After last Friday when Sri Lanka gave tournament favourites England a real hiding, you started wondering whether there’s a better 21-year-old in the world than Aviskha Fernando, who can play some breathtaking cricket shots.
The top order batsman was a breath of fresh air as he took on Mark Wood and Jofra Archer, two of the quickest bowlers in the world. Young Avishka isn’t carrying any baggage with him and wasn’t afraid to play his strokes against world’s number one ranked team.
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There were some gorgeous cover drives of England quicks and when Archer overdid the short ball, Avishka rocked back and pulled him for a couple of sixes. With teams desperate to employ players who can clear the boundary frequently in this World Cup, you wonder what he has been doing all this while. Better late than never as he set the stage for rest of the batsmen after the openers were dismissed for low scores. Angelo Mathews then with the help of Kusal Mendis cashed in.
The national cricket team may have struggled to make an impact across all three formats in recent times but when you take a look at the likes of Avishka you get the assurance that there’s no shortage of talent. It’s just a matter of having the patience and preserve with the talents that have been identified.
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Avishka made his international debut three years ago aged 18. He was called up to the senior side after he made two hundreds in three matches against England Under-19 as Sri Lanka Under-19 completed a series win here in 2016. Of course the ask to shift from Under-19 level to international cricket, that too against Mitchell Starc proved to be too much as he picked a second ball duck and was discarded for two years.
Another player who takes on the best of fast bowler in the world when he is in the mood is Kusal Mendis. The on-drives he played against Dale Steyn and Kagiso Rabada in Port Elizabeth as Sri Lanka completed a historic series win were a treat to watch. Mendis is only 24 and has already scored seven international hundreds. Stalwarts of Sri Lankan cricket like Aravinda de Silva and Kumar Sangakkara at the age of 24 were still finding their feet in international cricket.
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Niroshan Dickwella turned 26 this week and he is someone who shows absolutely no fear when playing fast bowling. Pity that he could not make the cut for the World Cup. Not everyone is impressed with Dickwella’s style of play as he attempts to scoop and flick even the fastest bowlers in the world. He will do well to borrow some advice from Aravinda de Silva, who recently suggested to take all the talk about technical adjustments with a pinch of salt.
Oshada Fernando and Dhananjaya de Silva are both 27 while Kusal Janith Perera is 28. The transition since the retirement of big three – Sanga, Mahela and Dilshan – has taken longer than people had thought but you tend to get the feeling that Sri Lanka are slowly but surely getting there and could be a force in 2023 when the next World Cup is staged in India.
The big three weren’t setting the world on fire when they started. They all had tough starts but the good thing was that the selectors had identified the potential and backed them. All three players went onto make most of the opportunities and made it count. That is why from 2007 to 2012 Sri Lanka reached four ICC finals and were in touching distance of becoming the number one ranked team in Test cricket.
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It’s not just batting, some excellent fast bowling reserves have been unearthed and all of them are young. Shehan Madushanka is 24 while Lahiru Kumara is 22 and both those players can generate some serious pace. Dushmantha Chameera, who is 27 and Kasun Rajitha, aged 26, are slightly more experienced and will soon take over from Lasith Malinga and Suranga Lakmal, in ODI cricket.
Not many 22-year-old Sri Lankans have shown the character of Lasith Embuldeniya, who came up with some gritty performances in South Africa after being thrown into the deep end following the axing of Dilruwan Perera. Whether Embuldeniya will be Sri Lanka’s front line Test spinner or he will also feature in white ball cricket is a question that the selectors need to answer, but he looks matured to make the adjustment.
If Akila Dananjaya works out his off-spin after being reported for a suspect action, he could be handful too as he has excellent control with his leg-spin and googly. He could go onto become an important cog in the wheel moving forward as he is 25-years-old although it seems that he has been around for ages.
Sri Lankan cricket looks to be in safe hands.
