By Dhammika Ratnaweera
The bio-secure bubble in South Africa came under scrutiny during the recent England series that led to the cancellation of the ODIs, but Sri Lanka coach Mickey Arthur expressed satisfaction over the arrangements that have been put in place for his team at the virtual press conference held today evening.The coach further added “What I can say is we’re very well taken care of, “The bubble here is very good. It is as good a bubble as you could possibly have. Myself and the doctor attached to the Sports Medical Unit came early to make sure all the arrangements were in place. We’re very comfortable at the moment that the arrangements here are really good for preparation .
Like I say, it is the new normal but we’re being very well looked after. The security around us is particularly tight, we get tested every third day. It’s different… cricket touring is certainly different but we’re very comfortable and happy with the arrangements that CSA have put in place at the moment.”
Sri Lanka head coach Mickey Arthur has admitted that it isn’t ideal for his side to head into an overseas Test tour on the back of a three-week long T20 tournament. Sri Lanka have arrived in South Africa for a two-match Test series that kicks off on Boxing Day (December 26) with most of their players featuring in the inaugural Lanka Premier League that concluded only on December 16. As a result, the squad has had very less time to enter Test match mode.
However that’s not a matter “We’ve trained today on the ground and we were in the nets today. It was a normal training day today, albeit in groups of seven. But I split those groups of seven very equally. We only train as a full squad together on 23rd 24th and 25th to adjust the conditions.
“We’ll use this preparation as best we possibly can and as a team, we wanted to get ready.. With LPL, we went to Pallekele two weeks before it started. The one thing that LPL did was that it allowed players to play competitive cricket which is always a good thing.” and that is a plus point for the players added Arthur.
Arthur also highly praised LPL which was successfully organized by the Sri Lanka Cricket. Even though the preparation has been far from ideal, Arthur was pleased that the Sri Lankan players were able to get on the park and play competitive cricket. But with the international calendar set to be jam-packed in 2021, Arthur admitted that the league might struggle to have the best players participate in it. “I thought LPL went really well,” he said.
“Considering the time they had to set it all up, it was a good competition. It was nice for me to be out there because it showcased all the best talent in Sri Lanka. The only thing I really enjoyed was the guys were playing good, hard competitive cricket and you can’t replicate that in a training session albeit in a totally different format. But I do think the league was very good.
Mickey Arthur is also hopeful that his knowledge of the local conditions can come in handy for his side and has backed his pace attack to deliver the goods. “With my experience, I know the conditions,” Arthur remarked. “I finished coaching SA in 2010, but there’s a familiarity for me. South Africa never leaves [me] and I felt comfortable coming back in the environment. I know how South Africa will attack us and their head coach and I go back a hell of a long way. I am looking forward to locking horns with them.
A strong showing in these two Tests can help Sri Lanka take a lot of confidence into the home Test series against England, according to the former South Africa coach. “Every series for us is extremely important,” he said. “Because where we are in the process with this team, we want to just keep better and we want to create consistency around selections and roles. The one thing that I do know which is very important is that if you play well and you get some wins along the line, irrespective of conditions you take confidence. And confidence and belief is very powerful within a playing group.
“So if we can take that confidence and belief into the England series, it’ll be amazing for us. But this SA series for us is massive. Last time SL was here, they won. In that series, Sri Lanka became the first Asian team to win a Test series in South Africa and we would love to be able to replicate that.”
The Sri Lankan coach also said,”I think there’ll be a place for it in our calendar in the future. I do know that most international teams, year 2021 will be particularly busier. I know ours certainly is with the rescheduling of a lot of series. So how to fit it in will be interesting. Just talking to our players, I think they really enjoyed it
The 52-year-old also downplayed suggestions that his side are the favourites to topple the hosts once again after Sri Lanka’s heroic efforts in their last tour where they became the first Asian side to win a Test series in South Africa. “I think South Africa will be a very, very good cricket team,” he said. “There’s no doubt about that. I know that they’ll be very well prepared, I think they’ll be very well coached, I think they’ll be very well led.
“So by no means do I think we’re going in favourites. What I do know is that we have all bases covered, I do know we’re playing some really good cricket. I do know we’ve got some very good players. So I think it’s really going to be a cracker of a Test series, I really do.”
One of the biggest challenges for Sri Lanka ahead of the Boxing Day Test is to name a strong batting lineup to counter the South Africa pace threat. Not only will the visitors be missing Angelo Matthews, but will also be without Oshada Fernando, who starred in the previous tour, for the first Test.
“If we look at the side that played our last Test match, which was vs Zimbabwe in March, we lost Oshada Fernando who is not going to be fit for this first Test match,” Arthur pointed out. “And we’ve obviously lost Angelo. I do have a top-six in mind. Whether we take the aggressive route and play the five bowlers with five batsmen and a wicket-keeper, that’s an option we have.
“The other option is to play six batsmen with one that gives us a little bit of a seam option, a keeper at 7 and then the three quicks and a spinner. We do have options. It’s all in the melting pot, and we’ll make a decision on that in the next day or two.”
“What I do know is we’ve got our bases covered. We’ve got two pacers who can crank it up till 150. Lahiru Kumara and Dushmantha Chameera are very quick. Whether we play them together, only time will tell. Lakmal is the leader of the attack. He is very skilled in all conditions. We’ve left-arm seam, we’ve got Rajith, who gets bounce, and Fernando swings it as a left-armer. It’s up to us to see which attack is going to be the best on any given day.”.However we are here very confidence to take on South Africa team in this two test series and our players are very keen to compete this series added Mickey Arthur.
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