The worst fielding side in Asia- Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka interim head coach Jerome Jayaratne has raised some serious questions regarding the team’s poor fielding standards. He went a step forward by saying that Sri Lanka is the worst fielding side in Asia.

“We are now the worst fielding side in Asia, we were never behind Pakistan but now we have gone behind them,” Jayaratne told The Nation. “India proved that they were better than us and even Bangladesh are fielding better than us.”

Jayaratne who was appointed as the makeshift coach, following Atapattu’s resignation was capacious of team’s performance in other departments too.  He further pointed out that the poor fitness level of players is the main reason for the team’s bad performance.

“Other than the bowling which is holding the team together, the batting, fielding and fitness has let us down,” Jayaratne said. “It’s a lot to do with the fitness levels. The way our guys are fielding they are carrying excess weight and we are in shambles.”

Sri Lanka Cricket has hired an English trainer, Michael Main for two years and Jayaratne was confident that his inclusion would bring good results.

“Michael gave us a mind blowing presentation and showed where we are and where we need to get to,” he said. “What he tried to do in the first three months is he didn’t try to turn things around but observed everything. Now he has decided how he is going to take this forward and at the presentation he was given a full green light to go ahead in whatever he wants to do.

“I have a very strong belief if we give Michael about four to six months he can turn things around. He has got the players to sign documents like signing a contract that they need to reach desired targets in particular time duration otherwise they are going to be in trouble.

“He has assessed them and given them time targets, some they cannot do before the West Indies series but definitely you can see the boys are working towards that. Everybody’s got individual programs and targets and they have taken it seriously.”

Jayaratne seems to be enjoying his responsibilities and is rightly pointing out the faults. Though he is appointed as stopgap coach, he is doing his level best to live upto the expectations of the Board.

“I was asked to stand in as stopgap coach for an interim period until they found a coach from overseas,” Jayaratne said. “I wouldn’t have said yes if I wasn’t up to it.”