So much for my hopes of a good contest- Australia thrashed Sri Lanka by an innings and 40 runs. (scorecard) What went wrong?
Well, while there’s been a lot written about the Australian performance, I think the finger needs to be pointed at the Sri Lankans. They made every mistake in the book, and invented a few more.
Errors in team selection. Check.
Wrong call at the toss. Check.
Dropped catches. Check.
Players underperforming when they were needed. Check.
I must confess to some surprise though when Marvin Atapattu came out with an extraordinary attack on the Sri Lankan selectors, characterising them as ‘muppets’ in an interview after the third day’s play. That sort of mistake was one that was out of the book. It’s going to be interesting to see if he’s permitted to continue with the tour. One batsman has to make way for the return of Sangakkara, after all.
But questions have to be asked of the Sri Lankan bowling line up too. It was generally thought by Australian pundits in the prelude to this series that this was the best Sri Lankan attack that we’d ever seen in this country, but they conceded 551 for 4 at a rate of knots. Had Ponting not been in a hurry to get at the Sri Lankan batsmen, 700 might not have been out of the question. What might have happened if only Malinga had got a game? As it was, none of the Sri Lankan bowlers made much of an impression- of the four wickets to fall, only Ponting was actually beaten by the bowler- Jaques, Hayden and Hussey got out through poor shot selection.
And Muralithiran? Well 2 for 170 was a pretty fair reflection of how he bowled. He did bowl a good spell after tea on the first day but apart from that stint, he was pretty unthreatening, and he copped some hammer from Ponting and Clarke. It is worth pointing out that for all his success, he doesn’t have much of a record against Australia, and also worth noting that finger spinners rarely do well here. You have to go back to the days of Phil Edmonds and John Emburey to find finger spinners that have had success in Australia. Bearing that in mind, perhaps expectations should be lowered a bit.
The Sri Lankan batting was somewhat disappointing too. Only somewhat though, because they were under constant pressure, first from the scoreboard, and second by the Australian attack. It was easy for the Australian batsman as they were fed a steady diet of pies, but Sri Lanka’s batsmen had to take risks to score runs, and except during the Vandort/Jayawardene partnership in the second innings, no batsman looked secure. Of the Australian bowlers, Lee gave his best performance in a long time, Macgill was probing, Stuart Clark continued his McGrath impersonation, and Johnson showed enough to suggest he has what it takes at Test level.
Can Sri Lanka regroup in time to make things a bit more even for the Second Test? They have the players to do so, but it must be hard. The Hobart wicket isn’t the sort of wicket that bowlers who are low on confidence are likely to take wickets on. Australia’s bowlers on the other hand, will fancy their chances. But I still think that the margin in this Test isn’t a true reflection in the gap between the teams. Here’s hoping for a closer match starting on Friday.
yes, Scott, let’s wait for the second test before burying Sri Lanka! With Malinga back in and hopefully Sangakarra, things will be quite different. Australia have got the edge now that the first post-W&M test has been won by them, but that doesn’t mean its plain sailing from here on. Now that the tourists have had a solid match they will be more settled.
One of the biggest problems is that they are not here long enough to build anything – should have had more warm-up and should be playing more tests.
And to be fair, Ponting was going to bat first at the Gabba too.
Steve, that Ponting was going to bat first only magnifies the Shree mistake; both highlighting Jaya’s wrong decision and taking the pressure off Ponting because he didn’t have to make one. All Straya had to do was get through the early going and they were set.
He did? When I saw the toss, he said he wasn’t sure what he would have done. More likely he was playing his cards close to his chest. I don’t think he’s opted to bowl first since Edgbaston, and given what happened there, he’d be reluctant to ever do it again.
I heard him say it on the Grandstand ABC interview with him, possibly post-toss, possibly post-day 1 – I can’t remember now but he definitely said it. though I don’t know if it was just captain talk. As you say, post-Edgbaston, he’ll probably never bowl first again, if given the choice. though didn’t he choose to bowl first in india recently? The onedayers are always a blur in retrospect.
It seems the visitors are really up against in the first test these days (and see the result in SA). Typically they have just arrived, may have played a few days knock about stuff and then go straight in. Then in 3 test series it’s difficult to come back.
Anybody fancing doing some analysis of the outcome of the first test in recent years?
I don’t think Malinga would have made much difference in the match. He really relies on late swing, and there wasn’t much of that around for the entire test. And when a bowler who pitches it up like he likes to, and doesn’t get swing, at his pace is likely to go for a few.
May be not for that pitch but I expect Hobart may provide something but Malinga does have that psychological factor that I don’t think any one else in the Sri Lankan team, even Murali, has – “the wild thing” factor as Kerry O’Keefe calls him. If they don’t play him, I won’t be so interested to watch, anyway.
Yeah you’re right Steve, he does have something of an x-factor. I find it amazing that he can land the ball on the pitch when he swings his arm as wide as he does.
Well the muppets have struck again!! How could they leave Vass out of this game. And which muppet is Maharoof related to. He is in his 20th test and has 24 wickets at 60! And cant bat. Fernando was not impressive in Brisbane so how they could leave out Vass with his experience is beyond me. The only way Australia wont crush them again is the wicket is so flat that getting 20 wickets is going to be hard work for any attack. Malinga and Vass should have played in both tests and Maharoof and Fernando can toss a coin for the third seamer position. I think i have spelled Vass name wrong -but at least i have put him on the team sheet, which is more than the muppets and joker could manage. The guy has carried Sri Lankas opening attack for years and on the eve of his 100th game he is dropped for a pair of dropkicks. The muppets and joker should resign. By the way i am not a Sri Lankan , in fact i am an Aussie who knows his cricket and also knows when stupidity has occurred. WEll done Sri Lankan selectors, you have just lost another test before a ball was bowled.
To be fair, I think Maharoof bowled pretty well without much luck. But you’re right- leaving out a guy with 300 Test wickets for a guy that goes at 5 an over is unjustifiable.
I keep hearing reports that Vaas was unfit to take the field today. I can only hope that it’s true. Malinga was certainly fully fit for the first test – not to mention, he was after a match where he almost got a hat trick – so I wouldn’t put it past the current bunch of selectors – sorry, muppets – to rest Vaas for Mahroof/Fernando.
To be fair, Fernando, I think, is actually in relatively good form. I say that because he is actually landing the ball on relatively good areas 90% of the time while not overstepping. To watch Dilhara in bad form is an experience in itself.
The high we experienced as a team – and I daresay as a nation – seven months back is slowly fading away. I have this sick feeling that something is wrong with the team. They look distracted as a collective and Mahela is starting to be just as defensive in his field placing in test matches as his predecessors were.
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