In the end, England strolled to a comfortable victory in their opening encounter against Sri Lanka at the Sophia Gardens. This match between the world’s No1 side and the world’s No8 side certainly looked like it – the latter team seldom was in the contest, let alone close to gaining an upper hand while playing it.
Divergent paths for both teams
The disparity between the two sides has been growing in recent years. At the 2015 ODI World Cup, Sri Lanka qualified for the quarter-finals on the back of an excellent batting campaign from Kumar Sangakkara. On the other hand, the English dream crashed and burned in an embarrassing fashion.
With the spectre of excellence still looming over a Sri Lankan side in transition, their performance was expected, not embarrassing. But England’s situation had already turned desperate by then, with both their strategies and their players seemingly from a different era. Cook, Broad and Anderson were dropped in the aftermath of their campaign. But Morgan was still in the infancy of his white-ball captaincy – and persisted with.
Thereon, England thus embarked upon a major rehaul of their set-up. Six years down the line, they’re world champions in ODI cricket, and favourites for winning the upcoming T20 World Cup as well.
Consistency in faith
Before the era of ‘rest and rotation’, England played with one of the most predictable white-ball elevens in the world. This did not do much in the way of lending an advantage to their opponents. Rather, the fearsome opening pair of Jonny Bairstow and Jason Roy has turned into the best in the history of the game. Their lower order depth is known for, well, its depth. And Adil Rashid is the best white-ball spinner in ODI cricket at the moment.
Soon after his appointment, Eoin Morgan has blossomed in his role at the helm. Consistency has been the key to his success.
… Or the lack thereof
The Sri Lankans have rifled through 47 different players in their last 53 matches. Being in the side for more than one series without a big score of a five-wicket haul next to your name is a miracle in their set-up.
This isn’t the healthiest atmosphere for a professional sportsperson to be in. But this different ‘rest and rotation’ policy of the Sri Lankan selectors is accentuated by the fact that they have burned through so many leaders since the 2014 World Cup triumph: Dinesh Chandimal, Lasith Malinga, Angelo Mathews, Upul Tharanga, and Thisara Perera have all been captains for the side. None of them are in the reckoning for the World Cup.
Kusal Perera now needs consistency from both his eleven and the fickle-minded selectors. At least, he has time till the World Cup to figure things out (one hopes).
Innovation needs experience
No matter what the Sri Lankan eleven(s) are accused of, they have never been short of flamboyance in the white-ball formats of the game. Avishka Fernando returned to the T20 side after missing out on the past two series because of failed fitness tests. He didn’t get going here, but he certainly is the most exuberant batter in the line-up on his day.
Gunathilaka showed both range and the intent to utilise his repertoire of shots during his short stay at the crease. But he perished on 19 to a tame dismissal where he tried to dismiss the bowler over the keeper’s head.
The England side was willing to explore attacking shots just as much, perhaps with the intention of catching the Euros after an early finish. But there are two differentiating factors between the world’s best T20 batters and Sri Lanka’s talented strokemakers:
(1) the former have developed the muscle memory they need to execute their shots better, with a better temperament, and;
(2) Even if one batter fails in their line-up, the law of probabilities demands someone else in the side steps up for them.
There is no replacement player the Sri Lankan selectors can find who has both their faith and the experience required to be a team player because almost no one has stepped up to the mantle so far. They must develop a unit of eleven players who fulfil this criterion before the WC if they’re to make it anywhere beyond the group stage of the tournament.
The road ahead
Both the teams have been walking on divergent paths for the better half of the past decade. But as the old saying goes, all roads lead to the same destination in the end – the Australian summer for a pandemic-era T20 World Cup.
If yesterday’s match was any indication, this entire series is going to be used by England for fine-tuning their eleven, while Sri Lanka spends the same time agonising over any eleven. The disparity between the two sides may be reduced by the concise nature of the format, but it’s hard to see the remaining two T20s getting beyond the stage of being mildly competitive.
England has as many additional white-ball resources as they lack red-ball resources: a lot hinges on their campaign Down Under, then. Kusal Perera has a different task on his mind – unless his team performs extraordinarily well, he’s probably going to get sacked.
The two different mindsets of the captains in this series speak a lot about where they’ve come from, and where they’re headed next. The World Cup might be the final hurrah for Morgan at a major tournament. He’s the captain who ushered in an era of dominance for England in white-ball cricket and would want another trophy and a feather on his cap before he hangs up his boots.
Perera, on the other hand, will be hoping for a fast-tracked recovery of his precociously talented side before he gets the boot.
There are still 2 more T20Is and Sri Lanka won't get much of a time to recover with the 2nd T20I scheduled without any day's gap but they would be hoping for a change in fortune and more responsibility from their batsman if they wish to turn things around.
