Hayden, Gilchrist did it too during our time: Jayasuriya reflects on Bazball

“This is something similar to what we have had in the past,” is how Sri Lanka’s current head coach and the former skipper Sanath Jayasuriya described England’s aggressive brand of batting described as Bazball.

Speaking to ESPNCricinfo ahead of Sri Lanka’s three-match Test series against England starting on August 21, the left-hander said, “You get various styles depending on the time. Matthew Hayden and Adam Gilchrist did it, too, during our time. There has just been some media publicity that this is something new."

“They try to play attacking cricket from the outset, but the end goal is to get to those totals of 300 or 400,” Jayasuriya said, completely unperturbed about the hype around England’s new-found batting style. 

Jayasuriya assessed that England try to gain an upper hand in the first 10 overs with the bat. If the Sri Lankan bowlers can counter that by assessing the conditions quickly and nailing their lengths accordingly, they can keep the hosts in check. 

“If you look historically, they have been attacking in that first ten overs and getting runs on the board quickly. We have got some plans to counter that. And we know this is how they will play."

“We have to bowl in the right places, and if they hit the good balls, that's okay. We need to identify the right lengths given the conditions. There will be times when we need to cover the areas of the field where they are attacking to cut down the boundaries,” Jayasuriya answered.

The former captain also shed light on how the conditions can help the touring Lankan team playing in the late-English summer rather than the early part of it in June and July like their previous few tours. 

“The fact that we have got a late-summer tour is great because a lot of wickets have been used a lot, and there's more sunshine at this time of year. It's more similar to our conditions than the early summer tours. I have made sure the players know it's a great opportunity,” he assessed. 

Jayasuriya highlighted batting as Sri Lanka’s stronger suit for this series while being a bit circumspect but hopeful of a good showing by the bowling unit. The likes of Dimuth Karunaratne, Kusal Mendis, Angelo Mathews, Dhananjaya de Silva and Dinesh Chandimal have been playing together for a while and hold plenty of experience heading into these three Tests. 

Barring Mendis, the other four batters play only Test cricket, which could benefit Sri Lanka in terms of the foundation of their technique and hunger to perform in the limited opportunities they get. Jayasuriya, in fact, called it “an opportunity you will not get easily again.”

“We have an experienced batting order. Dimuth Karunaratne, Kusal Mendis, Angelo Mathews, Dhananjaya de Silva, Dinesh Chandimal - they have all played a lot of cricket. We have the personnel there, but we need to fight hard. If you play six or seven batters, only two or three will perform for sure. If they get a start, they need to play big innings. They know they have that responsibility on challenging wickets,” Jayasuriya explained his expectations from his batters. 

“I want to make sure there is that hunger. Playing three Tests like this, this is not an opportunity you will get easily again. So we have to take it while we can. Scoring runs here is challenging because even if the pitches are flat, the ball can still start swinging or seaming. We have to know how to adjust to that,” he added.

Karunaratne, Mathews and Chandimal have been a part of multiple Test tours of England. Mathews will be the key batter given his batting average of 47.9 in England. 

Jayasuriya says the team will bank on the limited experience of their seamers in bowling. Vishwa Fernando featured in three games for Yorkshire in the ongoing County Championship while Asitha Fernando has played two ODIs in England. Kasun Rajitha, Lahiru Kumara, Nisala Taraka and Milan Rathnayake are the other seamers with Sri Lanka in their 18-man squad.

“They [Sri Lankan pacers] have prepared well. Vishwa has played a lot of cricket, and the cricket he played in the last couple of months here in England would have been fantastic for him. He would have learned a lot and he will help the others with that. 

“Asitha Fernando has played here a bit too. Lahiru Kumara is coming here after an injury and has a little bit of rustiness about him, but if we get his rhythm right, we will be in great shape. Others like Kasun Rajitha and Nisala Tharaka are there too,” Jayasuriya spoke of Sri Lanka’s fast-bowling resources. 

Chris Silverwood refused to extend his contract as Sri Lanka’s head coach after the T20 World Cup. Jayasuriya, who had been working as a consultant for the High-Performance Centre since December 2023, stepped into the head coach’s role on an interim basis. He tasted success in his first series, clinching the ODI series 2-0 against India. This three-match Test series is his second and final series as the interim coach.

When asked about his future plans, Jayasuriya said he would be moving back to the High-Performance Centre as Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) has already started the process of recruiting a new head coach.

“Sri Lanka Cricket must be looking for a new coach. I think they have advertised and must be interviewing candidates now. I'm not involved in that process. I'm at the High-Performance Centre,” the 55-year-old said.

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