuriya, if you go through his records, he was initially averaging very, very low. But we saw the potential in him and we stuck by him for a very long time, and we saw the fruits of that later,” said de Silva. “I think there are certain players we have to be patient with. I don’t think it’s fair when people criticise players like Thirimanne, because at the end of the day, we feel he has the potential, and the guys who are around him also feel that way.”
Head coach Graham Ford was quite optimistic about his side’s bowling and backed the Sri Lankan bowlers. “I think we’ve got a bowling group that’s grown into a useful attack,” Ford said ahead of the team’s departure from Colombo. “They’ve all experienced success in English conditions. I’m quietly confident that they’ll be able to work together and create pressure in English conditions.”
“I hope they’ve improved because they’ve played a lot of Test cricket since my first stint. I did feel that when I was here previously, quite a lot of them were learning the art of fast bowling. Some of them were still fairly raw. They’ve now played a lot more cricket, and I’m sure they’re more streetwise,” Ford said.