Pace bowling department worries Sri Lanka’s coach
Apr 6, 2019 at 2:18 PM
Sri Lanka’s tour of England seemed to be ill-fated the moment their pace spearhead Dhammika Prasad was ruled out of the tour. Prasad, who was instrumental in Sri Lanka’s series win over the same opposition two years ago, couldn’t feature in the ongoing test series and his absence was dearly felt. Promising fast bowler Dushmanth Chameera too was out of the test series after playing the first test and injury cut short his tour of England.
To compound Sri Lanka’s woes, pacer Shaminda Eranga was reported for a suspect bowling action, and he could possibly miss the third test at Lord’s. Addressing his concern, Sri Lanka’s coach Graham Ford said that the lack of options in the pace bowling department had completely worried him.
“Maybe it’s a little alarming that perhaps we don’t have the depth that we were hoping that we would have at this stage, in the fast bowling department,” Ford said. “That’s a project for the future because there are those injuries around fast bowlers. I did see some exciting Under-19 bowling before we came out here to England. I’m sure there are talented boys and if they’re looked after properly, we should have a decent unit of fast bowlers.”
Ford made an extremely valid point when he said that the Sri Lankans need some raw energy in the pace bowling department. “We need somebody at the Under-17, Under-19, development and emerging players having regular fielding sessions. They would have done so many good drills that they’re not scared of the ball and not scared to dive. They would watch the ball while they’re diving.”
“You can’t teach an old dog new tricks. You can’t flick a switch. You can’t have them playing for Sri Lanka and in a couple of fielding, sessions turn them into brilliant fielders. We want to be known as a nation that produces really good fielders. In the levels below we’ve got to get the work done,” Ford further added.