“I thought that if I didn’t do well in this series, maybe I wouldn’t be in the Test team anymore”
Image courtesy of: Zimbio
Sri Lanka pace bowler Suranga Lakmal has admitted that he had doubts about whether he would be able to keep hold of his place in the Test team if he failed to have an impact with the ball in the ongoing tour of South Africa.
In the first two Tests, however, Lakmal has been in red-hot form and has troubled the Proteas batsmen consistently. As a result, he has taken 12 wickets at an average of 24.08.
When asked about his performance thus far, the 29-year-old said: “I think this is my most successful series. I had a big challenge when I came here, because there was a little pressure from the selectors and the board. I’ve been in this team as the senior bowler for a while, and I don’t just want to live off that reputation.
“That’s not fair to the younger bowlers in Sri Lanka either. I thought that if I didn’t do well in this series, maybe I wouldn’t be in the Test team anymore.”
With 12 victims to his name already, Lakmal will definitely be on the hunt for more wickets in the third and final Test in Johannesburg. In fact, Lakmal will also have an eye on surpassing the record for the most wickets taken by a Sri Lankan pace bowler in a Test series away from home, which is currently held by Chaminda Vaas, who claimed 16 wickets in the two-Test tour of New Zealand in March 1995.
“As a goal I’d set myself 15 wickets in the series before I came here,” Lakmal said. “I told the coaches that as well, and thought I would have had a successful tour if I could achieve that. Now I’ve got 12 already, so I’ve raised my target to 18 or 20 wickets. Maybe it’s a bit of luck – but I’ve managed to do well so far.”
Coming into the tour of South Africa, Lakmal’s bowling average of 47.65 raised eyebrows for all the wrong reasons, what after his fortunes around in the first two Tests, one has to wonder what the secret behind his success has been.
“There is more support from these surfaces than in Sri Lanka, but also, I’m in good rhythm these days, and I made a small change to my action,” he said. “I watched a few of my old videos with the coach and analysed it in Sri Lanka. I practiced the change at home and when I came here, I found I could swing the ball more. That’s the difference.
“My arm had been coming round-arm a little earlier. I’ve worked on that and straightened it up now. The ball hits the seam more often now, and it can go either way from there.
“If you compare with Sri Lanka we also have to pitch it up about a foot further, because of the bounce. Once you do that, you give it more of a chance to swing as well, and the wickets come a bit easier.”
In addition to his stellar bowling performance thus far, Lakmal has also shown signs of being a sufficient tail-end batsman, especially after his knock of 19 not out, which came off 20 balls and included three boundaries, in the second innings of the first Test in Port Elizabeth.
According to Lakmal, Sri Lanka have begun focusing on ensuring their batting runs at deep as possible, which means that the tail-enders have to know how to hold their own, whether it be against a hostile pace attack or a difficult spin line-up.
“In Sri Lanka there’s a big challenge because in the media and everywhere, they say that in all the other countries, the last few batsmen score a few runs and it’s only in Sri Lanka that we don’t,” he said. “Our coaches also had a challenge there, because that was a criticism of them as well. Before we came to South Africa, we did additional sessions with the batting coaches and the bowling machine for 90 minutes or two hours. I think the improvement in my batting is a result of that.
“Hopefully that will improve over the years as well. We shouldn’t just be happy with 10 or 15 runs. If the last few batsmen can provide 100 or 150 runs together, the four of us can help the team out. Even if the top order is out cheaply, we can maybe still aim to get to 300.”