Kumar Sangakkara laments Sri Lanka’s ‘chaotic’ build-up to World Cup

London: Kumar Sangakkara hopes Sri Lanka can somehow overcome their “chaotic” build-up to the World Cup thanks to new captain Dimuth Karunaratne’s “lack of baggage”.

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The 1996 champions head into this year’s edition in England, which starts next week, having lost eight of their last nine one-day internationals – with the lone win in that run Tuesday’s rain-affected victory over Scotland, a non-Test nation who have not qualified for the World Cup.

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“It’s been quite chaotic, both in terms of continuity in selection and giving players a very good, consistent run in the team, which is essential for confidence,” former Sri Lanka captain Sangakkara said at Lord’s on Thursday.

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‘Change and churn’

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“If it’s a constant change and churn, where you’re always looking over your shoulder trying to safeguard your position, rather than trying to execute team strategy, I think that becomes a big problem,” added Sri Lanka great Sangakkara, a member of the sides beaten in the 2007 and 2011 World Cup finals by Australia and India respectively.

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Since the beginning of 2017, Sri Lanka have had six different captains, the most recent of whom is Test opener Karunaratne.

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A leading batsman in the five-day game, Karunaratne had not been part of Sri Lanka’s ODI set-up since the 2015 edition, largely because of his low scoring rate in white-ball cricket.

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“Dimuth Karunaratne is a very capable player, technically very sound, has been very successful in Test cricket over the last two years,” said Sangakkara himself an outstanding Test batsman – the 41-year-old scored over 12,000 runs at an average of nearly 58, including 38 hundreds in the format.

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“With two new balls (in use in ODIs), the ability of someone to anchor the innings, to bat through a long period, is going to be very important.”

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Sangakkara said Karunaratne’s lack of ODI cricket in recent years could yet be of benefit to Sri Lanka.

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“With Karunaratne coming in now as a fresh face and fresh captain, it could actually help the team.

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“He doesn’t come in with the baggage of being part of a set-up that for the last two-and-a-half years have had a lot of issues. He won’t have partisanship in terms of how he wants to play or who he wants in the side.”

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MCC president

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Sangakkara will become the first non-British president in the 232-year history of Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), the owners of Lord’s and the guardians of the sport’s laws, when his 12-month stint begins in October.

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By tradition, the MCC president nominates his successor.

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But Sangakkara, who will be an unusually young holder of the post, said he had no idea of what might happen when he met with current president Anthony Wreford, a businessman and cricket administrator, during England’s tour of Sri Lanka last year.

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“It is a great honour. I had dinner with Anthony during the England tour of Sri Lanka, I had no clue why,” recalled Sangakkara, who had previously served on MCC’s world cricket committee.

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“It was a lovely meal and a lovely conversation then in late January he called me and, in all secrecy, said ‘I would like to ask you something” and this is how this all came about.”