Future of Sri Lanka's Test Cricket

I'm writing this just few hours before the day 3 of Boxing Test. Sri Lanka have bundled out for 156 and currently Australia are leading 284 runs. By looking at this, most probably the result will be an appaling one for Sri Lanka and match might end on day 3 itself. Sri Lanka's hope for a Test win in Australia is fading day by day. This is Sri Lanka's first ever boxing day test in Australia after 1995. Even Sri Lanka's most senior players Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene have complained that they have never got an opportunity  to play a Test match at MCG in their 12-15 years long careers. But if this is Sri Lanka going to perform when they got the opportunity, can they expect another chance before another 17 years ? Mind you, some people considering this batting line up as Sri Lanka's 'golden generation'. However still there is some hope for a test win at SCG.

What is Sri Lanka's future from here ? Mahela has stepped down from captaincy and most probably Angelo Mathews will be the new captain. Also we have to consider that Sri Lanka have an aging batting order. Dilshan, Samaraweera, Mahela and Sangakkara all 4 in their 35-36. It is inevitable that Sri Lanka have to groom few youngsters for a smooth transition. But at the same time you can't lose your best players. As I have heard, Dilshan and Samaraweera are already talking about their retirements plans.

Let's see a statistical analysis of which 2 should be the ones to sacrifice for the future. Below table shows overall stats of Sri Lankan batsmen in last 2 years. According to this, past 2 years has been a hard time for Sri Lankans. Only Sangakkara and Mathews have respectable averages. Samaraweera and Dilshan having 'OK' averages. Mahela Jayawardene is averaging about 30, which is unacceptable for a player of his calibre.

This 2nd table shows performances of Sri Lankan batsmen away from home in last 2 years. Thilan Samaraweera who averages over 50 has been Sri Lanka's best batsman away from home in recent years. Then there is Sangakkara who averages almost 48. Surprisingly Prasanna Jayawardene has been Sri Lanka's 3rd best batsman in abroad in past 2 years. He averages 46.77. Dilshan averages 39. And more surprisingly Mahela Jayawardene is averaging rubbishy 17.66, he couldn't score even a single 50 in those 21 innings. Even Rangana Herath has averaged more than he.

Third table shows their records in last 2 years outside Asia. Nothing different in Samaraweera's record. He has been the best batsman. And then Dilshan with a 47+ average. Sangakkara has struggled a bit. Then once again there is Mahela Jayawardene with a pathetic record.

By looking at all these statistics, Mahela Jayawardene has been the under performing batsman in recent years. Why does his away record is so miserable in recent past ? Is it a temporary loss of form ? Let's find it out.

Below table shows all the Sri Lankan players record away from home throughout their careers. Clearly you can see who are the best Sri Lankan players. To be categorized as 'great' , a batsman should be able to perform in most conditions. Sangakkara averages 49.66, if you compare it with other world class players, even Brian Lara (47.80) , Inzamam-ul-Haq (46.98) , Ricky Ponting (46.40) , Javed Miandad (45.80) are also behind him. Samaraweera also have a very good average of 45.60. But where is Mahela Jayawardene ? He is there with a very average average. If you compare Mahela's record with players from other counties (who played at least 19 away matches), he is the 126th player in the list. And he is there with very average Test batsmen like Shaun Pollock (36.45), MS Dhoni (33.48) and Scott Styris (33.22).

This final table shows all the Sri Lanka players record outside Asia (excluding Zimbabwe). An Asian Test cricketer's real challenge is performing outside Asia. As we can see in the table, many batsmen have decreased their averages. Once again Sangakkara is proving why he is the best batsman from Sri Lanka. And again ! Samaraweera and Dilshan are above Mahela Jayawardene.

After looking at table 1, 2 and 3 you may think that Mahela Jayawardene's recnt poor record away from home is due to a loss of form. But table 4 & 5 proves he had that problem throughout his 15 years career. SERIOUSLY ! A pathetic Away record for 15 years of his Test career. It's just getting worse with his age.

It is no doubt that Mahela Jayawardene is an elegant and utterly classy batsman and it is treat to watch him batting. Also without a doubt he is the most talented player Sri Lanka has produced in recent decades. But sadly elegance or talent doesn't make runs itself. He has to apply that to make runs, especially outside home conditions.

But at the moment Sri Lankan cricket is in a crucial junction and have to make some tough calls for the future. Few youngsters have to bring in at the expense of 2 seniors. By looking at statistics, those two seniors should be TM Dilshan and Mahela Jayawardene. I know now many of you must be mad at me. But statistics don't lie. Samaraweera has been a better Test players than Mahela. And definitely he is not the one to retire at this stage. Now don't show up Mahela's ODI or T20 statistics to justify his place in the Test team. I'm just talking about Test cricket. I never mentioned Mahela should retire from ODIs or T20Is.

With scraping West Indies and South Africa Test matches, most probably Sri Lanka will play only with Bangladesh and Zimbabwe in the year 2013. In these matches Sri Lanka should include more youngsters in the Test team other than providing opportunity for under performing stars to boost their averages.

Crickethematics | Kallis/Sachin = 2

When is India's next tour of Sri Lanka

Rise of the Silent Assassin

Rangana Herath is now sharing the 2nd position of ICC Test bowling rankings with Vernon Philander, both of them are there with 838 points. Only Dale Steyn is ahead of them with 880 point. According to this rankings Herath is the highest ranked spinner in the world at the moment. This is probably the greatest highlight of his career. His number of points, 838 is his career best. Many would argue as Saeed Ajmal or Graeme Swann is the current best spinner in the world. Herath doesn't have many variations or anything special other than tight lines and lengths. But he is effective. He had to fill the vacuum left by Murali. Probably he will not be able to fill it completely. But Herath has been doing it really well until now.

Sri Lanka's home test series against Pakiatan in 2009 has been the turning point of Rangana Herath's career. He wasn't there in the original squad or in selectors minds. He was light years away from playing for Sri Lanka again. He was able to pick just 1 wicket by giving away 115 runs against Bangladesh in his last match, in 2008. His career figures was standing as

14-Matches 36-Wickets 39.38- Average 7/132 - Best Bowling (against Pakistan)

Not impressive at all. Reason for these figures partly because of Murali's dominance and partly Herath not getting opportunities consistently. This has been the fate of most of the Sri Lankan spinners during Murali's era.

Destiny is a funny thing and some things are meant to be. Just a day before the start of 1st test at Galle, Murali got injured. 22 years old Suraj Randiv who was yet to make his debut, was the 3rd spinner in the squad (Ajantha Mendis was there). (Add to that Prasanna Jayawardene also was injured and Kaushal Silva was the extra wicket keeper in the squad). Angelo Mathews was certain to make his test debut in this match. By looking at the injured list and the squad, it was looking like Sri Lanka will play 3 debutants in the 1st test. But Kumar Sangakkara who was Sri Lankan captain did not want to take a risk with too many debutants. He wanted Herath in the squad as soon as possible, probably because of Pakistan's weakness against slow left arm spin and Herath's ability to open the innings ? (Herath opened the 2nd innings as nightwatchman with Warnapura). Herath was playing in the Staffordshire League in England when he was summoned. He landed Sri Lanka just few hours before the start of the match. Luckily for Herath, Pakistan chose to field 1st. (Even though this is irrelevant, to complete the story :- Sri Lanka decided to go with Dilshan as the wicket keeper and Saeed Ajmal made his test debut for Pakistan).

It took 47 overs to bowl Herath in the 1st innings, mainly to give him more time to recover from jet lag. He took 1 for 52 in 16 overs. But his career turning bowling spell happened in the 2nd innings. At the end of day 3, Pakistan were 71/2 chasing 168. Chances were looking bleak for Sri Lanka. But Herath turned the match on its head. Herath managed to remove both overnight batsmen in his 1st over of the day. Pakistan collapsed from 71/2 to 117 allout. Herath's figures were 4/15 in 11.3 overs. This was the time Herath shown that he belongs to test cricket. Herath played all 3 test matches and managed to pick 15 wickets at 26.93, also the 2nd highest wicket taker in the series.

Since then, he never looked back. From July 2009, he has picked 138 wickets at 27.14 in 28 matches. Since Herath made his came back in July 2009, among the bowlers who have managed to take more than 50 wickets, this is where he stands.

However Herath is among the highest wicket takers in the year 2012 so far. It is a close run between Swann and Herath.

Swann has 56 wickets from 13 matches (23 innings) and Herath 55 wickets from 8 matches (15 innings). You can say Herath has played most of his matches on Asian spin friendly pitches. But except 5 matches in England, Swann also has played 8 matches in Asia. If we consider the average, Saeed Ajmal has the best average of 20.56 in 6 matches (12 innings) and Herath is 2nd best with 20.94. Got to mention that Ajmal played all his 6 matches in Asian pitches and Herath's 8 matches includes the new year test at Cape Town. However these statistics will change since Swann has the Nagpur test and Herath has 2 tests in Australia.

This is Herath's performances in Sri Lanka's last 3 series.

It is safe to say that Herath has able to out played all opposition bowlers including Swann and Ajmal in these series. Herath might not be able to fill Murali's shoes completely. But He is doing pretty well at this stage of post Murali era in Sri Lankan cricket.

Why Samaraweera not getting the respect he deserves

If you ask from most of the cricket fans who is the best batsman in Sri Lanka, most of them would say either Kumar Sangakkara or Mahela Jayawardene. But there is a man who is always there to rescue Sri Lanka when they are in a trouble. Who doesn't speak much, but very determined player. Who started his career as on off spinner, but he transformed himself into a high quality test batsman after realizing he will not be able to make into the playing XI until the Legend Murali is there. Even a bullet traveled 12 inches into his thigh could not stop this man. He is Thilan Samaraweera. Many people criticize him as a heavy runs scorer in batting friendly subcontinent conditions.

Let's have a look at highest overall averages by Sri Lankan test batsman who has played more than 20 test matches.

Definition of a great batsman could be subjective. But generally what we expect from a great player is ability to perform in all conditions against quality bowling. Let's see Sri Lankan batsmen with top averages out side subcontinent against top test playing nations [which means excluding Zimbabwe and Bangladesh]. Minimum qualification is players who have played at least 10 Test matches in Australia, England, New Zealand, South Africa and West Indies.

You can see most of the batsmen having difference of about 10 runs between overall average and this average. Surprisingly Asanka Gurusinha has a better average outside subcontinent than in subcontinent. After that, Samaraweera has the best average. Sangakkara is just behind him. Marvan Atapattu averaged 35.68 which is a decent figure for a test opener. T.M. Dilshan averages 34.21 , but 11 out of 16 matches he has played as a middle order batsman. In other 5 matches as an opener, he averages 44.33 outside subcontinent. Mahela Jayawardene average miserable 32.53 outside subcontinent.

Even outside the subcontinent there could be high scoring runs fiestas. So let's see their record excluding drawn matches. This might be bit harsh considering an interesting draws like Adelaide test [Australia vs South Africa] in couple of weeks ago also get exclude with this. Match saving innings like Faf du Plessis's will not get any credit, but this is the only way to exclude draws on high ways. So no need to consider this stat much seriously. But still this does mean something.

In that sense Samaraweera has the best average from Sri Lanka. Sangakkara just behind him. Others ? I don't know what to say. You decide.

Samaraweera started his career as a spinner. People said he is a flat track bully after he improved his batting. He had a point to prove in Sri Lanka's tour of South Africa in last year. Surprising many, he became Sri Lanka's best batsman in that tour. Thanks to centuries from Samaraweera and Sangakkara at Durban, Sri Lanka managed to record their first ever Test win in South Africa. He tried his best at Cape Town to save the 3rd test but just managed to carry his bat with a century in the 2nd innings. These statistics prove that Samaraweera is Sri Lanka's one of the best batsmen in away conditions and probably the best in handling swing and seam movement. As above table suggests, Samaraweera has another [and some other Sri Lankan batsmen who has more gifted talent than Samaraweera, have a] point to prove in upcoming Sri Lanka's tour of Australia.


Samaraweera may not be the most gifted batsman Sri Lanka ever produced. But certainly he is one of the grittiest players ever to play the game.

How I met Nancy Ajram

It's 12.32 am Sri Lanka standard time. About half an hour ago probably I didn't know a person as Nancy Ajram does exist. According to wikipedia she is an Arabic pop singer. So what is so special about this ? I don't know. I felt that this story worth a blog post.

Since few days I'm in a musical relationship with Sri Lankan female singer Shasika Nisansala. It is not that I got to know her recently. But I started to listen to her song carefully recently. First a Sinhala romantic song of Kasun Kalhara & Prathiba Prabha was stuck in my mind few days ago. Many of us have kinda 'song of the day' , right ? That lyrics comes to your mind every time & song is playing in your mind. This is something similar to that. Kasun's & Prathiba's song was in mind for more than a day. I liked that feeling. Then I tried to remember few other songs like that. Shasika Nisansala's Aakasaye Dura Gimhana Eure song came to my mind straight away. May be because of Kasun Kalhara's music and Shasika's voice.

I liked that song as well. I did listen to that song a whole day. I wanted more songs like this. I found Shasika's Gimhana Kale song as well. Then another one, Ma Ahase Liyu De , which is my favorite song at the moment (Kasun is the music director of latter). I could find an official video for Gimhana Kale, so tried to find an Shasika appearing official video for Gimhana Kale as well and there wasn't. But I noticed this video.


I liked the visuals and the pretty girl ;-) I wanted to watch the original video or the movie. But no mention about the video source. How could I find it ?

First thing I did was getting few screen shots & googling using the google image search. But that wasn't successful. Then I analysed the video. Obvious thing anybody can notice is people in the visuals are Asians. So I guessed it could be from an Indian movie or a Pakistani / Arabian movie. Then I noticed a person wearing a turban at 2:19 , he is more like a employer. In my experience, lot of non-Indian films do use this trick to indicate an Indian. So I assumed that this can not be an Indian movie. Also can't think about having an Indian employer characters in a Pakistani movie. So I left with only option of Arabian movies.

By gestures at 1:54 you can imagine the boy is deaf and mute. Now I know 2 things.

1. It is an Arabian movie.
2. The girl loves a deaf and mute guy.

I googled for Arabian movies. But that was fruitless.

Then I went back to most obvious observation. The girl is beautiful, isn't it ? So googled 'Arabian Actress' and got results saying 50 Beautiful Arab Girls, Beautiful Arabic Actress Photos kinda things. This link worked for me. I carefully looked every girl and found the girl in the video at 6 in the list. Now I know her name - Nancy Ajram. Then I googled and found that she is a singer. So that visuals could be from one of her music videos. I searched on Youtube and found this.



This is How I met Nancy Ajram. How is my investigation ? :-D