Sri Lanka have won only five of 17 matches in the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Super League. A team that played two back-to-back finals in the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup ( 2007 & 2011) is struggling to compete in the limited-overs format. Since 2016, they have had a very low win percentage of 30%. Since the 2015 WC, Sri Lanka have played 26 series and only won six of them. In the 13 away series, they have lost 11, winning only against Scotland and Ireland. In this piece, we look at their batting and bowling stats as a team to analyze where the problem lies.
Batting
A 275-300 score is a normal par score in ODI’s these days on most grounds. The Sri Lankan top order (1 to 7) has not been consistent enough, which is one of the reasons for their issues in ODI cricket. Since 2016, their top order averages 31.03. The top five teams have a combined average of 42.14. It is a huge difference of more than 10 runs per batter, which affects the final score by a huge margin. The Sri Lankan batters strike at 83.92, and for the top five teams, it is at 93.2.
Usually, a big score is achieved when one or two batters score the majority of the runs with contributions form others. Lack of centuries from the batters is also a major concern as there have been only 22 centuries across 702 innings. Statistically, there is one hundred every 31 innings from Sri Lanka. West Indies, whose top order averages the same as Sri Lanka, too score one hundred every 21 innings. It is a clear case of not converting the starts.
Comparing these to the stats from 2001 to 2015, Sri Lanka had a century every 23.9 innings, and Australia, who were at their prime, scored a hundred every 22.1 innings. Now, the gap has not only increased, but it has doubled.
Bowling
With teams with more than 70 matches since 2016, Sri Lanka has the worst bowling average of 39.7. It is 31.27 for the top five teams, a difference of 8 runs per wicket. In short, Sri Lanka will concede approximately 50 runs more to pick up the top order of any opposition. To add to this problem of picking up wickets, even the economy rate of 5.63 is the highest for the Sri Lankan bowlers.
In this phase, four bowlers have picked up more than 50 wickets for Sri Lanka, but two of them have an economy of more than six runs per over. Comparing that to West Indies, as they too have a similar average of 39.69, they have three bowlers with more than 50 wickets and one bowler at 49 wickets. All of them have an economy of less than 5.75. Even the best performers from Sri Lanka are falling short, just not with the best in the business but with a team who are also struggling statistically.
The pandemic has surely forced countries to rest and rotate their players and their captains too. A prime example is Shikhar Dhawan captaining India in Sri Lanka. But Sri Lanka have had eight captains in the last four years. A regular captain ensures a certain style of play and encourages the team through his performances, which has not been the case with Sri Lanka.
Conclusion
Batters falling short on runs, not being able to convert their starts; the best bowlers not being economical enough; the absence of a constant personality who is a leader, are some of the major reasons for Sri Lanka’s decline in ODI cricket. Currently, in the series against Zimbabwe, they are tied at 1-1, with the final ODI being played on Friday. Sri Lanka need a strong domestic circuit where these issues are being addressed, but due to the pandemic, this will surely take time.