Sri Lanka T20 team need fine-tuning, says coach Arthur

COLOMBO (Agencies): Sri Lanka’s Twenty20 squad needs some adjustments, said coach Mickey Arthur, who will be overseeing the team’s bid for a second 20-overs World Cup title later this year.

In home fixtures last month, Sri Lanka swept a three-match one-day series against West Indies but lost two Twenty20 Internationals.

“Our T20 side is still going to take some fine-tuning and this was amplified against a very strong West Indies team that simply had too much power for us,” Arthur said in a chat with Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) media unit.

“I think the most important thing is building a method to win games based on the resources that you have at your disposal and then making sure that the players are under no illusion as to what that method is based on our strengths,” he said.

The 2014 champions will be chasing their second 20-overs world title in Australia in October-November.

Since Arthur took over in December, Sri Lanka have lost a test series in Pakistan but prevailed in Zimbabwe earlier this year.

A sterner test had awaited them in a two-match home series against England, but that was cancelled last month owing to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It was really disappointing not playing the test series against England although this will be played at a later date,” said Arthur, who has also coached South Africa, Australia and Pakistan.

“We had just worked out a brand that we knew would be successful against all teams, and I just hope that the momentum that we had built up will not be lost with our test team when we start up again,” he said.

“We have some very realistic goals with our test team and believe that we have now the players and gameplans to have success both at home and abroad in the future.”