“Bassmen have to convert their scores into hundreds; 30 and 40 are not enough,” Jayasuriya said. “It’s tough for these wickets, but at least two batsmen have to score hundreds on a tour like this. We didn’t get that. All we got were two 80s. I think batsmen already know the value of hundreds on the road, then having recently played in a place like England, we miss it this time too.
“Although there was a lot of effort on the part of the senior hitters, I think if you evaluate them individually, you will realize that it was not enough.”
“Kamindu Mendis is a key player,” Jayasuriya said. “In every Test match he was almost in the runs, apart from this series. If you saw the way he batted in this series, it was still with a lot of confidence. Especially in his last innings, you saw that. You can.” A batsman cannot be expected to hit 50 or 100 every innings; That’s why you have six or seven hitters, he is a quality player. If you have deficiencies, work with the hitting coach to resolve them. outside.
“I know the rivals are quite worried, and South Africa too. Now they will have to work hard to counteract that. But I love seeing a player like him in the team: he scores in a run-a-ball, and plays positively. What What I’ve told everyone is to play your natural game and practice positive cricket.
On Gqeberha’s defeat itself, he felt that the match had been lost at key moments. The first of these was the second morning, in which South Africa had made 89 runs across their last two partnerships.
“In that first innings, after we got eight or nine wickets, we left them about 40 runs too much.
Another period was the third morning, in which Sri Lanka lost five wickets, having finished the previous day 116 runs behind and with seven wickets in hand.
“We couldn’t afford those wickets. We could have got a big lead in the first innings, and we let the game drag on a little bit that morning.”
And then on the fourth day, there were a couple of instances where Sri Lanka failed to convert their momentum into a definitive lead. They had had South Africa 282 for 8 at lunch, but allowed the number 9, 10 and 11 batsmen to smash 35 more runs. Later that day, they had also scored 117 for 3 before losing two quick wickets.
“Those extra 25-30 runs from their tail also hurt us in the second innings. In the second innings, when we gave two extra wickets in the afternoon session. If we had had the opportunity to go just three down today, that would have done a big difference for our batting unit. It’s in those little places where it got away from us.”
Andrew Fidel Fernando is a senior editor at ESPNcricinfo. @afidelf
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