da casino： Mother nature served us a gentle reminder at P
Charlie Austin21-Apr-2000Mother nature served us a gentle reminder at P. Sara Stadium inColombo today – the wet season is coming to Sri Lanka and thisseries is likely to suffer. Critics will question the wisdom ofholding the series during this traditionally wet period, realistswill understand that international calendar is based on money andpower, not meteorological patterns.On a day that started late due to a monsoonal downpour in themorning and ended early when heavy rains and dark cloudsenveloped the ground in the afternoon, Zimbabwe progressed to 105for 4 in their second innings, after the BCCSL XI had declared ontheir overnight score of 284-7.Despite a lead of 61 runs when they started, the Zimbabwean’swere just starting to struggle against this strong BCCSL XI, whenthe rains came down. The Sri Lankan spinners could well have hadthe visitors six down if it were not for some unusually poorfielding. Two relatively simple catches were dropped, one offGavin Rennie (48*) when he had made 42, and one off DanielPeacock (4*) just before nature’s intervention.Nevertheless Zimbabwe didn’t lose the match. Competitivethroughout the match, they would have surprised many people inSri Lanka by the positive manner in which they approached thegame. They batted extremely well in the first innings and thespinners bowled creditably yesterday. Considering that themajority of the squad has little experience of sub-continentalconditions, The Management will have been satisfied with theteam’s performance.Two areas of concern though will be the accuracy of the pacebowlers and how the batsmen are going to play the spinners. Thepace bowlers cannot afford to over pitch as much as they didyesterday and need to adjust their length. The ball is unlikelyto swing a great deal in these conditions but it may well moveoff the wicket, especially if the ball consistently lands on theseam.How the batsmen cope against the spinners may well decide theseries. Whilst this is primarily a learning experience for theplayers, the batsmen must have a clear strategy when they go outbat. One felt today that a couple of the batsmen weren’t quitesure how they were going to play the likes of Bandarathilake andPushpakumara. Even Vermeulen (25) who had played the spinnersexcellently in the first innings will have been disappointed withhis dismissal, swinging across the line when he had the option topick runs playing straight.A big plus point for the visitor’s will undoubtedly be that GavinRennie scored some runs today. A key player for this side he willneed to be at his best.For the Sri Lankan’s this match has been a wake-up call. Thecoach will have been very disappointed with certain aspects oftheir performance, especially the fielding and the carefreebatting. One suspects that the squad had underestimated theZimbabwean’s before the start of this match. One can rest assuredthat they now know they have work a lot harder than theypreviously imagined.