The Sri Lankan bowling spearhead Dilhara Fernando is eyeing his country’s Test series win against England as he bowls his team to a stunning win over England Lions at Derby, the tourists made a great comeback in their practice match after they were forced to follow-on.
Fernando was the wrecker-in-chief on the final day of the match and produced a stunning spell of fast bowling which saw him grab three wickets in six balls in the course of an 11-over spell in the second innings, which led his team to a morale boosting win over a shocked English second string team.
Fernando is set to take over the mantle of the leader of the bowling pack following the retirement ofChaminda Vaas and Lasith Malinga, he has thus far taken 90 wickets in 35 tests and although the tally is not impressive, the challenge of leading the attack is set to spur him to bigger deeds.
Fernando said while speaking to reporters, "I am extremely happy to be made the spearhead of the fast bowling attack. In the past few years I have not played consistently. If you analyse my matches properly I have played on an average one match per series."
Fernando was hailed as an out and out fast bowler when he first joined the Sri Lankan team in 2000. He made his debut against Pakistan and was left out of the team after a string of poor performances, since then, his career has been full of interruptions and the lanky pacer thinks that it has had a big impact on his wickets tally in all formats of the game.
"In the past two to three years I have not played matches continuously. If I play one match today the next match I get to play is in another one-and-a-half to two months. I didn't play a single match in the 2011 World Cup and in the past four months I have not played a single match. In the past 12 months I have played in only seven ODIs," he added.
Things are set to be different this time around though. The right-armer, who has one of the best slower balls in present day cricket, is the only fast bowler in the squad who has experienced in English conditions.
He has the experience of touring the country with the Sri Lankan team in 2002; he also had a stint withWorcestershire in the English County Championship in 2009.
The time is rife for him to make a big name for himself and silence his critics who have often lambasted him for his failure of making the most of the opportunities that have come his way.
0 comments:
Post a Comment