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If you include the two World Cup warm-up matches against Bangladesh and Afghanistan, Sri Lanka scored totals of 263, 294, 326, 344 and 209. However, a closer look reveals promising positions missed in each of those matches.
Nissanka, who scored 61 off 67 balls during an opening stand of 125 with Kusal Perera, is doing his job for the most part. The Sri Lankan scheme is very straightforward – set up a platform and launch. But they couldn’t get off as much as they would have liked.
“To be honest, the opposition bowlers are constantly hitting good areas through the middle, which has created a difficult situation for our batsmen,” Nissanka said. “Unfortunately, we were not able to deal with it as effectively as we would have liked. If we could have played better, we could have achieved a total of 300 goals.”
Against Australia, it was an opening performance but Sri Lanka’s two centurions in this tournament – Mendis and Sadira Samarawickrama – did not do so, falling to Zampa by 9 and 8 respectively.
“This is the nature of cricket. We have performed brilliantly in the last two matches, but such fluctuations can happen,” Nissanka said. “Our focus now is to learn from our mistakes and strive to provide strong performances in the upcoming matches.”
The lack of consistent production from the middle and lower order is a bigger concern, but when asked why such collapses occur, Nissanka dodges the question.
“As a team, we play every match hoping to win. Unfortunately, we lost the last three matches. We played well before that. We hope to play well in the remaining matches.”
After suffering three defeats in three matches, Sri Lanka’s mid- and lower-middle side need to kick into gear before it’s too late. If not, when the top four collapse under the burden as they did against Australia, such collapses will become more common no matter what type of pitch they play on.
