Bipin Dani
Five slip catches by Lahiru Thirimanne in England’s first innings of the recently concluded second Test in Galle equalled the Test record. It was the 13th such instance, but Thirimanne was the first to do it for Sri Lanka.
Interestingly, he is the first to take them all off the same bowler (Lasith Embuldeniya), confirms South Africa’s renowned cricket statistician Andrew Samson.
Lahiru’s fielding has been well appreciated by fielding coach Shane McDermott. Speaking exclusively over the telephone, he said, “Lahiru’s ability to lead by example in the field as a senior player is great and as the fielding coach, I have really enjoyed working closely with him”.
“It was great to see Thirimane be rewarded with both bat and in the field during this series. His attitude and effort during my time with the team over the last year has been awesome and I’m really happy to see him taking his opportunity as he deserves every success that comes his way”. “As a group, there will always be areas for improvement but we pride ourselves on excelling in all aspects of our fielding and are committed to being better daily”, he added further.
“Obviously it has been a tough year with minimal time together but we are extremely excited about having international cricket back in Sri Lanka and are looking forward to the challenges ahead”, he signed off. . One week break Members of the losing Sri Lankan team left Galle on Monday, a day before the scheduled last day of the Test, it is learnt here.
Players are given a one week break and then will start training in Colombo in groups, it is learnt here.
The coach and the team members thanked the outgoing manager Ashantha de Mel and the team doctor Daminda Attanayake for the services they rendered.
