Is Dimuth Karunaratne the man to provide some stability for Sri Lankan cricket?

[Hasan123]

As we know the Sri Lankan captaincy has been a revolving door recently. Always changing captaincy due to series defeats or off the field activity. This is not a way a international cricket team can be run. It does not provide any confidence or security to anyone in the dressing room.

Dimuth Karunaratne was made captain for South Africa vs Sri Lanka test series , he led the team well and helped win Sri Lanka's first ever test series in South Africa. He was then captain for the WC. His own individual performances were not bad and I think he did ok tactically for someone who doesn't have loads of experience.

Is Dimuth Karunaratne the man who can provide Sri Lankan cricket some much needed stability? Or will he shown the door quickly?

Personally I have a lot of respect for him. He is well respected . Makes the test and ODI team on merit. We have seen with his performances in tests that he has the desire to improve as he has improved a lot over the last few years. I think he should he persevered with .

How about you guys ?

 

[Hasan123]

Also sticking with 1 coach will help. So he can build a relationship with someone who can help him tactically and improve players which will help him win games. Be interesting to see what happens with Hathurusingha who is a very good coach.

 

[Realromeo]

What happened to Chandimal? I watched his Brilliant century at Lords(on tv) whe he was like 19 or something. Is he really worse than Dananajyaa De Silva or whatever ?

 

[Markhor]

Yes, Dimuth must be retained.

SLC are the root cause of Sri Lanka's problems. They are an inept and politicised body.

Sanga and Mahela recently produced a governance report with recommendations on how to improve the structure of Sri Lankan cricket, but the Board promptly threw it in the bin.

 

[Boi]

How is Hathurusingha a very good coach? What are his achievements?

 

[Hasan123]

How is Hathurusingha a very good coach? What are his achievements?

Well if you do your research you will see how influential he was in Bangladesh becoming what they are today.

Also he was the coach for Sri Lanka's historical test series win versus South Africa.

 

[Boi]

Well if you do your research you will see how influential he was in Bangladesh becoming what they are today.

Also he was the coach for Sri Lanka's historical test series win versus South Africa.

Bangladesh are at the same level they are today that they were back in 2014 when he took over. Don’t see what miracles he’s done.

I think Kusal Perera deserves more credit for the GOAT knock he played in that Test series than the coach.

 

[Hasan123]

Bangladesh are at the same level they are today that they were back in 2014 when he took over. Don’t see what miracles he’s done.

I think Kusal Perera deserves more credit for the GOAT knock he played in that Test series than the coach.

He was the coach for the series when they beat South Africa, India, and Pakistan. During his reign they showed real progress and that has now continued.

In 2014, no one believed Bangladesh could beat teams like Pakistan, South Africa, and New Zealand. Now people believe they can beat them.

Ask Bangladesh posters what he did for their cricket.

 

[Hasan123]

Another win as captain.

Leading from the front as well. He isn’t someone who has tons of experience as well. Just shows captaincy is not about experience and being tactical. There is a lot more to captaincy than that which I think most posters don’t understand.

Good to also see Sri Lanka being consistent in selection. Need to stick with Karunaratne now.

 

[MenInG]

Dimuth Karunaratne, the Sri Lanka captain, was thrilled to have contributed big fourth-innings runs to his team's victory against New Zealand at Galle.

Karunaratne's ninth Test hundred came 11 matches after his previous century. In that period, Karunaratne had eight fifties, so he was relieved to finally get to three figures.

"I had gone through quite a few games without a hundred, and I was telling the team that as well, that I haven't scored a hundred in a while, and that I've got to somehow do it in this game," he said on Sunday, 18 August, after his side's six-wicket win.

"I had that hunger. I try to go for those big scores as much as I can. When I get the opportunity, I really push for that. In the South Africa, New Zealand and Australia tours I couldn't quite get there, though I came close a few times. So when I got a chance here, in Sri Lanka, I made it happen.

"That's a great source of confidence for me, to hit a hundred on a tough wicket like this."

Where no team had successfully chased more than 99 at the ground, Sri Lanka had been set 268. Unperturbed, openers Karunaratne and Lahiru Thirimanne quickly put the hosts ahead with a 161-run stand for the first wicket. The captain said they had wanted to approach the chase with a positive mindset.

That's a great source of confidence for me, to hit a hundred on a tough wicket like this.

"We were watching the batsmen that did make runs, and we noted how they went about it. After the ball became a bit softer it became easier to bat, and then it was a case of using your feet to the spinners," he explained. "We knew that whoever got a start needed to go big. Both myself and Thirimanne were able to do that ... We set ourselves little targets and broke the chase down."

Hailing a "fantastic" hundred from his Sri Lankan counterpart, Kane Williamson, the New Zealand captain, said the Galle surface didn't give the spinners as much turn as expected. "We thought the wicket would deteriorate more than it did," he said.

Kane Williamson praised his bowlers' efforts

"It perhaps got slower. It wasn't turning a huge amount out of the rough. It didn't get more difficult to bat on. I think there was a little bit more bounce and the turn was a little bit quicker in the first innings. Though, saying that, it was a good batting surface as well.

"I thought our bowlers operated patiently for a long period of time. We probably even bowled better in the second innings, but without the edges going to hand, and those sorts of things, [breakthroughs were difficult]," he added.

https://www.icc-cricket.com/news/1317688

 

[Aman]

World class opener.

 

[MenInG]

Another Test 100 for Dimuth Karunaratne - vs Ireland in the first Test

 

[MenInG]

Test century No.16 for the Sri Lanka captain Karunaratne - No problems at all in tackling this Irish attack in the 2nd Test

 

[MenInG]

Sri Lankan skipper Dimuth Karunaratne compiled a century on day three in Galle to make his 16th Test hundred and second in the ongoing series against Ireland.

Karunaratne, who had made 179 in the first Test at the same venue last week, stitched a 228-run opening stand with Nishan Madushka and made his 16th Test hundred in the process.

The left-handed batter equalled the record for most Test hundreds as an opener among Sri Lankan players. He equalled Marvan Atapattu's record of 16 Test tons with this knock.

Besides Karunaratne and Atapattu, Sanath Jayasuriya (13 hundreds as opener) is the only Sri Lankan opener with more than ten Test hundreds.

Madushka, meanwhile, became the 19th Sri Lankan opener to notch up a Test hundred and is unbeaten on 149 when rain forced early stumps on day three.

Sri Lankan openers with most Test hundreds

Player Test hundreds as opener
Marvan Atapattu 16
Dimuth Karunaratne 16
Sanath Jayasuriya 13
Tillakaratne Dilshan 8
Michael Vandort 4

Karunaratne is Sri Lanka's fifth-highest run-getter in Test cricket with 6524 runs at an average of 41.29. No other Sri Lankan opener has more runs than him in the longest format of the game.

He was in good form in the ICC World Test Championship cycle for Sri Lanka, making 1054 runs at an average of 47.90 with two hundreds. He was the third-highest run-getter among openers in this cycle of the WTC. The skipper has carried that form into the bilateral series, making back-to-back Test hundreds.

At stumps on day three, Sri Lanka are trailing Ireland by 135 runs, but have lost just Karunaratne's wicket with Madushka unbeaten on 149 and Kusal Mendis (83*) closing in a Test hundred. Sri Lanka lead 1-0 in the two-match Test series.

ICC

 

[MenInG]

Maiden ODI 100 for Dimuth in their WC Qualifier game vs Ireland