Resurgent Australia eye series win (Preview)

Before the start of the test series, cricket pundits felt Sri Lankan spinners on their home turf will be very tough for Australian batsmen to counter. And, they backed their assertion by Australia’s poor record against top spinners of the world, of late. Despite not having legendary Muthaih Muralitharan in their ranks now, Sri Lanka still boast of a decent spin attack with likes of Ajantha Mendis and Rangana Herath very much capable of posing problems to any batting lineup.

First test into the series, fears have been reversed. Australian batsmen handled the home team spinners on a treacherous Galle pitch quite well. They demonstrated method, skills, and, more importantly, a better plan to counter spinners on a pitch that proved to be rank turner from the word go. On other hand, experienced Sri Lankan batting lineup struggled against offie Nathan Lyon to give debutant his first five-wicket haul in the first innings. Most of the Lankan batsmen couldn’t master Lyon and Australian seamers who were brilliant throughout the test match.

Australian triumph was combination of some terrific bowling performance and sensible batting. It was Lyon’s fifer well aided by Shane Watson that did in the home team in the first act, fast bowler Ryan Harris followed the suit in the second to script memorable Aussie win. Australian batting performance revolved around Michael Hussey’s magnificent 95 in the first innings and skipper Michael Clarke aggressive fifty in the second. Young Usman Khawaja and lower order added to the score in the second innings to give Sri Lanka a near impossible fourth innings target.

A decent performance was backed up by bowlers giving the visitors a vital lead of 1-0.  For Australia Galle victory was important in more than one way. It marked Clarke’s debut as full time test skipper, first match post disastrous home Ashes and win came on a pitch that was heavily loaded in home team’s favour.

With Galle pitch coming under lot of flak and ICC rating it as poor, the surface for the second test in Kandy starting on Thursday should be balanced one. The one that has something in bowlers and should also favour batsmen as well which wasn’t case at Galle.

The visitors will be happy with the way debutants Trent Copeland and Lyon performed. Copeland mightn’t have taken bagful of wickets but was steady. Watson also chipped in with wickets and so did Johnson. It was team performance that saw Aussies through.

Australia have been forced to make one change to its winning combination. Former Skipper Ricky Ponting has left for Australia to attend his wife expecting to give birth to a child in a day or two. Shaun Marsh, only reserve batsman in the squad, slots in Ponting’s place to make his long awaited test debut.

Clarke’s men will have sustaining winning momentum on their agenda and try to improve in the second test.

For Sri Lanka, Galle loss was mainly due to first innings batting failure. The home team capitulated for a paltry 105 against Lyon and Co. and Australia’s good batting in the second buried the Lankan chances. The batting failure was brought about some reckless shot making as well. Skipper Tilkerratne Dilshan succumbed to two poor shots in both the innings. Senior batsman Kumar Sangakarra couldn’t score big in either innings and Thilan Samaraweera and Prasana Jayawerdena flopped big time.

Only piece of substantial batting resistance came via Mahela Jayawerdena and all-rounder Angelo Mathews. The duo gave a solid exhibition of compact defensive technique in what was marathon stand between the two, Jayawerdena showed his class and experience to score a ton while Mathews gave yet another solid exhibition of himself but was unfortunate to miss out on his maiden test hundred.

Another positive that should please the hosts was the way lead spinner Herath bowled and their two fast bowlers. What crippled Lankans was the fact they didn’t play well as a team which their counterparts were so good at.

To be fair, Sri Lanka made a mistake in choosing their two spinners. They omitted mystery spinner Ajantha Mendis to favour offie Suraj Randiv who was far from impressive and leaked runs.

Even though majority of the batsmen failed to deliver, the team management is unlikely to tinker with them. Change is expected though in the spin department. In all likelihood, Mendis will be part of playing lineup in Randiv’s place.

The home team management would want Mahela and Mathews to emulate their batting efforts at Kandy and Sangakkara and others to forget the shoddy show at Galle. Dilshan needs to cut down on his aggressive intents and make sure he occupies crease for a long periods of time. That should set a tone for a better performance from rest of the batting order.

Sri Lanka Squad: Tillakaratne Dilshan (C), Tharanga Paranavitana, Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene, Thilan Samaraweera, Prasanna Jayawardene (wk), Angelo Mathews, Suraj Randiv, Suranga Lakmal, Chanaka Welegedara, Dhammika Prasad, Shaminda Eranga, Lahiru Thirimanne, Seekkuge Prasanna, Ajantha Mendis, Rangana Herath.

Australia (Playing XI): Shane Watson, Phillip Hughes, , Michael Clarke (C), Michael Hussey, Usman Khawaja, Shaun Marsh, Brad Haddin (wk), Mitchell Johnson, Ryan Harris, Trent Copeland, Nathan Lyon.