DAMBULLA: Interim head coach Nic Pothas said that “too many cooks” are spoiling his efforts to revive the beleaguered Sri Lanka cricket team following another heavy defeat in the first one-day international against India at the Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium on Sunday.
Sri Lanka whitewashed 3-0 in the Test series by India was hoping for a change of fortunes in the five-match one-day international series that began at Dambulla but to the dismay of their fans whose patience has been tested almost to the limit they were thrashed soundly by nine wickets.
A few fans showed their displeasure by staging a protest and carrying slogans in front of the team bus at Dambulla after the match before the police managed to clear them away.
India chased down Sri Lanka’s total of 216 using up only 29 overs a performance that led Pothas to comment at the post-match press conference: “It swings between hurt and embarrassment. Emotionally you get angry. You get frustrated. Am I angry with the players? Absolutely not. The players work as hard as anyone can ask of them. They’ve been superb.
“The support staff has been out of this world, brilliant. They work endless hours with planning and helping the boys. You can’t fault anyone within that changing room. Yes, we didn’t play our best cricket today. That’s pretty obvious. You do get angry. To say “too many cooks” is probably accurate.”
Sri Lanka Cricket administrators have been accused of trying to interfere in selections and in other areas that led to the resignation of coach Graham Ford at the end of the Champions Trophy in June. Ford was replaced by Pothas who was then the team’s fielding coach.
Pothas said that if he was in control he could give a deadline for the improvement of the team but it was not the case here.
“If it was up to me and we had control over what we did, then we could probably give you a timeline. It’s a question you probably need to ask a few other people as well. For me, if we were left alone and you could work with this group of players, you could get some stability and consistency over a period of six months. You’d see massive improvements,” said Pothas.
“These are seriously gifted players. They are very, very gifted players. You give them a little bit of time – you give them a little bit of love, a little bit of care, and build up that confidence, you’ll see results quick.”
Pothas also pointed out that constant changes in the team was also affecting performances.
“When you get consistency within a team of players, you will see improvements in performance. When we’re getting new players every game, it gets very difficult from a confidence point of view. From the player’s point of view it’s very difficult. It’s difficult for us the coaching staff to create a strategy,” said Pothas.
Injuries to players have also played its part in the team being changed constantly. “If you look around the world at sports teams, and you look at the percentage of players that is acceptable to become injured, we are well within those limits,” said Pothas.
“Yes it’s frustrating when you see players get injured. Some of them are injuries that you cannot control. Asela Gunaratne’s thumb you cannot control. And fast bowlers do get injured. They work hard. What they do is tough. But if you look at our percentage of injuries we have for the size of the group of players that we are trying to service, we are much better than the percentage.”
Pothas accepted that to lose nine wickets for 77 runs after being 139-1 at one stage was “unacceptable” and added, “We’ve got to take that on the chin as staff, as players, and that’s the reality of sport.
“We probably didn’t read the situation well enough. Yes, there were some execution issues as well. What we always try to drive home in the changing room is if you make the right decision but don’t execute, we’re more than happy with that situation. Today we were a little bit more on the making the wrong decisions side unfortunately.”
Special Task Force (STF) soldiers stand guard as the Sri Lanka cricket team bus leaves the Rangiri Dambulla International
Stadium on Sunday. AFP
0 comments:
Post a Comment