Wondering from your last game in Sharjah, there’s a cooler start that you guys could have been better off with an additional spin option because the two spinners that you used went for less runs compared to the pacers. What’s your thoughts on what’s been said?
MICKEY ARTHUR: That’s an interesting question. And that kind of interested us as well, because before — with all the games before it had actually been the pacers that had gone less than the spinners.
We did our planning around what we thought was our best attack. And clearly our two best spinners and what we thought two best pacers, by hitting a hard length would have a pretty good impact. And I still think that was the right way to go.
I don’t think we executed quite well enough with our seam bowlers, but our spinners were obviously amazing in that game.
Before the tournament, you emphasized that Kusal Perera, even if he’s 80 percent fit, that he’s still a match spinner. But throughout the tournament he’s only scored 94 runs in 7 innings. His keeping hasn’t been up to mark also. How disappointed are you with his contribution throughout the campaign? Do you think it has led to the reason why Sri Lanka is knocked out of the semifinals race?
MICKEY ARTHUR: No, certainly not. Kusal Janith has done everything right to get himself ready and prepared for the games. His preparation has been outstanding. He’s worked extremely hard. And it just hasn’t worked for him. And sometimes that happens. But I’m fully confident that he’s still one of our most dynamic short-form batsmen. When he’s on song, he’s a match winner for us. So there’s still one game to go. Let’s see what happens.
But, yeah, he’s disappointed, as we all are with his form so far. But it hasn’t been through any lack of trying. He’s worked extremely hard at his game.
To follow up on the Kusal question, opposition teams are bowling particularly finger spin, spinner balls of sorts to him at the top of the order. What do you think is going wrong for him right now? Are you able to dive in specifically a little bit?
MICKEY ARTHUR: I just thought it was his — he just needs to get going. I thought in the Australian game, I saw a tempo come back to his batting, a tempo that he normally bats with. I thought I saw that come back.
And all he needs is — form is such a fickle thing in this game. All he needs is to bat 20 balls. If he can bat 20 balls we know he’ll have about around 20 runs. And after that he will explode.
So I don’t think he’s out of form particularly with the bat. I think he just hasn’t got any tempo yet to his batting.
And tempo is such an important thing in Twenty20 batting. So I still back him 100 percent. So let’s hope that we know that he’s a match winner. So let’s just hope that he delivers for us at some point with the West Indies game.
When you came into the campaign, about eight or nine of your guys had played less than ten T20 internationals. Could you talk about the effort that you are putting to sort of get these players ready enough to compete in a World Cup? I know it’s a tough task. How did you sort of go about things and how pleased are you for the players so far in the campaign?
MICKEY ARTHUR: Look, I’m very, very proud of the way these guys have gone about it. I said before the campaign I thought Twenty20 was our worst format. We know we’re in a building phase as a cricket nation.
We’ve turned the corner. I certainly think our test team’s in a good place. I think our one-day team is getting there. Because it was the Twenty20 team that worried me a little bit.
I think myself, selection panel, coaches have identified some really good young players. And then I think we’ve trusted them to deliver. We’ve allowed them always talk about in coaching the roots to grow and wings to fly. I think we’ve allowed them wings to fly.
And we’re getting some very good performances out of them. But I have to reiterate time and time again just how proud I am of this group of guys, because the work they have put in has been second to none. The Sri Lankan nation can be incredibly proud of the attitude, the intensity and the work ethic of this group because they’ve been wonderful.
So we haven’t — we’ve shaken up the World Cup. I think we have. We’re not going to qualify this year. But Sri Lankan cricket is now in good hands.
We’ve got some very good young players who just need consistency in message. They need consistency in selection. And they need to be given a platform to go and play.
So I’m immensely proud of the efforts of the players, immensely proud of the efforts of the support staff who put in a massive amount of work with these players.
And I think we just — I’d like to say we’ve just planted the seeds because I think in a year or two time those seeds will start to turn into some pretty good flowers and Sri Lankan cricket is in a healthy state with this bunch of young players.
You have been an experienced campaigner of various different kinds of teams. What kind of difference do you find in the eastern teams especially with Sri Lanka, like do you find a real difference in your coaching career?
MICKEY ARTHUR: Look, every team I’ve coached has had subtle differences. And that’s what’s made my journey a very interesting and fulfilling one. These Sri Lankan boys are wonderful boys.
They’re disciplined. They train hard, these young players. I think we’ve developed a really good sound work ethic with them. I think they understand what the requirements are to play at this level. And they’re going to get their reward down the line.
But I’ve loved everything I’ve had to do with Sri Lanka. I love the people. I love the country. And for these young players, there’s a very bright future ahead of them. As I said so many times we’ve just got to be consistent with them and we’re going to get, hopefully we’ll get some consistent performances later down the line.
I know early on you said we have shaken up a bit during the World Cup. Can you just elaborate a little bit more on that? Because when we came in I don’t think anyone gave us a chance to come this far in the tournament. As we come for the business end of our campaign, can you just give us a brief on that?
MICKEY ARTHUR: I think we’ve shaken up teams. I think we’ve pushed teams — the disappointing thing for me is in every game we’ve played of the last three, whether it be Australia, be that South Africa and be that England, we’ve had opportunities to win the game.
And I continually stress with our boys that in any Twenty20 game there’s going to be an opportunity to win it. And if you’ve got the ball in the hand, you’ve got to have the bat in the hand, you’ve got to understand, you’ve got to identify that moment and then you’ve got to be ready for it.
And a couple of those moments have presented themselves and we just haven’t taken them.
But again, as I say, I can’t be more proud of this group because we’ve pushed England. We’ve pushed all the bigger nations.
For me to see how far we’ve come as a group, when I watch Pathum Nissanka, Charith Asalanka, Dushmantha Chameera, Wanindu Hasranga, Maheesh Theekshana, Dasun Shanaka, Chamika Karunaratne, you can name eight or nine players, when I watch them perform, I get immensely proud because I know how much they’ve put into it.
And for me as a coach, to guide these players, to perform on what has been the biggest stage has been a real honour.
And again I sit back and I look at what these guys are going to offer Sri Lankan cricket in the future. And I know that we are in very very good hands. And I’m really excited about what their future has in store for Sri Lankan cricket.
For the 2022 World Cup, the deadline for the qualification for the Super 12 and round one is November 15th. Considering that tomorrow’s game is vital for Sri Lanka to qualify into that top eight, how massive is tomorrow’s game considering that into the game and will there be any changes to the lineup?
MICKEY ARTHUR: Every game for us is so important. And I’ve stressed with the players, it’s now about us preparing physically and mentally.
The guys are absolutely shattered. They’ve given their all for this campaign.
We’ve been on the road for a long time. We’ve been in bubbles for, I think I worked it out, the last 11 months we’ve been in bubbles for about 240 days now.
And these guys are shattered mentally and physically. But they’re up for tomorrow because they want to end on a high.
As I’ve continually stressed with them, whatever we’ve done — yeah, we haven’t won games at this tournament, but we’ve pushed sides. Whatever we’ve done, we’re going to be judged in what we do in our last game.
Our mind, our preparation hasn’t changed. We’ve got all our bowling meetings, batting meetings and analytical work has all been done over the next, in the next couple of hours. And the guys — the guys are putting their mind to it for one last push because they want to end this World Cup on a massive high.
If there’s one kind of area this team you’d really like to see improve in this T20 team especially, I don’t know, which — what do they have to do, I guess, to make gains in that area? What would that be?
MICKEY ARTHUR: I think we’ve — I sit here really comfortable with our bowling structure, our bowling structure with our two pacers. And that can be a right-arm seamer, a left-arm quick. Dushmantha Chameera is world-class at the moment. I love our two mystery spinners. They give us mystique, if you like. And I think our fifth and sixth bowlers are adequate. So I’m comfortable with that.
Our batting is getting better and better all the time. And I guess for me it’s just striving to get that batting working as a real oiled machine.
Everybody’s got a clear role. And the young boys have really stood up and played exceptionally well in that. But when I watched England out in the field. And we fielded well at times.
And one of our goals and one of our ethos as a team is to become the best fielding team in the world. When I saw how England has been in that department and England has shown stability in the core group for a long period of time, that’s something that I’m striving for with the Sri Lankan side. I’m striving to create depth in our batting. I’m striving to create some depth in our bowling. As I say I think our format’s right. And we’ve just got to keep pushing the limits to our fielding.
We’re getting better all the time. But those are areas that we want to fine tune. To answer your question, I’m looking for that extra little bit of depth in every department.
And then we’ll start really challenging the good side. The key for me is consistency. So it’s consistency in the messaging. It’s consistency in the selection.
It’s consistency in terms of role clarity for our players and then you can build something that’s very good. I think with Sri Lankan cricket for years and I read your article. I thought your article was brilliant, by the way. It’s the inconsistencies that we’ve had as a playing nation that has led to the team kind of not achieving what it has.
I guess it’s led to people being a little bit insecure and not understanding their positions all the time. And then you get that little players playing for themselves a bit because they’re not scared if they fail once and get dropped, when do they come back to the team.
So I’m just striving for consistency in everything that we do. And that’s execution, messaging and selection. And then I think that we will go a long way with the resources that we have. Again, these guys have been brilliant.
What about the failure of Avishka Fernando at number four?
MICKEY ARTHUR: He played really well early on. He just, again, is a little bit like Kusal Janith, hasn’t got going in the competition itself. Avishka Fernando is a wonderful player. He’s a very good player in the white ball format at the moment. And it’s a pity, he just hasn’t got going. But again, I back him 100 percent and I’m sure there’s a big innings just around the corner from him.
Will he play tomorrow?
MICKEY ARTHUR: Yes, he’ll play tomorrow. Yes.
Wanindu just gone on to become world’s number one ranked bowling T20 cricket. That’s obviously taking the competition and most wickets this year. How happy are you for the contributions that he has made not with just the ball but with the bat, too, spinner, calls himself a batting all-arounder and bowling all-arounder. And if there’s any sort of improvements he can make to his game what would they be?
MICKEY ARTHUR: Look, he just excites me. Every time I see him with a ball or see him with a bat or in the field, he excites me as a cricketer. He’s a wonderful one.
I think I said, as you said right from the start, when I saw him for the first time. Again, we’ve just got to keep supporting him because he’s a wonderful, wonderful player at the moment. He’s riding a crest of a wave. He’s in good form. He’s a confident player. His confidence is sky high. And I just get really excited for what he’s going to achieve for Sri Lankan cricket down the line. He’s a wonderful player, but also it doesn’t happen by chance. He works unbelievably hard at his game and doesn’t leave anything to chance in terms of his preparation.
So I couldn’t be more happier with where he is at the moment. He’s a genuine world superstar at the moment.
Looking back when you think of the World Cup, is there anything that Sri Lanka could have done better in terms of preparation and in terms of selection regarding the World Cup?
MICKEY ARTHUR: No. Look, I think our preparation was superb. I think the Sri Lankan cricket board have been excellent with us. I think the tour to Oman was brilliant for us as a group. We got to playing in these conditions early. We got to training together early. We got to setting up our plans and structures early. We had a camp before we left we came to Oman. We were in red hot form through the qualifiers.
I honestly sit here and think it was the perfect preparation. I think selection, I think the selectors did a wonderful job. I think they certainly got the right players. We’ve built something for the future.
I guess the thing that I’ll always look back on this World Cup at is I know we’re a young team. But we had chances. We had opportunities. Certainly to beat South Africa. And we had an opportunity to certainly beat England.
And those missed opportunities, I think, are going to be the thing that holds me at the end of it when I look back. But again, as I’ve always said, I’m just immensely proud of this group of players and coaches who have worked incredibly hard as a unit for 250 days in the last 11 months in a bubble. They’ve been wonderful.