Sri Lanka v England 2011 - http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Alastair-Nathan-Cook-c42852 v Tillakaratne Dilshan - Two newly appointed ODI Captains
A leadership role in any field of life is a Herculean task. A leader not only has to preserve his position and prestige attached with it but also he is responsible for the conduct of his subordinates. The same goes with the game of cricket.
Captaincy in international cricket is an arduous job and successful skippers become legends.
Alastair Cook and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758 respectively, and are currently playing a One Day International (ODI) series on English soil.
Both cricketers have got their leadership slots recently and the ongoing series is their first international outing as captain.
Dilshan has replaced http://www.senore.com/Cricket/AJ-Strauss-c964, who gave up ODI captaincy in order to focus on Test cricket.
Dilshan’s ODI career is 7 years older than that of Cook. The Sri Lankan made his debut in the 50-over format on 11 December, 1999 while Cook played his maiden ODI on 28 June, 2006.
Due to a huge difference in career durations of the two, they vary from each other in terms of number of games, played so far.
Dilshan has 206 ODIs with 5469 runs to his credit while Cook has played just 29.
The one commonality between the two skippers is that they are both opening batsmen.
Despite a huge difference between the career records of the two, Cook and Dilshan match in terms of batting averages. The Englishman has a 35.51 ODI batting average while the Lankan possesses an average of 35.98, a very slight difference.
If both the captains are gauged in light of the stats of the current ODI series, it will not be hard to determine that Cook takes precedence over Dilshan.
In the three ODI games played so far, Dilshan has made just 13 runs while Cook has scored 172 including a marvellous ton in the 3rd match of the series.
However, Sri Lanka lead the 5-match series 2-1.
Dilshan, who has made comeback in the series after missing the last game due to a thumb injury, seems to be somewhat out-of-form. He is unable to defend against the pacers of England on http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Green-c60723 wickets.
On the other hand, the Lankan skipper displayed excellent batting performances in the initial two Test matches during the tour. In the 1st Test at Cardiff, he made a 50 and in the 2nd 5-day game at Lord’s, he scored 193 in the first innings.
Cook also delivered extra-ordinarily well in all three Test matches. He scored 133 in the 1st Test, 202 in the 2nd and 55 in an innings of the 3rd game.
All the above-mentioned stats give 26-year old Cook an edge over 34-year old Dilshan.
Though Dilshan’s career is longer and stronger than that of Cook, the English captain leads his Lankan counterpart in recent averages and stats.
Cook is struggling hard to avert a possible defeat in the current series. The 4th ODI, that is going to be held tomorrow, July 6 at Nottingham, is a make-or-break game for him.
In the Sri Lanka camp, Dilshan seems to be cool and confident but not oblivious of the fact that the home team can turn the tide at any time.
Tags: