Not even the gravity of the situation could knock the smiles off the Sri Lankan faces. Needing to win at least two — if not all three — of their remaining matches to make the finals of the tri-series, Mahela Jayawardene’s men went through an intense training session at the MCG on Thursday morning buoyant and upbeat, notwithstanding the fact that they bring up the rear of the table.
Defeat at the hands of Australia on Friday in game nine of a long drawn out competition that could so easily have been named the ‘try-series’ will all but knock the Lankans out, while victory will throw up no more than a temporary life-line. As such, the buoyancy in the Lankan camp becomes a little hard to explain, beyond the fact that the emerald islanders are essentially good-natured people blessed with the rare ability to stare adversity in the face and not flinch.
Friday is as good a time as any for the Lankans to showcase their propensity to bounce back. Very little has gone right for them in the triangular series in which Australia are practically through to the final, and India have put some distance between themselves and the 1996 World Cup champions. What has hurt the Lankans most is the repeated batting failures that now necessitates them to come up with a Herculean effort over the next week to merely earn the right to play the best-of-three finals.
Notable exception
With the notable exception of Kumar Sangakkara and, to a lesser extent their unflappable captain, Sri Lanka’s batting has floundered time and again. There was some excuse for their sub-par showing in the last match as they were on the wrong side of a couple of freakish run-out dismissals, but otherwise, the Lankans have paid a heavy price for an ultra-aggressive approach that was always bound to be counter-productive, given the quality of bowling dished out by both Australia and India.
For the first time in recent memory, a triangular series has been almost entirely dominated by the ball. Sri Lanka aren’t the only side to be beset with batting woes on good tracks, but so pronounced has been the inability of their top-order to get going that they possess the worst batting record of the three teams in the competition.
Perhaps, with elimination beckoning and against an Australian attack that will miss Brett Lee for a second game running, Sri Lanka will eventually hunt out their well-hidden batting shoes and come to the party. Their place in the finals secured, Australia chose to give their pace ace a second consecutive game off to recover from the gruelling workload in his first summer as the bowling spearhead.
In Adelaide last Sunday, Mitchell Johnson and company showed that there is more to Australia’s bowling than just Lee; saying that, Sanath Jayasuriya in particular will relish the opportunity to tee off against an attack missing the fastest bowler of the competition.
Sri Lanka are a totally different side when the veteran is firing at the top of the tree. One of Jayasuriya’s many gifts is the rapidity with which he transfers pressure on to the opposition. Australia’s bowlers have cracked under pressure in the past, so it is imperative that Sri Lanka get off to a good start.
Little fight
The Lankans are toying with the idea of dropping Tillakaratne Dilshan down to his favoured middle-order slot, and bringing in Dilruwan Perera as Jayasuriya’s third opening partner in six games. That has as much to do with Dilshan struggling at the top after a blazing opening in Canberra, and the middle-order showing little fight. Chamara Kapugedera could then miss out.
Ricky Ponting suggested that there was little chance of Adam Gilchrist missing out. The stumper suffered a painful blow to his left thumb whilst keeping on Sunday against India. No breaks have been discovered though in any case, Australia have the keeping base covered too with extra batsman Brad Haddin the automatic choice to succeed Gilchrist behind the stumps once the latter retires next month.
Australia’s batsmen have also found the going tough. Had it not been for their bowlers, the defending three-time World Cup winners will not be occupying the head of the table. With the finals beckoning, Ponting himself, Matthew Hayden, Andrew Symonds and Mike Hussey will all eye the three remaining games as opportunities to get among the runs to offset the possibility of a bad bowling day that inevitably has to be round the corner.
Teams (from): Australia: Ricky Ponting (capt), Matthew Hayden, Adam Gilchrist, Michael Clarke, Andrew Symonds, Mike Hussey, James Hopes, Brad Hogg, Nathan Bracken, Mitchell Johnson, Stuart Clark, Brad Haddin.
Sri Lanka: Mahela Jayawardene (capt), S Jayasuriya, D Perera, Kumar Sangakkara, Chamara Silva, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Farveez Maharoof, Chaminda Vaas, Lasith Malinga, Muttiah Muralitharan, Ishara Amerasinghe, Upul Tharanga, Chamara Kapugedera, Nuwan Kulasekara, Chanaka Welegedara.
Umpires: Rudi Koertzen (South Africa) and Simon Taufel. Third umpire: Bob Parry. Match referee: Jeff Crowe (New Zealand).