Vaas calls for more assistance for quicks

Cricket365
August 12, 2017

Sri Lanka bowling coach Chaminda Vaas has called on the country to produce more seam-friendly pitches at first class level.

Vaas feels that the game will not progress if the imbalance between spin and pace is not addressed.

Speaking after day one of the third Test against India he said: “We can’t be satisfied with the way first-class cricket is.

“We need to make first-class cricket work for fast bowlers. We talk a lot about what ails first-class cricket, but no matter how much we talk, the issue hasn’t moved forward.”

Pallekele is considered to be the home of seam in Sri Lanka and their frontline quicks Lahiru Kumara and Vishwa Fernando looked ordinary.

Fernando picked up one wicket while Lahiru ended wicketless with left-arm spinners Malinda Pushpakumara and Lakshan Sandakan bagging the other five India wickets to fall.

Vaas feels these bowlers need to have more experience of seaming conditions in order to better prepare them for Test cricket.

He said: “If we want to improve our cricket and increase the number of fast bowlers we have – if we want to do justice to our cricket – we need to make pitches that are suited to fast bowlers.

“They need to play more, I think.

“If you take our first-class cricket, they don’t have enough first-class experience to play well. If you take quicks from any country, they start bowling well after they have played 20-25 Tests only.

“We can’t suddenly expect a lot from Vishwa and Lahiru Kumara. It’s with their mindset that they can improve. They need to practice a lot and play a lot of games. With that match experience only they will develop.”

India reached 329/6 by the close of play on day one in Pallekele with Shikhar Dhawan hitting a century after Virat Kohli had won the toss and elected to bat.