Shane Watson and Tilakaratne Dilshan: who is the better opener? – ICC World Cup 2011
First impression is the last impression’ is a famous saying and when we consider the game of cricket the first impression of a batting side is embossed by the opening batsmen, upon the opposition, by posting a decent score. Opening is a specialised task
and the batsmen should be technically sound, with precision timing and shot selection.
If we take into account the modern day game, we will have to consider two veteran opening batsmen, Shane Watson of Australia and Tilakaratne Dilshan of Sri Lanka who can be classified as the best openers of modern times. These two batsmen have the ability
to launch an offensive against the opposition at will, swashbuckling the ball with sublime ease, something that is not commonly found in openers.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Rajasthan-c837 Royals,
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Tasmania-c854.
He is the finest all rounder in the Aussie camp, a regular opener who has won them quite a few matches single-handedly and a very important member of the squad in all three forms of cricket.
Watson played his first ODI match against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Africa-c757 on 24th of May, 2002 at Super Sport Park, Centurion, Australia. He has played 125 ODI matches and scored 3494 runs at an average of 41.59 with 5 centuries and 21 fifties. He has 128 ODI wickets
to his credit as well. His best inning so far is an unbeaten 161 against their arch rivals England in the first ODI of their last series against the Poms, where Australia overpowered the complacent Englishmen to post a 6-1 series win over England.
Watson looks in dangerous form in the current event and the rival teams including Sri Lanka will have to make a comprehensive strategy to tackle this particular player for he can be explosive on his day. He is an aggressive batsman with a plethora of shots
that he can play against all sorts of bowling attacks. His bowling can come in quite handy as well to take the odd dismissals. Especially on a slower track, he can be quite a threat to the opponents.
Tilakaratne Dilshan was born on 14th October, 1976 at Kulatra. He is an aggressive right-handed batsman, right-arm off break bowler and an occasional wicket keeper as well. He has played for Sri Lanka, Bloomfield Cricket and Athletics Club, Basnahira
South, Kalutara Town Club, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Northern-Districts-c825, Singha Sports Club and Sebastianites Cricket and Athletic Club.
He is a very attacking batsman especially in the shorter versions of the game and a very difficult customer to handle in the opening overs. Once he comes in to bat, he mesmerises crowd with his prolific hitting.
He made his debut in ODI cricket on 11th December, 1999 against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Zimbabwe-c3045 at Queens Sports Club, Bulawayo and has appeared in 196 matches. He has scored 5047 runs at an average of 35.29 runs, the best of 160 with 8 hundreds and 21 fifties. He has
taken 54 wickets at an average of 44.31 runs with the best of 4/29 runs.
Dilshan has scored 50 runs in the first match against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 in the second match of the ICC World Cup 2011. The Sri Lankan team believes he can play many impressive innings for them against Australia and in the rest of the tournament
to put them on top of the table.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/March-c74391 at Colombo. Australia has won their initial two matches and will be working hard to win that match and consolidate their position for the
quarter finals. The Sri Lankan team has won the first match and lost the other. They would have to give in a good performance against Australia if they want to have a chance to make it to the quarterfinal stage of the mega event.
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