SL selectors ponder separate T20 team

16 October 2012 04:38 am - 27 - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

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Sri Lanka chief selector Ashantha de Mel has said that the national selection committee may streamline the selection of teams, and have a separate Twenty20 squad, following Sri Lanka's 36-run loss to West Indies in the World Twenty20 final in Colombo.

The changes are likely to be introduced in the one-off T20 international against New Zealand to be played at Pallekele on October 30.

Vice captain Angelo Mathews is expected to take the reins for the game against New Zealand, with Mahela Jayawardene having resigned from the captaincy following the World Twenty20 final.

"We will have to go with Mathews for the moment but we will assess the captaincy. The team should be captained by a player who has a permanent place in the side," de Mel said. "We need to separate the Test and ODI players from the T20 players and pick a squad that will fulfill the requirements of T20 cricket.

"We will pick a young side with players who can make a clean strike of the ball," he said. Sri Lanka hit the least sixes of the four semi-finalists in the World Twenty20 and managed only one six to West Indies' seven in the final. "We really have to assess the situation and start building a team of T20 cricketers for the next World T20 in Bangladesh in 2014," said de Mel.

"We need to find some strong hitters who can clear the boundary successfully. Players like Mahela Jayawardene and Angelo Mathews don't have the power so they adopt different methods to score runs like the scoop and the reverse sweep. Even playing those strokes you need the strength to clear the fielders," he said.

Mathews exposed his stumps and was bowled attempting to play the scoop shot against Darren Sammy and Jayawardene failed to clear the short third man fielder when he reverse swept Sunil Narine. De Mel said that Dilshan Munaweera, who was unused after the group stages of the World Twenty20, was a player who could hit sixes.

"Chamara Kapugedera is another batsman who could easily clear the boundary but he has been under so much pressure from all quarters for failing to contribute big scores that he was eventually dropped," de Mel said.

Kapugedera hit 13 sixes in six matches for NCC in the Premier club T20 tournament and had a strike rate of 179.64.

De Mel also said Sri Lanka paid the penalty for not being aggressive enough chasing a West Indies total of 137 for victory. Sri Lanka's batsmen were circumspect after the dismissal of Tillakaratne Dilshan in the second over, and struggled to score at the require run rate throughout the innings. They were eventually dismissed for 101.

"I don't know what went wrong with our batting, for in the earlier matches we used to score at least 50 runs in the first six overs of Powerplay. Here they managed only 30 runs which put the fielding side on top.

"I think we also panicked during our innings when there was a slight drizzle and threw away wickets rather unnecessarily trying to up the score, the two run outs of Thisara Perera and Jeevan Mendis didn't help either. Everything seemed to go against us." (Source: ESPN Cricinfo)

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Comments - 27

mnsmart Tuesday, 16 October 2012 07:43 AM

Make SJ the captain

ICCStats Wednesday, 17 October 2012 03:42 AM

it's funny when people who have not even watched a few games other than the finals, let alone play even SOFTBALL cricket comment here like pundits.

ICCStats Wednesday, 17 October 2012 03:41 AM

Wrong! in the first 11 games of this Wt20 sides LOSING THE TOSS went on to win 10 GAMES.
"Teams winning the toss have won only one out of 11 matches played at the Premadasa stadium" - cricinfo.

ICCStats Wednesday, 17 October 2012 03:28 AM

the funny thing is we lost one game (I don't consider the washed out 7 over joke as a match) and we are talking about creating a seperate team for the #1 T20 team in the world (yes check the icc rankings)

bish Wednesday, 17 October 2012 03:06 AM

Really!

Cobra Wednesday, 17 October 2012 02:11 AM

A separate T20 team with the same players???

yuna Tuesday, 16 October 2012 06:12 PM

yes this is the time to go for a New selection panel no more muppets

yuna Tuesday, 16 October 2012 06:11 PM

Get rid of all the Muppets in the selection panel

Ranjith Silva Tuesday, 16 October 2012 10:25 AM

BEST IS NO USE WHEN LOSING, continuously. Then Ranil (RW) is best of the best!

Azmi Tuesday, 16 October 2012 10:23 AM

Too late decision, no game strategy plan for particular game

Rohan Tuesday, 16 October 2012 10:21 AM

Whole lot of changes not required. Top 3 veteran batsmen should not be together. SL had this problem from the last world cup. What action did they take to address it since then?Further, I believe that Sanga is not suited to this format. Even if he does, he shouldn't be number 3 batsmen. You need a naturally aggressive batmen at number 3.

Samitha Silva Tuesday, 16 October 2012 09:47 AM

Before selecting the new T20 team selectors must change to new selection panel .
SL cricket never improve with this Administrators .

ROGER Tuesday, 16 October 2012 08:59 AM

KHETTARAMA WHO EVER WINS THE TOSS WINS THE MATCH SO ENTIRE BLAME GOES ON THE CURATOR WHO CANNOT PREPARE THE PITCH FOR 40 OVERS. CHANGE THE CURATOR

Blue Ribbon Lokka Tuesday, 16 October 2012 08:11 AM

Its high time you too step down Mr.Selector ?

kithmal Tuesday, 16 October 2012 12:00 AM

angelo mathews and mahela dont hav power to clear da rope?????Mr Mel ,hvnt u evr seen dm hitting any sixers..dnt insult our own cricketrz,jst bcz they faild n d final.i guez u hvnt sn mathews at all. via DM Android App

jan Tuesday, 16 October 2012 07:06 AM

T20 will soon become a sport where players will have more interest in representing their high paying clubs than countries. A bigger pool of players to represent the country is the way forward.

Ravishan Tuesday, 16 October 2012 06:50 AM

No,Kapugedara please.Hitting sixes in the domestic level is of no concern as has failed enough and more times in the international level.

tweet@aqular27 Tuesday, 16 October 2012 12:00 AM

what a load of bollocks... Sri Lanka is not Australia !! We play our own brand of cricket, we are better always together than having 3 different teams for 3 different formats... And how dare you say Mahela cannot clear the fence, is that why all the big money franchises buy MAHELA !! He is a complete package.. he is a born leader a true cricketing brain !! And it seems like Chamara "Pu*adhena" Kapugedara has given Asantha de Mel his backside !! He is a complete waste of space, are you bloody talking like a National Selector !! Domestic Cricket is NOWHERE close to international cricket standards. May be Chamara hit all those sixes with a plastic ball with his friends at parliament grounds. via DM Android App

Himal Tuesday, 16 October 2012 06:29 AM

We didn't take the 1's and 2's in the finals. That was the difference. They didn't rotate the strike which lead to high required run rate. Only fault I can think of Mahela is that he didn't send Thissra or Kula at the fall of Sanga. The hitters were kept for too late. It was not a big score.

MOHAMED ASSHRAFF Tuesday, 16 October 2012 06:27 AM

Now only the Board has opend their Eyes when it went wrong in the Final Match. Win or Loose is natural but we would have to be prepared before the the Final Match.

James D Tuesday, 16 October 2012 06:33 AM

How come this man De Mel still have guts to talk about performance of other people? How about analysing his own performance in public office?

Mahela and Mathews both can hit sixes, so De Mel is talking utter rubbish. Sri Lanka choked in the final, but let's get over it and look to future. If anyone needs to be kicked out, it's De Mel and all those goons at Sri Lanka Cricket.

kitty Tuesday, 16 October 2012 12:00 AM

kohen gyath kapu tama via DM Android App

The Patriot Tuesday, 16 October 2012 06:19 AM

please don't bring kapugedarra, he had enough and more chances, he is not an international player. there are so many young players who can clear fence very easily. still not given chances. pick those players strengthen the team. not with jokers please....

sampath Tuesday, 16 October 2012 06:23 AM

what a lot of crap from de mel, mahela is respected by all cricket lovers for his technique of scoring runs with the least amount of effort...and this is an ability others trying to follow..
it's about time we have a new set of selectors....

ChamaraJ Tuesday, 16 October 2012 05:50 AM

Well said man.....

Al Rasa Tuesday, 16 October 2012 05:51 AM

Should think of Malinga twice He retired from Test Cricket when it needed bowlers and jumped on to limited over cricket for more accurate bowling in short spells and money.Does he do it now. Especially in the last T20 final. He put the country SECOND.

Cricket critics Tuesday, 16 October 2012 05:11 AM

Mahela is one of best player in the world cricket. He was unlucky in the finals it does not mean that he can not play big sixes. For any format of the cricket players need to play proper cricketing shot in which Mathes and Mahela are good at. Chamara Kapugadara has been given lot of chances but he never proved himself. Think about players like Denesh Cahndimal, Banuka Rajapakshe and so many other school cricketers. Please don't try to bring players like Dilhara Fernando, Chamara Kapukedara and Cahmara Silva to the Sri Lankan national side to make our team further down....!!!

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SL selectors ponder separate T20 team

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