Consistency key to aim at World No. 1

by Dinesh Weerawansa

Sri Lanka's success at the 2007 ICC World Cup should be effectively used in its endeavour to become the best cricketing nation in the world.

True that Sri Lanka were well and truly beaten by the best side in the 16-nation competition. The Aussies played like true professionals and always stood way ahead of the rest. Under the circumstances, Sri Lanka's progress to the final and the fight they gave the defending champions were commendable.

Sri Lanka had to end up as the Runner up, thus failing to emulate their golden feat in 1996 when Arjuna Ranatunga and his team crushed Australia by seven wickets to take the title. But an explosive knock of 149 by Adam GilchrIst completely turned the 2007 final in Australia's favour.

Full credit should go to Mahela Jayawardene and his boys for the gallant show. They went to the Caribbean Islands as the No.7-ranked team in the world. But they won eight out of their 11 matches on tour to finish behind Australia. That alone is a creditable achievement and full points to coach Tom Moody for being the architect of that successful recipe.

But what matters now is consistency. The team's success in the World Cup should not end here. We must make use of that inspiring achievement to become the best team, both in the one day internationals as well as Tests.

We must draw a comprehensive plan to make sure that we go there. Our aim from this point should be to gain the World No.1 spot in the ICC World rankings in both the limited version as well as the established game.

Considering the experience of our senior players and the rich young talent we have, that is not an uphill task at all. If Sri Lanka really work hard and capitalise on their recent success, the team should be able to reach there before long.

However, there is no time to relax. We must make use of every given opportunity with 100% application to the make sure we gain the No.1 slot soon. As in the World Cup, the rest of the cricketing world strongly believes that Sri Lanka has the best chance, strength and ability to challenge Australia's supremacy.

Sri Lanka's emerging stars - Lasith Malinga, Upul Tharanga and Chamara Silva should take Sri Lanka cricket to the next decade in a positive manner. They have given a good account of their talent that would be a blessing for Sri Lanka cricket.

Taking stock of what went wrong for us in the 2007 ICC World Cup final, the simple summary that one could give is that Sri Lanka was beaten by a far superior side which played as true professionals. But that does not mean that Sri Lanka did not have the ability and strength to match the Aussies. But the day belonged to the Kangaroos, right from the toss.

In my belief, the match went away from Sri Lanka right from the beginning. Mahela Jayawardene losing the toss did not look a big deal at the beginning. But morning rain which restricted the final to 38 overs per side was a big blow for Sri Lanka.

Unlike the rhythm we had in 1996 where Sanath Jayasuriya and Romesh Kaluwitharana introduced the art of pinch hitting in the first 15 overs, Sri Lanka adopted different tactics in recent times. When one makes an overall assessment, it is evident that Sri Lanka has made use of the slog over to do the bulk of scoring.

The best example was their semi final game against New Zealand, which Jayawardene's men won by a handsome margin of 81 runs. Of the 289 runs they totalled, Sri Lanka scored 102 runs in the last ten overs for the loss of one wicket, which speaks volumes of free scoring towards the end of their innings.

But reducing 12 overs and making it a 38 overs per side gave a distinct advantage to Australia, whose top order was in peak form. With the form shown by Gilchrist, Matthew Hayden and skipper Rickey Ponting, one could always expect Australia to do their pinch hitting at the very early stages of their innings.

Especially under those circumstances a team gets only a maximum of 38 overs, they could always afford to go after the bowling right from the word go. That's exactly what Gilchrist and Hayden did, in a 172 run opening partnership. While Hayden held one end, the wicket keeper batsman was given an open visa to have a free go at Lankan bowlers.

It was a treat to watch when Gilchrist was in full cry, punching the Lankan bowlers to all corners of the Kensington Oval in Barbados. Though emerging star Lasith Malinga, who had a record four wickets in four balls in the Super Eight game against South Africa, had a tight first spell including one maiden over, the rest of the Lankan bowlers painted a poor picture.

Usually effective Muttiah Muralitharan too proved costly, so did Chaminda Vaas and the rest. Dilhara Fernando, considered the fastest amongst the three Lankan quick bowlers, was extremely expensive. But Coach Moody and the tour management's decision to retain Fernando in the final line up is understandable.

Fernando has more speed as well as experience than Farveez Maharoof. Especially, the plus point which went in favour of Fernando was his track record against Australia.

Unfortunately, it was not his day and he got the treatment of his life. But if Fernando is to go any further in his career, he will have to give another serious thought on his wide and no ball problems. When Fernando is under pressure, he has a tendency of going a bit stray, but that could prove costly under crunch situations.

In a post tournament analysis, there comes a vital issue of anticipated retirement of senior players. But with no equally strong champion material emerging to threaten seniors, it is better those elder citizens of Sri Lanka cricket team hang on at least for some time. During such time, we could do the specialised grooming, man to man. Their retirements should be done smoothly without putting additional pressure on the team.

Sanath Jayasuriya still looked good, scoring nearly 500 runs in the tournament with two centuries. He was Sri Lanka's highest scorer in the final against Australia. Of the Lankan batsmen, his aggregate was a close second to skipper Jayawardene. Under the circumstances, it is evident that Jayasuriya has some more cricket left in his illustrious career.

True we can not rely everyday on Jayasuriya, Muttiah Muralitharan and Chaminda Vaas to deliver the goods. But the trio still looks good and have lived up to expectations. Muralitharan could easily play even until the next World Cup.

If he does so, he could easily account for even the remaining bowling records, which are not under his belt yet.