These comments coming on the eve of the first cricket Test against New Zealand starting at the R. Premadasa Stadium today, shows the gravity to which our bowling resources has plunged over the years.
``It is high time the Cricket Board concentrated on producing good decent tracks in our major domestic competition where the fast bowlers if they bend their backs will get something, the spinners if they are good, will turn the ball, and the batsmen will get lots of runs,'' said Ranatunga.
``On the pitches we get today, if you bowl three bad balls in a club match, you will get away. But if you do that in an international game on a good track, you will get massacred,'' said Ranatunga, who welcomed the move by the national selectors to blood young players.
Uncapped spinners Niroshan Bandaratilake and Malinga Bandara will join ace spinner Muthiah Muralitharan in forming the nucleus of Sri Lanka's attack against New Zealand which will be based on spin, with Pramodya Wickremasinghe being the only fast bowler in the side.
``People can criticise us for not winning matches. But to win matches we should have the bowlers. With our little resources we aren't doing badly,'' said Ranatunga and lamented at not having an Allan Donald, a Shaun Pollock, a Glenn McGrath or a Shane Warne in his side.
``Captains like Hansie Cronje and Mark Taylor have only to put the ball down and there are bowlers to pick it up and take a wicket for them. It is easy. I don't have that luxury, and neither did any of the Sri Lankan captains before me. Here we have a situation, where our key fast bowler Chaminda Vaas is injured, but we can't find a proper replacement for him,'' said Ranatunga.
In Vaas' absence Muralitharan will have to shoulder the extra burden as the main strike bowler. ``After Ajith de Silva, he is the best spin bowler we've had and its unfair to tax him so much. But that's the way it goes,'' said Ranatunga.
Sri Lanka will make use of home conditions to beat New Zealand. Ranatunga sees the oppressive heat and his spin attack coupled with the strong batting as the winning factors for his side.
Even New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming felt the effectiveness of the heat yesterday and commented that it was the hottest he experienced on the tour so far. ``We are going with no illusions of what we are up against. The next five days will prove that,'' he said.
New Zealand are likely to give a Test cap to 28-year-old off-spinner Paul Wiseman who bowled impressively in the first tour game taking five wickets.
The teams: SRI LANKA (from): A. Ranatunga (captain), S.T. Jayasuriya, M.S. Atapattu, D.P.M. Jayawardene, P.A. de Silva, R.S. Kaluwitharana, R.S. Kalpage, G.P. Wickremasinghe, M.R.C.N. Bandaratilake, M. Muralitharan, C.M. Bandara, S.A. Perera.
NEW ZEALAND (from): S.P. Fleming (captain), B.A. Young, M.J. Horne, N.J. Astle, C.D. McMillan, A.C. Parore, C.L. Cairns, C.Z. Harris, D.J. Nash, D.L. Vettori, P.J. Wiseman, S.B. Doull, M.W. Priest.
UMPIRES: K.T. Francis and R. Koertzen (South Africa), TV umpire: W.A.U. Wickremasinghe, Match Referee: Talat Ali (Pakistan).