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***Official*** Sri Lanka in England and Ireland 2014

viriya

viriya

International Captain
if he's performing why not? he probably won't make the the next t20i wc though - he'll be 42 by then.
 
Maximas

Maximas

Cricketer Of The Year
He won't yet be 40 by 2016, but unless he's planning to play the next t20 WC I don't see the point of him playing in these more or less irrelevant t20s when we could be developing younger players, it's possible that given it's a warm-up then they just wanted him to have a hit and he won't play the game against England though
 
D

Dan

Hall of Fame Member
Or maybe they've realised he's pretty decent at this whole T20 thing and they actually want to win the next game in front of them?

I mean, SL doesn't seem to have that much of an issue when it comes to blooding players - guys like Vithanage and Priyanjan are getting a crack now in the various formats, and every time I see a SL squad announcement there's yet another middle order bat who can bowl a bit being selected. It's a balance to strike - you want to have ready-made replacements when Sanga and Mahela hang up the pads, but you still want to be playing your best XI to win matches.
 
YorksLanka

YorksLanka

International Debutant
i agree with Dan, Dilshan is still one of the best T20 players in the world and given that he is a handy bowler and still a pretty good fielder, there is no reason to drop him.. strange to say it but age is less of a factor in T20 imho..good performance by our boys- yes it was a warm up game but it was a convincing performance and we cant ask for more than that...impressed by vithanage who has set his stall out now for the selectors to take note...
 
Maximas

Maximas

Cricketer Of The Year
SL won the world t20 because they spent the entire 2 years in between the 2012 and 2014 editions preparing for the next one, trying different combinations, honing their tactics, other countries didn't seem to take it so seriously. Given that these matches (particularly one-off matches like this) don't really have much relevance apart from rankings (which don't really mean much when there is a championship every two years) I'd have thought Sri Lanka would be more interested in using these matches to prepare for their defence of the world championship rather than pouring all possible resources into winning just one game. We should have identified the players likely to be involved in the next campaign (and if that includes Dilshan then I'm all the happier for it and what I'm saying can be ignored) and be giving them as much experience as possible, integrating them into their roles. When I spoke about 'young players', what I should have really said was 'whoever needed to be drafted into the team to replace guys who won't be there next time'. If that means they want Chandimal or someone else from the middle order opening the innings in 2016 for example, then he should be doing that, I just see no real benefit from allowing someone like Dilshan to linger if he won't be there for the next world t20 when there is so little at stake in tomorrows match.
 
D

Dan

Hall of Fame Member
Yeah, fair point, but I suspect he's still in the 2015 WC plans and with his reduced workload he may focus exclusively on T20 beyond that - long enough to reach the 2016 T20 WC. Given how long Jayasuriya hung around opening the innings and bowling some darts, I can't see them getting rid of Dillers for as long as he wants to keep playing.

As a side note, do bilateral series earn quote-unquote prize money? If so, with the SL board in the financial position it's in, they'd probably want the extra cash - however little that may be - that a one-off T20 series might earn them.

And on a second tangent, what happened to that Munaweera bloke, and that random spinner who played despite having never playing professionally prior to the SLPL?
 
Prince EWS

Prince EWS

Global Moderator
I think they just want to keep Dilshan playing regular cricket in the lead up to the ODI World Cup, which is their focus right now. It's obviously a different format but perhaps he and the management think he may get a bit rusty if he only plays 50 over cricket and that they'll have plenty of time to groom a replacement between the next ODI World Cup and the next World T20.
 
Maximas

Maximas

Cricketer Of The Year
Dilshan would almost certainly be in the WC 2015 plans I'd have thought, and that is indeed the major focus of the SL team right now, so I could understand the point about keeping up with regular cricket, especially given the last match was simply a tour match. The more he and Kusal Perera open the batting together in whatever format the better the stronger the partnership gets I suppose, and that kind of thing can be invaluable at a WC (Tharanga/Dilshan comes to mind from 2011). But I would certainly object if they were playing him for the sake of simply trying to win a one-off t20.

And of course if he thinks he can make it to WT20 2016 then of course he should be playing
 
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hendrix

hendrix

Hall of Fame Member
Dilshan's still playing because a) it's his job b) he still enjoys it c) he's good enough to be selected.

I'm not dismissing long term goals or anything like that, but I don't think you just get rid of players like that or don't give them the opportunity to continue to prove themselves.
 
BoyBrumby

BoyBrumby

Englishman
Guerney shows the way. One that slants across the right hander and then just straightens ever so slightly. Hits top of off, can't ask for more than that from the boy on debut.
 
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