Sri Lanka making quiet progress in preparation for T20 World Cup

Sri Lanka made its foray into international women’s cricket in 1997, 22 years after the men had taken their first steps in the sport. Ironically, now, 22 years into their growth the women’s team is still grappling to turn a corner to the next level.



As the team prepares to embark on a limited overs tour to Australia beginning on Sunday (September 29), it is a tall order to expect them to match the standards of the hosts. However, in the midst of all the gloom, Harsha de Silva, head coach of the team, believes that the game has made progress in Sri Lanka and things are certainly headed in the right direction.



“The ground reality is that Sri Lanka has to surmount setbacks such as the lack of a proper domestic structure,” de Silva told Women’s CricZone. “In the women’s game, there has been no real cradle of schools’ cricket like in men’s cricket. That is one of the main reasons women’s cricket has been way behind with a marked age gap, which in turn shows in skill levels.” 



The lack of international exposure was previously a distinct disadvantage on the big stage. While the top teams like India, New Zealand, Australia, England and the West Indies once enjoyed a major share of international exchanges, Sri Lanka had very few such opportunities. Following the introduction of the ICC Women’s Championship however, things have slowly begun to change for the island nation. Although result-wise, Sri Lanka has not achieved much in the recent past— with only one win in their last 15 ODIs and a solitary victory in the Women’s T20 World Cup last year— they have in fact shown much improvement in their game play. 



De Silva identifies rising average scores as one of Sri Lanka’s biggest positives over the last 12 months.



“We did an assessment after the England (home) series in March and found that the team has shown a progressive growth in terms of average scores,” he explained. “In ODIs there was a rise from 120 to 170 following the last five series’ from 2018 to 2019 versus Pakistan, West Indies, South Africa and England with a win against India. In the T20Is too Sri Lanka’s average score rose from 90 to 120,” he contends. 



If there is anyone in the coaching business with the ability to turn the team’s fortunes around, it is certainly de Silva. The tall and well muscled 47-year-old carries all the right credentials, having coached Angelo Mathews, Dimuth Karunaratne and Thisara Perera in the early stages of their careers. This is his second stint in the job with the women’s team following his first assignment between 2010 and 2013. It was a tenure in which he oversaw Sri Lanka’s historic wins over England and India in the 2013 World Cup in India. In his own words, that fifth place finish remains, to this day, the team’s “best achievement.”



This is Harsha de Silva's second stint as head coach of the women's team. © SLC



 



Having further fine honed his skills as an accredited Division-III coach in Australia, de Silva was once again handed the coaching reins in September 2018. 



Since then one of the biggest gains has been the rise of Sri Lanka players in the ICC rankings. For a while Chamari Atapattu broke into the top 10 on the list of ODI batters, while Shashikala Siriwardene is currently among the top 10 T20I allrounders in the world.



“At present, only Chamari is featuring in the IPL, Big Bash and England League. Shashikala has featured in the leagues in Bangladesh,” de Silva laments.



“If the team performs well in the upcoming September-October tour of Australia it will not only be the ideal build up to next year’s T20 World Cup, but also open a window for our players to catch the eye in the Women’s Big Bash League.” 



Interestingly, the selectors have opted for two captains with Siriwardene having been appointed as the ODI captain so as to relieve T20I captain Atapattu of the pressure in view of the looming T20 World Cup. 



Meanwhile, one of the emerging players the coach identifies for the future is 21-year old Harshitha Madavi. De Silva also pointed to 29-year-old Nilakshi de Silva as someone who could be a huge impact player in the shortest format. Both are products from Colombo’s premier girls’ school Anula Vidyalaya. 



“Harshitha debuted at 18 and is the vice-captain on tour to Australia and is being groomed as a future captain. Nilakshi is an all-rounder who bowls fast medium and a middle order batter whom we are pinning our faith on,” he voiced.



Despite a career that began back in 2013, Nilakshi has only started getting a consistent run in the Sri Lankan set up. She proved to be consistent in the last two series’ versus England and South Africa, and also performed well last year against India in the T20 World Cup in the West Indies.” 



The coach identifies this move to introduce young blood to the system after six years as a positive step. The accentuation on rural talent has also raised hope. Three under-19 players from the schools grid, namely Kavisha Dilhari, Umasha Thimashini and Sachini Nisansala hailing from down South Seenigama in Galle have been stop gap Sri Lanka players. Significantly, they are discoveries from the Foundation of Goodness, a community development organisation prioritising cricket headed by Kushil Gunasekera who was the former manager of bowling legend Muttiah Muralitharan. Muralitharan is a trustee of the foundation along with former Sri Lanka greats Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene who impart their knowledge input. The new finds are potential Sri Lanka prospects for the 2020-21 ICC Under-19 World Cup. 



Indeed, things are slowly but surely falling into place for women’s cricket in Sri Lanka. As the head coach points out, the future looks good. 



“There is a lot of raw talent discovered at the grassroots level. Sri Lanka Cricket’s island-wide fine combing drive that started a few years back is beginning to yield results. Today, more and more girls’ schools are beginning to recognise the potential in women’s cricket as a lucrative professional career. Girls’ schools that were once cricket shy under the belief that it was a man’s domain are gradually taking to the game.” 



De Silva is adamant that the team is headed in the right direction. ©SLC



Of course, de Silva is deadpan that to aim high Sri Lanka need to buckle down to the serious business of matching the best. He attributes the lack of adequate domestic matches to be the main factor holding them back. While the talent and skill is there, it is the lack of exposure and experience that has largely retarded or slowed their progress in being able to catch up with the rest of the pack. 



“The hitherto domestic structure of eight Division One clubs divided into two groups playing three games each and a final has not helped. The format has since been replaced by a league format since 2019 widening the scope to seven matches per team,” de Silva explains.



Overall, he sees that success on the big stage will help bridge the gap between top teams like Australia, England, South Africa and India which “comparatively get a lot of higher level exposure playing top players around the world.”



“The desired results will not come overnight. They have to work hard for it. One way up that ladder would be for our girls to impress and break into Big Bash and Super League cricket.”



Their first opportunity to take a step in that direction will be the tour of Australia set to begin on Sunday. On the cards are three T20Is in Sydney followed by three ODIs in Brisbane. It will be the building point to the February-March ICC Women’s  T20 World Cup 2020 in Australia. 



“It is important in every sense in acclimatising and gelling for the showpiece event four months hence. I’m hopeful that it would be the ideal acclimatization for the World Cup. It will be followed by the domestic T20 provincial tournament in November-December followed by a few warm-up games in January as well. Sri Lanka is in a tough draw in Group A alongside Australia, New Zealand, India, Pakistan and Thailand and the girls will need to polish up in the coming months,” de Silva quips. 



How the team fares will likely point to how they will perform in the mega event. While the tour could not have come at a better time for Sri Lanka— helping them plan and prepare better for the World Cup— it will also likely play a huge part in the growth and development of cricket in Sri Lanka in the future.



 



Sri Lanka’s tour of Australia: 



ODI squad: Shashikala Siriwardene (captain), Harshitha Madavi (vice-captain), Chamari Atapattu, Anushka Sanjeewani, Hansima Karunaratne, Yashoda Mendis, Nilakshi de Silva, Dilani Manodara, Oshadhi Ranasinghe, Inoka Ranaweera, Sugandhika Kumari, Inoshi Fernando, Achini Kulasuriya, Udeshika Prabodhani, Ama Kanchana.



T20 squad: Chamari Atapattu (captain), Harshitha Madavi (vice-captain), Shashikala Siriwarde, Anushka Sanjeewani, Hansima Karunarathne, Yashoda Mendis, Nilakshi de Silva, Dilani Manodara, Oshadie Ranasinghe, Inoka Ranaweera, Sugandhika Kumari, Inoshi Fernando, Achini Kulasuriya, Udeshika Prabodhani, Ama Kanchana.



 



Fixtures:

September 29: 1^st T20I in Sydney

September 30:  2^nd T20 in Sydney

October 2: 3^rd T20 in Sydney

October 5: 1^st ODI in Brisbane

October 7: 2^nd ODI in Brisbane

October 9: 3^rd ODI in Brisbane