Sri Lanka was one of the most underrated teams of the ICC World Cup 2019. The 1996 World Cup champions lost their glamour and strength significantly for the past few years. They are still in a changing process and they still need more time to fill the gaps of several star players. Despite their low ambitions, they produced some memorable moments in the World Cup. Here is Sri Lanka ICC CWC Report 2019.

Sri Lanka ICC CWC Report 2019

Overview

Sri Lanka has gone into ICC Men’s World Cup 2019 with frustration and bad memories as they endured only bad memories for the past couple of years after the retirement of several star players. They still couldn’t fill the gaps of those star players. Their overall squad looked not glimmering like old times.

They had a new ODI captain with several new players on the field. They didn’t have also great expectations. But, with their limited resource, they managed to win three games, lost four and no result at two games. The winning vs England was such significant for them as it increased the fun of the semifinal battle significantly.

The senior players like Lasith Malinga, Angelo Mathews served good and new players like Avishka Fernando showed their deftness. Sri Lanka still has a long way to go to fill the vacuum of the old guards. At least, they showed their caliber that they are ready to go in foreseeable future.

Sri Lanka will face a tough challenge to replace talismanic seamer Malinga
Sri Lanka will face a tough challenge to replace talismanic seamer Malinga

Plus Point

Avishka Fernando’s performance was noteworthy in the campaign. The young lad proves he can guise Sri Lanka in the right path in the future. Lankan skipper Dimuth Karunaratne also showed courage and manifested his capability to lead a team.

Avishka Fernando shows he is ready for the future
Avishka Fernando shows he is ready for the future

The experienced players like Malinga and Mathews served great. Malinga already announced his retirement from international cricket. It will be a huge challenging for them to fill the gap of him. Mathews still has a few years left in his career. He could be a spirited figure for them in future days.

Improvement Sections

Batting

Sri Lanka badly needs a better middle order and a tailender batsman to sustain in a difficult period.

Bowling

The retirement of Malinga left a huge vacuum in Lankan squad. Sri Lanka must think about to sharpen their pace bowling without this talismanic seamer. Lankan bowlers acquired a combined 30 wickets in 219 overs, which is not a good thing and they should work to fix it quickly.

Rising Star

Although he didn’t feature regularly in Lankan squad, he showed his maturity when he gets chances. He made his World Cup debut against England and performed like a pro. The 21 years old young lad left a footprint with 49-runs. He followed it up by winning the Player of the Match award in just his third game, by scoring 104-runs, which helped Sri Lanka to progress a match-winning 338 vs West Windies. Fernando really showed utter prowess and proved he is ready to lead Sri Lanka’s future generation.

Batting Report of the PlayerName
Match Name I R BF S/R 4s 6s No
ENG Vs SL 27th Match 1 49 39 125.64  6  2  0
SL Vs SA 35th Match 1 30 29 103.45  4  0  0
SL Vs WI 39th Match 1 104 103 100.97  9  2  0
SL Vs IND 44th Match 1 20 21
95.24
  4  0  0

Note: I: Innings, R: Runs, BF: Balls Faced, S/R: Strike Rate, 4’s: No. of 4’s, 6’s: No. of 6’s, No: Not Outs

Results

Date Opponent Result
01 June New Zealand New Zealand won by 10 wickets
04 June Afghanistan Sri Lanka won by 34 runs (D-L Method)
07 June Pakistan Match abandoned due to rain
11 June Bangladesh Match abandoned due to rain
15 June Australia Australia won by 87 runs
21 June England Sri Lanka won by 20 runs
28 June South Africa South Africa won by nine wickets
01 July West Indies Sri Lanka won by 23 runs
06 July India India won by seven wickets

 

Sri Lanka needs some fresh talent to continue. Their pipeline gets drier at the past couple of years. They should bring some energetic players to revamp.