ACS Oveseas First-Class Annual 2013

Sri Lanka in 2012/13 Sri Lanka’s main priority, at Test level, was to arrest the alarming recent slump in their fortunes that had seen them slide, by the end of the 2011/12 season, from fourth place to sixth in the ICC rankings, only a whisker ahead of an improving West Indies side. Things began well with a narrow 1-0 win in a three-Test home series against Pakistan in the 2012 ‘off’ season. This was all the more welcome as representing Sri Lanka’s first series win since 2009, and they were strong favourites for their next Test engagement, also at home, against New Zealand. But in the event, the Tests were split 1-1, and Sri Lanka then went from bad to worse with an abject 3-0 defeat in Australia. There was scant consolation in a 1-0 home win at the end of the season against Bangladesh, and even these lowly opponents took 638 off Sri Lanka’s bowlers to secure a highly respectable draw in the first Test. Through all this inconsistency, the quality and reliability of one player stood out: the left-arm spinner H.M.R.K.B.Herath took wickets in good times and bad, home and away – even in the Australian rout, his figures were presentable. He ended the season with exactly 200 wickets from his 47 Tests, and at the age of 35 had established himself beyond question as one of the world’s foremost spin bowlers. It can hardly be doubted that the efforts of Sri Lanka’s players are undermined by deep-seated problems in the nation’s cricket, including an unwieldy domestic structure, a fractious and disunited administration, continual interference by politicians and the courts, and a chronic shortage of funds. During 2012/13 serious efforts were made to address at least some of these issues. Notably, the Premier Championship was restructured with a view to reducing the number of participating teams from the current 20, thereby (it is hoped) raising the standard of first-class competition. As a transitional measure, the Championship was restructured in 2012/13 into two roughly equal groups of ten teams each, rather than the top and bottom tiers of previous seasons. For 2012/13, the title would rest on a final between the top sides from each group; and the top seven from each group will contest a single 14-strong division in 2013/14, while the remaining sides will be relegated from first-class status. Meanwhile, the Inter-Provincial Tournament, which has not been contested since 2009/10, received its formal quietus. The Premier Championship, uniquely among the principal domestic competitions in Test nations, remains a three-day affair but despite this, and also notwithstanding some unusually high scoring, the 2012/13 season was remarkable for the high proportion of outright results. Part of the explanation is that the new structure resulted in more mismatches as the weaker teams were exposed to more formidable opponents. The game between Nondescripts and Kurunegala may serve as an example: Nondescripts not only won by an innings and 255, but compiled their own total of 560-7d at a blistering rate of virtually seven an over. This was one of seven matches (out of nine) lost by Kurunegala in Group B, while Lankan and Saracens fared even worse at the foot of Group A. Four sides – two in each group – managed to win as many as seven of their nine league matches, and the groups were headed by the two sides that benefited most from the extra points available for innings victories: Moors in Group A and Sinhalese in Group B. The record of Sinhalese was especially good, with four innings wins, and this fine season was rewarded by victory over Moors in the four-day final after a keen struggle that reflected great credit on both sides. Sinhalese could also boast one of the players of the domestic season in its wicketkeeper-batsman, J.K.Silva, who made 1,073 runs at 89.41 besides recording 25 dismissals. But it was another wicketkeeper, the 22-year-old M.D.K.J.Perera of Colts, that briefly seemed certain to claim the 511