Sri Lanka has a good batting lineup and they made massive total of 591 for six wickets in the first test played at Galle. This is a good move before the World Cup. A cricket expert pointed out the consistency of the batsmen is very important in any type of format test, ODI or the T-20 ‘ s.

Our batting lacks consistency and that’s a major issue. But even in the first innings our batsmen get a good total but in second innings they get bundled out cheaply. This has to be corrected very soon.

Sri Lanka have batting specialist coach Naveed Nawaz who is also the Assistant coach of the National team while Thilina Kandamby has been appointed as Assistant batting coach for white ball format while Avishka Gunawardena is the Assistant batting coach for red ball format.

Skipper Dimuth Karunaratne said the services of Avishka Gunawardena is very important for the batsmen and he is always very close to the players and his experience with the Sri Lanka A team and National Under 19 keeps him in good stead.

Sri Lanka test team couldn’t find permanent opening pair and skipper Dimuth Karunaratne has to bat with various partners Lahiru Thirimanne, Pathum Nissanka, Oshada Fernando and Nishan Madushka. Personally Karunaratne is happy the way he bats as an opener. He has shown consistency in his batting and he lays the foundation for the rest of the batsmen to prosper. We haven’t a permanent number three after Kumar Sangakkara ‘ s retirement. Sanga was the best number three after retirement of Aravinda de Silva but we are still to find a permanent number three. Lahiru Thirimanne, Oshada Fernando and Kusal Mendis,Pathum Nissanka did this part but Kusal Mendis is now settling in for this position.

Sadeera Samarawickrma, Dhananjaya de Silva and two experienced players Angelo Matthews and Dinesh Chandimal are our main batsmen of the test team while Chandimal as a middle order batsman has been successful with 14 centuries in his test career and six of them were among the runs at Galle. However most experienced Mathews couldn’t maintain consistent batting performance and that is a worry for Sri Lanka team.

The experienced players service is important but the way our youngsters are batting the selectors cannot neglect them for the National level.

Ireland team lacks experience in the test format but they can come up with more match experience. We have to give credit to Sri Lanka cricket for giving two tests for Ireland and that is the first time Ireland got a two test series. Don’t forget when Sri Lanka started their test journey most of the countries gave them only one test match on tours.

Sri Lanka has already recorded 99 test wins and if they win the second Ireland test at Galle it could be the 100th test victory for Sri Lanka.

Meanwhile Sri Lanka cricket has arranged Afghanistan ODI series and South African A team series in Sri Lanka next June- July before the world Cup and it is more important before the world cup qualifying round. Some people blame them for failing to qualify for the World Cup. Not only Sri Lanka but also defending World Cup champions West Indies also has to play qualifying round. That is the way of cricket and if they have to perform well in Zimbabwe.