I've always had a soft spot for Sri Lanaka - they seemed able to punch above their weight for a long time and they've always had players who were fun to watch.
But now? In the past 6 years Vaas, Murali, Malinga, Sangakkara, Jayawardene, Samaraweera, and Dilshan have retired. Plus Prasanna Jayawardene. Throw in Attapatu and Jayasuriya a couple of years earlier, and that's a lot of quality to try to replace.
In their stead we have Mathews and Herath holding the fort, but Herath can't go on forever.
They've had a succession of openers who haven't really succeeded, though to be fair none were complete disasters. Vandort, Warnapura, Tharanga, Paranavitane, Karunaratne, and Silva. It looked like Silva might be the goods but his average is declining sharply towards 30.
The excellence of their middle order in recent times has obviously meant limited opportunities for other players, but Thirimanne has now played 20+ tests and averages 25 - we're getting into Daren Ganga or Devon Smith territory here. Vithanage didn't look a test batsman either. Chandimal is probably going to be ok, though I think he's not a number 4 if the side is regularly going to be 10-2.... his dismissal in the second innings of the last test was like watching an Australian bat at Trent Bridge.
Herath has taken up the spinning slack from Murali remarkably well, but for how much longer? And the second spinner? Mendis was the great hope but he turned out to be a one-trick pony, and as for Randiv, Perera, now Kaushal. Hmm.
Seam bowlers? Well, Dhammika has been great recently, but the rest? They're either not very good, or they get injured, or both. Kulasekera, Welegedera, Thushara, Eranga, Pradeep, Lakmal.... Allrounders Maharoof and Perera didn't come to much either.
They do always seem to have a reasonable choice of keeper.
In addition, their tail doesn't wag much, and their fielding standards seem to have slipped a bit.
Finally, their board is not exactly squeaky clean and the selectors seem to have random flights of fancy. Anyone remember Dickwella being picked as a batsman?
All in all I think it's a gloomy picture. What do people think - will they stay in the India/England/Pakistan/New Zealand pack or are they going to be scrapping with the Windies and Bangladesh for the 7/8/9 ranking in the near future?
But now? In the past 6 years Vaas, Murali, Malinga, Sangakkara, Jayawardene, Samaraweera, and Dilshan have retired. Plus Prasanna Jayawardene. Throw in Attapatu and Jayasuriya a couple of years earlier, and that's a lot of quality to try to replace.
In their stead we have Mathews and Herath holding the fort, but Herath can't go on forever.
They've had a succession of openers who haven't really succeeded, though to be fair none were complete disasters. Vandort, Warnapura, Tharanga, Paranavitane, Karunaratne, and Silva. It looked like Silva might be the goods but his average is declining sharply towards 30.
The excellence of their middle order in recent times has obviously meant limited opportunities for other players, but Thirimanne has now played 20+ tests and averages 25 - we're getting into Daren Ganga or Devon Smith territory here. Vithanage didn't look a test batsman either. Chandimal is probably going to be ok, though I think he's not a number 4 if the side is regularly going to be 10-2.... his dismissal in the second innings of the last test was like watching an Australian bat at Trent Bridge.
Herath has taken up the spinning slack from Murali remarkably well, but for how much longer? And the second spinner? Mendis was the great hope but he turned out to be a one-trick pony, and as for Randiv, Perera, now Kaushal. Hmm.
Seam bowlers? Well, Dhammika has been great recently, but the rest? They're either not very good, or they get injured, or both. Kulasekera, Welegedera, Thushara, Eranga, Pradeep, Lakmal.... Allrounders Maharoof and Perera didn't come to much either.
They do always seem to have a reasonable choice of keeper.
In addition, their tail doesn't wag much, and their fielding standards seem to have slipped a bit.
Finally, their board is not exactly squeaky clean and the selectors seem to have random flights of fancy. Anyone remember Dickwella being picked as a batsman?
All in all I think it's a gloomy picture. What do people think - will they stay in the India/England/Pakistan/New Zealand pack or are they going to be scrapping with the Windies and Bangladesh for the 7/8/9 ranking in the near future?
