Angelo Mathews rues a collective failure after loss to India

For the second time in succession, Angelo Mathews tried to strike the right balance between ruing Sri Lanka's plight and putting up a brave face. In the absence of Lasith Malinga, the responsibility has fallen on Mathews's shoulders to guide the Sri Lankan team. But with losses against Bangladesh and India, Sri Lanka are now in a dicey spot in the Asia Cup.It doesn't bode well that they are just not performing up to the mark with the World T20 around the corner. Sri Lanka are defending champions of both tournaments but this team looks a far cry from the one two years ago. Mathews had a stroke of deja vu as he fielded questions from the press after the loss against India.
"I am repeating myself every day," he remarked wryly before placing the emphasis on the seniors to start performing. "We have the team we have, we are depending on a handful of seniors most of the time. If the seniors fail, we are in a spot of bother most of the time. Especially in a tournament like the Asia Cup and the World Cup, you need a lot of seniors in the team. Unfortunately we haven't clicked," he said.
But Mathews was also quick to point out that the entire blame couldn't be heaped upon just a handful of experienced men. "It will take a little time for the younger guys to start performing. We have to be patient, but this is not the right time to be patient," he said and later remarked, "I think firstly that it's not just the seniors who have to perform. Selectors have picked a squad and everyone has to perform. This is a big stage and no one is here to learn. This is a stage where you have to perform. You can't rely on a handful of seniors."
Sri Lanka lost by five wickets on Tuesday (March 1) with India chasing down the target of 139 quite comfortably in the end. This despite Nuwan Kulasekara picking up the openers cheaply. "I initially thought we had a challenging score on the board, but once the dew came in, it was hard for the bowlers, the ball stopped swinging after the first few overs, it stopped gripping and it was tough for the spinners," said Mathews.
It didn't help Sri Lanka that a decision from the umpire went against their way. Thisara Perera was teeing off towards the end of their innings before he was adjudged stumped by the on-field umpire. Replays suggested that Perera had in fact made his ground but in what is now a rare instance, the third umpire wasn't called for to make a decision. India eventually chased down the target with four balls to spare but it was left to anyone to conclude if a few extra runs could have made a difference.
"You want to put me on the spot," laughed Mathews when a question about the decision was raised in the press conference, but was also quick to add a few politically correct sentences that wouldn't require him to face the wrath of the match referee. That is the last thing Sri Lanka would want at this stage. "It's a human error. I think we all make mistakes. Take it and move on. But if you have the technology you can use it," he quipped.
Apart from the injury to Malinga, one other key factor that has dented Sri Lankas's chances is the lack of runs from senior member and opener Tillakaratne Dilshan. He has had scores of 27, 12 and 18 today. The problem has been the conversion of starts and with Sri Lanka possessing a fairly brittle middle-order, the emphasis on Dilshan to take up a leading role grows.
"I think everybody hits a rough patch, and he (Dilshan) has had a few rough patches here and there, and his last few innings were not very bad. We all need to take responsibility. Not just the seniors. The selectors and the captain have picked a squad, which they think is good. And so we have to try and go out there with who we have in the squad. We need to have faith in them and move forward.
"We all know Dilshan has been a great servant of Sri Lankan cricket for a long time, and I don't think this is the time to make that massive change. It's whatever the selectors and the captain thinks, I am just the stand-in captain. I don't really know what the selectors and the captain are thinking. But I think we have to be patient and hope the batting line-up fires in the next game," said Mathews.
He couldn't help but clutch at the positives gained from the game. Runs from Chamara Kapugedera was one but Mathews also focussed on an overall improvement shown on the batting front. "I thought our approach was good, our intent was to score runs. We didn't want to hang in there, we didn't need to think we needed to bat till the 16-17th over. We knew if one of us got going, we'd score 160-170. You can't really think the next person will score runs for you. You have to be prepared and positive," he said.
Mathews didn't hide the fact that Sri Lanka are up against the wall. He even grudgingly admired his opponents and wished that Sri Lanka had a settled team just like India. "It's quite damaging, especially (to) the confidence level and the morale. You can't keep losing, it's difficult to digest. We haven't played our best yet and the most worrying thing is that we haven't clicked as a batting order. So close to the World Cup, we have to connect the dots together and maybe try a few combinations. But all we have is what we have at the moment. We just have to be positive. But I kind of sensed a positive approach in our batting today and that's how we have to play. Just be positive and hope the batting order clicks.
"Indians have been playing really good cricket in the past couple of years. They have been patient and sticking to a squad they thought was going to be their team for the World Cup and stuck with it. That's what you've got to do, stick with a team and be patient. Be patient with whoever you pick without chopping and changing too much, especially before the Asia Cup and World Cup. You have to be ready to go. You have to chop and change and check combinations before," he said.

INDIA VS SRI LANKA MATCH PREVIEW 

Injuries and pitch conditions are amongst the primary focus a day ahead of India's match against Sri Lanka in the Asia Cup on Tuesday (March 1). Both teams will be hampered with injuries to key players and might feel the sting of not playing their best eleven. 
For Sri Lanka, it is a must-win game. They will now have to beat both India and Pakistan to stand a chance to qualify for the final. The fitness of regular skipper Lasith Malinga will be their biggest concern ahead of the important clash.
Malinga missed their previous game against Bangladesh due to a niggle in the knee. The game before that, against UAE, was his first game in three months and he pulled up sore after picking up a match-winning four-wicket haul. Angelo Mathews, stand-in skipper, was unsure about Malinga's availability for the rest of the tournament and the Lankans will not rest easy if the pacer does pull out of the game against India.
MS Dhoni and Co. have their own set of worries as well. The skipper himself is playing through this tournament with a back brace, despite spasms. There is a back-up option of Parthiv Patel but it looks likely that Parthiv might step in for one of the regular openers in this game. Both Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan are nursing injuries.
Rohit suffered a blow on his left toe, which forced him to go for scans. Although the scans did not reveal a crack, Rohit did not take part in the training session ahead of the game against Sri Lanka. Dhawan, who missed the game against Pakistan due to an injury to his left heel, was seen wearing a bandage but still managed to do a few fitness drills before going out to have a hit. If both of them miss out, then it will force the team to make a few changes right from the top.
A straightforward move could be to draft in Parthiv as an opener but Team India will also consider the option of pushing Kohli to open and drafting in Pawan Negi to bolster the batting in the lower-middle order.
The pitches that have been provided so far in Dhaka have all aided the seamers to a large extent. The last time India faced Sri Lanka on a green-top in Pune, their batting crumbled against a young Sri Lankan pace attack. This time around the islanders have a more potent new-ball bowlers in Nuwan Kulasekara and Angelo Mathews but India's batting has also shown a marked improvement in such conditions. 
With Kohli and Rohit showing the technical nous to shore up the batting in similar conditions, it does appear that India have that front sorted.The same cannot be said about Sri Lanka though. Their batting came a cropper twice in succession. With the exception of Dinesh Chandimal, none of the others have shown an inclination to stick around and milk runs, as Mathews conceded. Chandimal himself was guilty of throwing away a good start against Bangladesh.
But Sri Lanka still possess a line-up that bats very deep. They will be banking on the others to come good soon enough. Tillakaratne Dilshan will be under focus. In the absence of experience down the order, the pressure on the senior opener to deliver becomes even more acute. He hasn't found his touch so far and he'd do well to pace his innings better. Sri Lanka will need him to set up the ideal base for the power-hitters down the order like Thisara Perera and Dasun Sanaka to capitalise.
India need another win to put them in pole position to grab a spot in the final. Form isn't a concern for Dhoni's men but man-management will be critical in the build-up to the World T20. They will tread carefully before taking a call on fielding players with niggles with the big tournament following soon after. It will be interesting to see how they tackle this tricky situation.

South Africa series ideal opportunity to gel well before World T20: Smith

Heading into the 2016 ICC World Twenty20, Australia have made some radical changes to the side. While the performance in the Big Bash League (BBL) 2015-16 has played a key role in the inclusion of a few players, the 3-0 loss against India in the Twenty20 International series at home too has led to some ousters.
Peter Nevill, Adam Zampa and Ashton Agar are all yet to make their T20I debut as Australia take on South Africa in a three-match series ahead of the World T20. With Aaron Finch recovering from his injury and three other players vying for the opener's spot, Australia are yet to find their right combination.
"It's about moving forward and trying to get everything going in the right direction before the World Cup. We've got a few options for guys that can open the batting, there's about four guys vying for a spot there. The bowlers are working hard to get into the eleven but I think it will take a whole squad to win a World Cup," Smith said on Monday (February 29).
"For us it's about playing some T20 cricket together, we haven't played a great deal of T20 over the last couple of years so it's a great opportunity for us to try and gel together as a unit before the World Cup."
Steve Smith, who has led Australia in only a solitary T20I so far, has been handed the responsibility of leading the side in World T20 to be played in India in March-April.
"Hopefully the South African curators can try and make the pitches a little bit slow and turning, I think that would benefit both sides, so we'll wait and see what they come up with," he added.
Despite Australia's dominance in Tests and One-Day Internationals, where they are No. 1 and world champions respectively, they haven't found similar success in the shortest format. Smith believes that the game has evolved following the advent of T20.
"I think it's changed a lot, guys have got so many different deliveries nowadays - slower-ball bouncers, wide yorkers, different kinds of slower balls, things like that. Guys are able to hit the ball 360 degrees, which is hard to stop. I just think the game has changed so much, it's moving forward and that's great."
Speaking about plans to stop AB de Villiers, one of the finest batsmen across formats currently, in the upcoming series, Smith said that even as he is a difficult player to stop, there are a few ideas in place.
"It's very difficult to do, he's one of the most destructive - if not the most destructive - batsman in the world and he does hit the ball 360 degrees, so when he is going he's very tough to stop," Smith said. "We're going to have a few plans in place for him that will hopefully work, but he's a terrific player and very hard to stop."
"They're a very good T20 team, they've got some class players that can take the game away from you very quickly. So, for us, we want to win every series we play and I guess in the back of our minds we know there's a World Cup not long away. But it's about focusing on this series and trying to do what we can to win," he concluded.

McDermott to step down as Australia coach after World T20

Craig McDermott, assistant coach of the Australian cricket team, will step down from his position at the end of the ICC World T20 2016, Cricket Australia announced on Tuesday (March 1). The former Australian quick, who began his second stint with the national side in 2013, will now turn his focus to the coaching and operations of the Craig McDermott International Cricket Academy (CMICA).
"I've thoroughly enjoyed my time working for Cricket Australia," McDermott was quoted as saying by cricket.com.au. "It's been a thrill to have been able to help the players reach their potential, and to see them achieve such feats as the 5-0 Ashes win at home, defeating South Africa in South Africa and winning last year's World Cup. I'd love nothing more than to finish this stint with victory in the World T20 in India.
"Looking ahead I've decided that the time is right to really focus on my academy business which is continuing to grow as well as pursuing some other business opportunities I have away from the game. And if time presents, I'll also look at some coaching consultancy work in various competitions around the world. I will certainly miss the Australian team, and wish the players and coaches every success in the future," he said.
McDermott's relationship with cricket board post his playing career started with what was then the Center of Excellence. He was then named bowling coach of the national side in May 2011, a position he relinquished the following year due to workload concerns. When Darren Lehmann took over as head coach in 2013, he brought back McDermott to his staff of coaches. The 50-year-old pacer oversaw some of Australia's most successful moments in recent history - including the 4-0 home series win against India in 2011-12, the Test series victories over England and South Africa in the summer of 2013-14 and the 2015 World Cup.