Have to play catch up cricket admits Geoff Marsh – Cricket News Update
Despite trailing South Africa by 431 runs, Sri Lankan head coach his hopeful over his team’s fate in the deciding third and final Test but admitted that they will have to play catch up cricket.
While the last few months of 2011 saw bowlers dominating, the turn of the year has seen batsmen amass plenty of runs, which was again evident in the clash between the Proteas and the Lankan lions, where Jacques Kallis scored a sublime double hundred, coupled by centuries from Alviro Petersen and AB de Villiers, which put the hosts in prime position on stumps at Day 2.
Their 580 in the first innings was marked by a strong reply from the tourists, which ended the day on 149 for 2, with Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene occupying the crease on 35 and 7 respectively.
Despite the reliable duo on the crease, Marsh admitted that his bowlers gave away too many runs and will have to been methodical in their approach in the series decider.
“We have to play catch up cricket now," said Marsh. "But if we manage to avoid the follow-on then that will open the game up a little bit."
Their first target arguably remains avoiding a follow on, for which they need another 232 runs. They were put on course by a characteristically aggressive knock form skipper, Tillakaratne Dilshan, who made a fluent 78 before falling in the closing stages of Day 2.
He however, provided the team a great platform where to build from and although the head coach was disappointed at losing their influential skipper, he is still optimistic about his team’s chances by claiming that they have enough talent in the batting department which can counter the threat of the Proteas’ pace attack.
“If we bat well, we are capable of making big scores," said Marsh. "We've got some very good Test cricketers with some very good averages and we would expect what we were doing to back that up. In previous years sub-continent sides have struggled with the bounce in South Africa but they have all improved the way they've played the pace and bounce. And I think Sri Lanka have improved the most."
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