Sri Lanka’s Fast Bowling Coach Ryan van Niekerk
- “From my point of view, I’ve really asked the bowlers to stand up and create something”
Sri Lanka’s fast bowling coach Ryan van Niekerk described the spearhead of the Lankan bowling attack Asitha Fernando as a “diesel engine” after the bowler had put on another excellent display on the opening day of the second Test capturing 3 of the 5 Indian wickets to fall for 46 runs in 16 overs.
“I thought we fought really well today, fought hard. The fast bowlers kept running in. When you pick two fast bowlers, the expectation is that they’ve got to keep coming back in bowling spells and they had very clear plans that they were trying to execute,” said van Niekerk. “They bowled with great aggression. They kept their speeds up all day. So from our side, that wicket at the end of the day, was really valuable. I think Asitha sort of showed all the way through his spells that he could continue to sort of threaten and take wickets as the day went on.”
“I think Asitha is a bit like a diesel engine. The more he goes, the better he gets and the longer he goes. So from his point of view, it’s actually putting in the time of bowling a lot. He’s got an incredible skill set and amazing accuracy when he bowls. If we can get him bowling for long periods of time, that’s the key to sort of his success that I’ve seen in my time with him. In the West Indies, he had come off a knee injury that he was sort of sitting in a space where he hadn’t bowled a lot. Test cricket requires a big buildup. He had the one-day series which had two rained-off games and he wasn’t able to get a lot of those overs in. But since that West Indies series, he had a huge spell in that first Test and that second Test as well. The more he bowls, the better he gets. So from our point of view, it’s just managing his loads as well as possible and making sure that he gets enough bowling time in.”
“It takes a lot of mental fortitude from the bowlers to keep coming back with that same energy and creating opportunities. So in these conditions, I think we’ve created lots of opportunities for ourselves. It’s just making sure we can be clinical in finishing them off,” van Niekerk said.
“It’s hard Test cricket, isn’t it? When you’re coming up against a team like India, you can’t sit on the back foot and just bowl at them. From our side, it’s bringing the challenge all the time, trying to make sure we can create something. From my point of view, I’ve really asked the bowlers to stand up and create something. The verbals are probably an overflow of emotion. I’ll leave that to the match referee to deal with.” (ST)
