With the Cricket World Cup barely ten months away Sri Lanka and South Africa are more concerned with getting the balance in their team right which does not mean that the fifth and final ODI at the R Premadasa Stadium under lights today will be of less consequence.
It’s nothing like winning for any team but at the same time the big picture is the World Cup to get their squads into readiness. For Sri Lanka who have lost the five-match series and trail 1-4, going into today’s game marks another opportunity to continue the momentum they found in winning the fourth ODI at Pallekele three days ago and on this occasion they have their head coach Chandika Hathurusingha back in the dressing room to guide them.
“It was different to what I was used to. Not being in the dressing room was difficult in certain areas, but lots of our planning and training happened before that. Once the game started it was all about the captain leading the side but if there was anything like last minute decisions it was tough to handle when you are not in the dressing room. But after some time we managed to handle the situations well,” said Hathurusingha who returns after serving a two-Test and four-match ODI ban for ‘conduct contrary to the spirit of the game’ during the second Test against the West Indies at St Lucia’s in June.
“I am relieved and happy to be back and support the team. The first couple of games were tough. Since I am back it is business as usual and I am happy to be back”, he added.
Sri Lanka ended a 11-match losing streak against South Africa at Pallekele and Hathurusingha said: “It’s a happy dressing room when you are winning. We Sri Lankans are a very emotional people. We go very high soon and down very soon.
The nature is like that. When we lose, they still average 45 or 50 with the bat and that doesn’t mean that someone is a bad player overnight. We need to realize that. When someone gets a 50 he is the best player in the world. You have to be in the middle. We at the dressing room realize who we are.
“The biggest positive is winning. We have been losing in ODI cricket and we lose constantly, the dressing room is not a fun place to be.
There are so many things that you can think of when you are losing. People tend to put fingers into everything. In a situation like that you tend to lose what you need to do. Winning gives you a bit of comfort zone or the platform for you to think right. Even you can criticize someone when you start winning. You can pinpoint where you need to improve. The biggest positive for me has been that,” said Hathurusingha.
“We are not going to win every game moving forward. We are still to identify our best combination. We are still to identify our best spinners, our best death bowlers, our best fast bowlers and our best batting combination. It is a process in progress. I am not afraid to do that and I am not afraid to say that. We know where we are going.”
South Africa’s key ODI all-rounder Jean-Paul Duminy said even though they had won the series they were still representing their country and they want to win every game they play.
“There’s no doubt we’re going to give our best effort on the field. With it being a one-off T20, momentum would be good. Again we want to try and win that game as well.
Especially coming off the Test series that we had we want to end this tour well. I’m pretty confident that everybody is motivated to end the tour even though we have three or four days left.”
Duminy said the pitches prepared for the ODI series gave South African batsmen a chance to bat freely against spin.
“It’s been a team plan. You do have a bit more freedom in white-ball cricket to play a little bit more aggressively. We’ve seen that the pitches have been a little more batter friendly. There hasn’t been as much turn as there has been in the Test matches, which has helped. We’ve taken advantage of that. It’s been a team effort. It’s been exceptional to see that we’ve been positive in our mindset and our game plans against the spin. There will be a lot of learning out of that,” Duminy said.
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