Fast bowlers to rule, says De Mel

Asantha de Mel, the former Sri Lanka fast bowler who has the distinction of bowling the first ball for his country in Test cricket 22 years ago, feels that the dearth of quality spinners to take over from the redoubtable Muttiah Muralitharan would lead to Sri Lanka falling back once again on fast bowlers in the near future.

During the five-year period De Mel played for his country from 1981 to 1986, Sri Lanka recorded two Test victories over Asian rivals India and Pakistan at home. On both occasions it was the fast bowlers who spearheaded their wins. De Mel (5 wickets), Rumesh Ratnayake (9 wickets) and Saliya Ahangama (5 wickets) brought about the downfall of Kapil Dev's Indians by 149 runs at the Saravanamuttu Stadium in 1985-86. Then six months later it was De Mel (6 wickets), Kosala Kuruppuarachchi (7 wickets) and Ravi Ratnayake (7 wickets) who subjected Imran Khan's Pakistanis to an eight-wicket defeat at the CCC grounds. On both occasions, spin hardly played a part and the two spinners used (Sanjeeva Weerasinghe and Don Anurasiri) went wicketless.

The 45-year-old De Mel, the present chairman of selectors, foresees an era where Sri Lanka will have to go back to fast-medium bowlers for success. De Mel played in 17 Tests and took 59 wickets at an average of 36.94 and in 57 one-day internationals taking 59 wickets at 37.91. "In the era we played, we didn't have a single spinner who could take wickets. Our bowling revolved around fast bowlers. Right now we have quite a lot of fast bowlers. We might have to go back to playing three fast bowlers and a spinner, instead of going with one fast bowler and three spinners," said De Mel.

"We don't really want to look at someone who is going to replace Murali as an offspinner in the team. Any spinner (whether he be an offie, a leggie or left armer), if they have wicket-taking potential, should be looked at. We shouldn't worry too much about what he bowls. The crux of the matter is whether the guy is effective and he can take wickets," De Mel continued.

"If we don't have spinners there is no point trying to look for them. We should try to work with the resources we have. There is Rangana Herath, Dinuk Hettiarachchi and Upul Chandana. We should persist with them. Murali hopefully has another 3-4 years left in him. While he is still playing we should try and groom these bowlers," he said.

The offspinner who comes nearest to taking Muralitharan's place is Suraj Mohamed, the 19-year-old from Matara who impressed manager Michael Tissera, the former Sri Lanka captain on Sri Lanka A's recent tour to England. "Suraj Mohamed has potential but he is still not ready to get into the big time," said De Mel. "He needs at least another one or two seasons to mature into a good bowler. We are looking at trying to give him the best possible expertise from the coaching angle and also the maximum opportunity to play in A teams so that he gets the necessary exposure."

De Mel said that one of the main reasons why Sri Lanka aren't producing good spinners is that the pitches are under-prepared and they spin a lot. "On pitches of this type you don't have to actually be a spinner to spin the ball. All you need to do is to roll your arm over and the wicket spins the ball for you. Bowlers should learn how to flight, dip the ball in the air and actually spin the ball with their fingers rather than expect the pitch to make it turn. To be a good spinner you have to spin the ball with your fingers. But on pitches that you are playing today you don't learn the art of spin. When you go and play on a Test pitch where the ball doesn't spin your entire bowling becomes a difficult task," said De Mel.

He called on Sri Lanka Cricket to standardise the pitches used for domestic games. "SLC must make sure the pitches are going to help Sri Lanka cricket. They should prepare pitches for the bowlers to work hard for their wickets. What's the point of clubs looking selfishly at winning tournaments, which in turn going to leave a negative impact on Sri Lanka cricket? Even our batsmen find it difficult to play on bouncy pitches because we play our cricket on low slow pitches at home. The performance of a team is judged by how well they perform outside their country," said De Mel.

He said there was a lot of potential fast-bowling talent around. "I have been watching them in the nets at R. Premadasa Stadium. We have a lot of young players available for the next 2-3 years the fast bowling talent is there for us. What SLC must do is to try and keep these players motivated and going if they don't make the first team."

De Mel said that his committee comprising seven members had identified Michael Vandort and Ian Daniel as opening batsmen (`they have the potential to get in to the senior side'). Likewise he said that Thilina Kandamby and Jehan Mubarak are talented enough to get into the middle-order.

"We think that Prasanna Jayawardene is ready to go in and take over the wicket-keeping gloves. Kalu (Kaluwitharana) has to perform well if he wants to keep his place. Kalu is 34 and Prasanna is about 25. Prasanna's wicket-keeping is one thing but he also has to make runs. He makes about 30-35 and gets out. That won't help," said De Mel.

"Prasanna will have to make whatever he does count, if he wants to continue. He has a lot of potential as a batsman but it is the lack of opportunity that he has been unable to come good with the bat. All these players need a little bit of confidence. That's what they are lacking. If we think that somebody has talent we would like to give him a fair run of at least five to six Test matches before we actually pull him out," he said.

On the selection of Avishka Gunawardena and Saman Jayantha as opening partners to Sanath Jayasuriya, De Mel said: "Avishka has a lot of talent but unfortunately he is not living up to it. I don't know whether he is taking life too easy or whether he is just not interested. He has the potential to be a devastating opening batsman in one-day cricket. We were looking at him as a shadow for Sanath. We have given him a fairly good run. If he doesn't come good then we will have to look elsewhere."

"Jayantha again is also an explosive kind of player but he also scratches around and makes only 20-30 runs. He doesn't make big scores. It is very difficult to hold a place scoring a brilliant 20 or 30. That won't help. He's got to be able to bat through the innings once he gets in and make a big score. We feel that he has got a lot of potential. Whether he actually makes it, is left to him. We can only provide him with the chances. He has to perform."

What about Russel Arnold? "We have not forgotten him. I have spoken to him personally and told him that he should make big contributions with the bat if he is to break into the national side again. You cannot make a fifty here and there and expect to be recalled."

De Mel said his committee's immediate goal was to build up a second string team and in the short term to try and win as much as possible. "It is a very difficult when you are only appointed for one year. As selectors we have to look at in the short term to win as much as we can and come up in the Test and one-day rankings. While we are doing that we also need to make sure that we don't neglect in building a shadow team with suitable replacements."

"In another three years the next World Cup is coming. It is something that we will have to think about. What kind of combination we need and try and prepare for that as well. A problem that selection committees have is that there is no continuity of policy when a different committee comes in. It has happened in the past and the thinking changes with the different committees," De Mel concluded.