14 SportS
Saturday, 1 February, 2014
Exciting timE TO WORK WITH SL: FARBRACE O SportS deSk
NLy four players remain from the Test XI Paul Farbrace oversaw in his last series as assistant coach with Sri Lanka. In August 2009, Muttiah Muralitharan still led the attack, Rangana Herath was still making his comeback into international cricket, and Thilan Thushara was the brightest pace-bowling hope. Four-and-a-half years and four captains later, the makings of a competitive pace battery is emerging, the top order is hinting at regeneration and the team has moved beyond Murali's shadow. It is an exciting time to come aboard, Farbrace said, as he settles into the task of completing Sri Lanka's transition successfully. "It's really encouraging to see new players coming through," he said. "Suranga Lakmal was starting to get involved when I was here last time. I'm really pleased to see how he has developed. Shaminda Eranga is fantastic - he really does look a quality bowler. Nuwan Pradeep was someone who was around when I was here and he was working hard on his game then. To see those three guys, with Vishwa Fernando as well, you've got some very talented youngish fast bowlers. Not a lot of experience in terms of international cricket, but it's quite exciting to see there's some pace bowling coming through.
"From a batting point of view, Kithuruwan Vithanage played very well for his hundred in Dhaka - I really like the look of him. Kaushal Silva was someone who was scoring lots and lots of first-class runs. He was playing for the A team last time he was here. I worked with him on his keeping, so I know him pretty well. It's really nice to see the likes of him getting the opportunity to play the longer form, just on the back of his performance and hard work. Everyone was delighted when he got his hundred. Dimuth Karunaratne looks a good player. He's played nicely and is due a good score pretty soon, because he does the hard work and gets in. Right the way through, there's a lot of talent." Farbrace joins the team with several major challenges looming. Beyond the ongoing series, two major limited-overs tournaments are on the horizon, in Bangladesh, before a full tour of England. Sri Lanka's Twenty20 form has been satisfying, but their ODI returns have been less convincing. Their last series was a 3-2 loss against Pakistan. "Our first big thing is obviously the Asia Cup - we want to compete and do well in that. Next is the World Twenty20, which is a format in which Sri Lanka are the No. 1 team in the world, and that's because they've earned the right to be the top team in 20-overs cricket. We are going into that competition full of confidence. We've got four games at Chittagong, and Chittagong conditions will hopefully be advan-
SERBIA DAVIS CUP CAPTAIN DEFENDS ABSENT DJOKOVIC
tageous for us. After this series our focus will be on those tournaments with a continual eye towards the World Cup in 2015. "The one-day games in England will also give us an idea of how and where we need to keep working for World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, because conditions will be quite similar. The key thing is we've got to find our best 15 players. We've got to know what combinations are going to work for us." Farbrace's contract began on January 1, and as former coach Graham Ford did not relinquish the senior team to him until the
tour of Pakistan ended on January 20, Farbrace had been working with coaches in Sri Lanka to reacclimatise himself with the system. He was complimentary about the coaching structure in place, as well as of assistant coach Marvan Atapattu, bowling coach Chaminda Vaas and fielding coach Ruwan Kalpage. "Marvan, Vaasy and Ruwan are all experienced people who have a lot of cricket knowledge and they've been great players for Sri Lanka. That's a big advantage for me, to tap into their knowledge and their skills. We've spent a lot of the last week
FLOWER'S ENGLAND TENURE OVER
DHONI BACKS FALTERING BATSMEN SportS deSk
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BELGRADE: Novak Djokovic has earned his right to miss Serbia's Davis Cup first round tie against a full-strength Switzerland, team coach Bogdan Obradovic said on Thursday. With world number two Djokovic resting in Serbia's skiing resort of Mount Kopaonik, the Swiss will be strong favourites to advance after former world number one Roger Federer joined Australian Open winner Stanislas Wawrinka as a surprise late inclusion. "Novak is exhausted and made it clear he needs to recuperate for what will be a gruelling season on the ATP Tour," Obradovic told a news conference after the draw pitted Federer against world number 268 Ilija Bozoljac in Friday's opening singles rubber. "He has played so many great matches for us, his priority this season is to recapture the number one spot on the ATP tour (from Rafa Nadal) and our fans need to understand that he is still a part of this team." With Janko Tipsarevic sidelined with a long-term heel injury and Viktor Troicki suspended after missing a blood test last April, 2010 winners Serbia require what would amount to one of the biggest shocks in Davis Cup history to eliminate the Swiss. Federer said he would have liked Djokovic to join the party but also made it clear Switzerland were looking forward to the prospect of taking full advantage of his absence. "We were all hoping Djokovic would be here but we understand that he has good reasons not to be and we all know how much he has done for his country," said Federer, who often skips Davis Cup ties himself due to the competition's scheduling. "It would have been more exciting and more difficult for us but what we have to do now is take this opportunity to try to win the tie." Asked whether he plotted a late arrival in Serbia to outwit Djokovic, many of whose fans had hoped the world number two would have a last-minute change of heart and turn up to boost Serbia's chances, Federer said: "The press hypes a lot of things up because they want top players to hate each other, but my relationship with Novak is good. "We've had a tough and fierce rivalry at times but away from the court we are friendly and do a lot of things together, like charity." Wawrinka, who showed few signs of jet-lag and fatigue in Thursday's practice with Federer after a long-haul flight from Melbourne, was excited ahead of his clash with Dusan Lajovic on Friday. "I feel great after winning a grand slam during two fantastic weeks in Australia," he said. "It's going to be tough to play straight after those exertions but I am enjoying the moment." AGENCIES
talking about players and the way we're moving forward." "The great thing about Vaasy is that Vaasy played a lot of Test matches. The fast bowlers get to travel with Vaasy, spend time Vaasy, pick his brains and talk about the game. Vaasy is not going to be making technical changes during a Test match, but he's able to talk them through the passage of play in games. How a game develops, how you bowl at different phases in the game, and how you bowl at different batsmen. It's fantastic that they can get that out of Vaasy, and he's very giving of his knowledge."
Andy Flower is to leave his position as England team director after five years in the job. England suffered a 5-0 whitewashing in Australia earlier this month, losing the Ashes in humiliating fashion, and Flower has now become the chief casualty. In a formal announcement released several hours after the story first broke, the ECB said that Flower had informed the ECB of his desire to stand down. He will not depart entirely, with the ECB keen to retain his services, most likely in a role at the National Performance Centre in Loughborough. Flower himself said in the aftermath of the Test series that he wanted to continue to oversee England's rebuilding - although it was evident from the outset that it would have to be on his own terms. In confirming his departure, Flower said that the team director should have responsibility across all formats, a challenge he felt was beyond him. Paul Downton, England's new managing director, said he was "very disappointed" by Flower's decision. As the defeats in Australia piled up, Flower had received emphatic expressions of support from both the ECB chairman, Giles Clarke, who pronounced that he would be in charge beyond the 2015 World Cup, and chief executive, David Collier, who insisted that England needed stability. Suggestions that Flower had been forced to stand down were denied by the ECB. Downton, who officially begins in the job on February 1, has been conducting a review of England's disastrous tour, which got worse on Friday with defeat in the T20 series. Downton said: "We respect his decision and the reasons for it but we are keen to keep Andy's experience and outstanding knowledge within the ECB. We are at advanced stages of negotiating a role for Andy within the ECB structure which will best utilise his undoubted skills." Flower, who took over in 2009, deserves to be recognised as one of England's most successful coaches, even if events in Australia suggested that his natural shelf life was coming to an end. He oversaw England's rise to the No. 1 ranking in all three formats, winning three consecutive Ashes series and the World Twenty20 during his time in charge. He returned to England after the Ashes and discussions about the way forward with Downton and Alastair Cook, the Test and one-day captain, had been expected to stretch well into February. Instead, an ECB announcement is expected imminently.
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The limited-overs coach, Ashley Giles, is currently in charge of the team and England do not play a Test series until June. Indications are that Giles will take on the added responsibility, at least in the short term, with a press conference scheduled for Saturday morning, Australia time. Flower had been due to travel to Sri Lanka and join the Lions tour, running an eye over the next generation of Test players, but that trip has now been cancelled. Reports of a rift with Kevin Pietersen - Flower denied having made an ultimatum about Pietersen's involvement in the team but pointedly did not give the player his backing - had clouded the end of a stormy tour of Australia, during which England's senior players collectively failed to live up to their billing. After the defeat in Melbourne, ESPNcricinfo's George Dobell, said it was time for Flower to go. However, Collier insisted in January, ahead of the fifth Test, that Flower retained the backing of the governing body until 2015. If Flower moved to the national academy, he would still remain in a senior position and would exert considerable influence over England's future success. He relinquished control of England's limitedovers teams at the start of 2013, due to the considerable demands of touring, and a full-time role in the UK would enable Flower to spend more time with his young family. As in 2006-07, a 5-0 Test defeat in Australia has precipitated a change in head coach. Flower, like Duncan Fletcher before him, ends on the lowest of notes but his reign will be remembered as one of the most successful in England's history.
MS Dhoni has indicated that India will keep the faith in their current group of limited-overs batsmen in whom they have "invested heavily." Dhoni said his batsmen were merely going through a poor phase and hoped they will be up to the challenge of coming out of it, after their failures on successive tours to South Africa and New Zealand. Only Virat Kohli and Dhoni were able to resist New Zealand, with Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane, Suresh Raina and Ambati Rayudu all yielding poor returns. "In international cricket you go through this phase," Dhoni said. "Once you make your debut at the international level, the first season you have a very good season. People start to plan about you. That's the time when the tug of war starts, where you try to solve the problems that are created by the opposition and the opposition will look to improve whatever their formula or plan is. So it is a constant tug of war. It has just started I believe." The last season was fantastic for us but now the opposition will have their plans for all the batsmen and they will keep working on their plans. It will be all about how quickly we adapt and what we need to do to get out of the questions that will be asked by the opposition. I think it is a phase that we are going through. But what will be crucial is what kind of solutions we have got. How we plan to get out of it. How individually we prepare for the challenges." After the series was lost in Hamilton, Dhoni had said he had little clarity on the fast bowlers he could take with him to the 2015 World Cup. He however stood by his batsmen on whom he said the team had already expended plenty of effort. "We have invested a lot. As I said after the first season, once you become a settled side the opposition start planning about each and every batsman and that has been the case all over the world. And this is a phase I feel they will all get out of, answering the fresh questions that are asked of them.