da prosport bet： We went into the Galle Test with a psychological edge and full ofconfidence
da dobrowin： Russel Arnold21-Aug-2001We went into the Galle Test with a psychological edge and full ofconfidence. We had just won the one-day series, knew that India werenot at full strength and also had the home advantage. We were stillwary though and aware that we needed to do the basics well.Russel ArnoldThat confidence wasn’t misplaced, however, as we outplayed them in alldepartments of the game. The bowlers made scoring very difficult andbowled plenty of wicket taking balls too, whilst Sanath (Jayasuriya)led from the front and Kumar (Sangakkara) played brilliantly with thebat.In the days leading up to the match there was some concern that theremay have been too much grass left on the wicket. We were prepared,though, having been practicing for the last two months on surfacesthat seamed all over the place. In the event there was not too muchsideways movement and batting, though not easy when the bowlers putthe ball in the right areas, was far from impossible.India started with a plan of survival and that negativity kept us inthe game, when we took only one wicket in the first two sessions. Wehad bowled adequately – though were guilty at times of dropping atouch short – but India never capitalised on their good start. In theevening we started to turn the screw, as “Dili” came to the party.I remember facing Dilhara (Fernando) when he came on to the scene acouple of years ago. He could be sharp, but also very wayward. When hetoured South Africa and New Zealand, we never knew whether he wasgoing to grab a wicket or bowl a ten-ball over.The management, however, knew a good thing when they saw one andpersevered. A softly spoken and unassuming man, he is a quick learnerand worked hard with fast bowling coach Rumesh Ratnayake andbiomechanical expert Terry Oliver. His improvement in just six monthsis quite astonishing. Nowadays he is far more accurate, consistentlyhits the seam, reverse swings the ball and has a very deceptive slowerball. He still has a lot to learn of course, but he is willing to dothat, which is tremendously encouraging.In fact, Dilhara is one of a small young group of Sri Lankan fastbowlers, who have the ability to bowl really quick. Prabath Nishanka,a tall right armer from Matara, has just returned from a knee injuryand he has been a real handful at the nets. Ishara Amarasinghe, ateammate from Nondescripts Cricket Club, is another speed merchant tolook out for.Having bowled India out we needed to make sure we batted well. Soundsobvious, but we did not want to have to score many in the fourthinnings. There was already plenty of rough by the end of the firstinnings and the ball would have turned square by day four and five.The pace and bounce would have also become more unpredictable.India didn’t do themselves any favours on the second day. They bowledpoorly and Sanath (Jayasuriya) was able to get after them. Kumar’s(Sangakkara) innings was also impressive, even if it was not asexplosive as Sanath’s. He had come into the match without much formand although he is a naturally confident player, his confidence haddropped. Normally a free flowing stroke maker he was workmanlike anddetermined on this occasion.With the middle order collapsing (I played a half hearted stroke. Withhindsight I should have been more positive and square cut the ballproperly), he retained his discipline and ensured that we were able toput the Indians under a lot of pressure in the second innings;pressure that eventually told, as India collapsed for the second timein the game.We now then go into the second Test in Kandy full of confidence. Indiawill be down after such a convincing defeat and we need to re-createthe pressure that we put them under in Galle. We know that we havelost two close encounters in Kandy in the last 12 months, but alsorecognise where we went wrong. In those two matches we were not strongenough at the crunch moments. This time we need to hang in there thewhole match and make sure we ram home the advantage that we created inGalle.
