da bwin： In his column for CricInfo, Sri Lankan coach Dav Whatmore previews the Coca Cola Cup which starts on the 18th of July
Dav Whatmore18-Jul-2001Dav Whatmore
National CoachThis Coca Cola Cup is an important tournament for Sri Lanka and we go intothe action confident that we can emerge victorious. We have an excellentsuccess rate in one-day cricket during the past year and have won our lastnine matches on the trot in Sri Lanka.This tournament though will be a test. Both India and New Zealand havepowerful batting line-ups and have also had their share of successes inrecent times. We are therefore not taking anything for granted.The famous saying, ‘when it ain’t broke don’t fix it,’ contains much truth,but we feel some adjustments are in order if we are to achieve the highstandard and consistency that we crave. During this triangular we are facedwith different options as to the balance of the side and believe that weshould explore these options if we are to develop as a team and are seriousabout becoming world champions again in 2003.Winning each game is naturally uppermost in our minds, and that goal shouldnot be compromised, but we would like to play an additional fast bowler inplace of the seventh batsmen wherever possible. Traditionally, of course,Sri Lanka has played four frontline bowlers and seven batsmen.The reason is simple – to win in South Africa we will need to greater depthin our fast bowling resources and some of those will have to makesignificant contributions with the bat. Sri Lanka is a country wherehistorically the batsmen have been able to bowl spin. Certainly, it’s amajor advantage whenever we play in the sub continent and has been a crucialcomponent of our recent success. In South Africa though it will be less ofan advantage.A quick look around the world will show you that the successful teams thatplay in South Africa, Australia and England have bowling attacks stackedfull of fast bowlers who can bat or batsmen that bowl seam up. Australia,South Africa, New Zealand, and Pakistan all usually play one specialistspinner in these conditions. This is the global trend and is clearly the wayto go for sustained success in more temperate environs.There is a growing awareness of this within the management now and anacceptance that the time has come to start experimenting where possible. Wenow need to provide useful match experience to the players concerned, toidentify the players that might fulfill the roles envisaged, and for theteam to gain a greater understanding of the new system.Wherever possible we need to weigh up the value of an additional bowleragainst a seventh batsman. The case for and against will fluctuate accordingto the particular conditions, opposition and the batsmen selected. Forexample, if we have three real dashers in our top three, then the insuranceof an additional batsman is justified.When the top six is more stable though we can include a fast bowling allrounder, who would add greater value to the side than the seventh batsman.We would have far more options should the other seamers not fire, especiallyin the first fifteen overs, when we don’t want to waste Muralitharan’sovers. With the likes of Jayasuriya and Arnold available to bowl as well wewould have a nicely balanced attack.Picking six batsmen from the current eight in the squad would of course be adifficult choice. The final decision would have to depend upon the specificobjectives and the current form of the players concerned.By the end of this tournament then I hope that we will have achieved twospecific objectives. Firstly we need to have a better idea as to temperamentof some individual squad members, particularly those in the fast bowling allrounder character. We want to identify who has the necessary desire andmental skills to perform at this level.Secondly, we should have learnt how to best juggle our resources, so that weunderstand better how to use the new formation most effectively. Naturallythis process will take time and will need to be evaluated and reviewed overa longer period of time, but the time has come to start.