SETTLING ON BATTING ORDER THE PRIORITY – ARTHUR

Consistency in batting positions will be the key priority for the national side going forward, Sri Lanka Head Coach Mickey Arthur said yesterday, as his team prepares for the limited-over series against England starting later this month.

- AMINDHA DE ALWIS

Arthur said a clear plan had been devised, in which a couple of the team’s traditionally top-order batsmen – which the team has a surfeit of – will be tasked with batting in the middle order and making those spots their own.

“We have got to settle down on a batting order as soon as we can. We cannot be jumping around having players bat in so many different positions because that just creates confusion,” Arthur said yesterday.

“I have got a clear plan on who is going to drop down to the middle. If you look at KJP (Kusal Perera), Danushka (Gunathilaka) and Avishka (Fernando) at one, two and three, that is pretty sound, but we need to drill down and get four, five and six, batting comfortably in their roles,” Arthur remarked.