Australia in Sri Lanka 2016

Australian XI
First Test

Warner
Burns
Khawaja
Smith
Voges
Marsh M
Nevill
Okeefe
Starc
Hazelwood
Lyon

Sri Lanka have not beaten Australia in Test cricket this century
Should be slow low pitches , that should suit the Lankans
Have they got enough talent to win this series ?

Think Australia should win this series. Sri Lanka has lost some all time great batsmen in the last couple of years like Sanga and Jayawardena? and there is nobody close to replace them. We do not struggle on SL pitches as we do on Indian or Pakistani pitches.

Looks like we play 2 spinners, 2 fast bowlers and an all-rounder. Wonder if Henriques will get a look in if M Marsh doesn't produce. MM looks good but needs a couple of game breaking performances to cement the all rounder spot.

M Marsh is probably the most vulnerable to lose a spot I reckon.
At test level, I really don't think he has set the world on fire yet.

If today's results are indicative we should be a pretty big chance.
SL out for 117. Oz 2-43 - still lots of work to do.

Batting patience is the key for mine.

wont it be a draw ?
even though Sri Lanka all out for 117 & Australia 2/66

apparently will be very wet

www.accuweather.com/en/lk/kandy/307303/daily-weather-forecast/307303

Yes there is wet weather forecast
Unitab does not seem to be perturbed though

Unitab odds after day 1
SL $15-00
AU $1-17
DR $6-50

Was following it during the day on Cricinfo and got home just in time to see the covers come on for the final time.
If they have afternoon rain every day so I can't watch any of it I will be mightily upset.

SL 117
AU 203
SL 353
AU 161

SL win by 106 runs
Bookmakers bet $12-00  pre-game
AU lose again on a low bouncing spinning overseas deck

Only 2 players got past 50 runs in a dig in this test

STEVE SMITH
Steve Smith 55 in Australias 2nd dig , top knock
Had a reasonable game , just failed to convert 2 good starts in this test to a BIG score

BALAPUWADUGE KUSAL GIMHAN MENDIS
Mendis 176 in SL 2nd dig, a tremendis dig, one of the best ever performances by a SL player
Only had a 53 as a highest test score b4 this test
Only ever made 1 first class ton of 108 b4 this test

RANGANA HERATH
Herath 4/49 + 5/54
Opened the bowling , great effort by this fast bowler
Well, fast because he bowls an over quickly
Arguably the best left arm spinner in the world

PATHTHAMPERUMA ARACHCHIGE DON LAKSHAN RANGIKA SANDAKAN
On debut and what a debut
Has a FC bowling average of 23.18 for his 155 wickets , and I can see how he got that impressive average
A Sri Lankan bowling Chinamans , and a fascinating bowler
Its Michael Bevan like bowling, but might end up much much better
Sandakan 4/58 + 3/59


NEVILL-OKEEFE PARTNERSHIP
4 runs off 178 balls
Of all Test partnerships that have lasted 100+ balls , this is reported to be the slowest of all time

Who knows what the record set by Australia in this test match was?

bayman wrote:Who knows what the record set by Australia in this test match was?

Longest partnership with no runs, lowest runs per ball for a partnership in test cricket.

That match went pear shaped very quickly, an embarrassing lack of skill at playing spin bowling on display.

UncleHuey wrote:

bayman wrote:Who knows what the record set by Australia in this test match was?

Longest partnership with no runs, lowest runs per ball for a partnership in test cricket.

That match went pear shaped very quickly, an embarrassing lack of skill at playing spin bowling on display.

well done, from memory it was a 154 ball partnership with no runs

It was the sort of enthralling cricket that only test matches can provide. Where every ball could decide the match and every ball they survived made the possibility of a draw more likely.

Ho hum.

Another test, another collapse.

Brittle is about all I can say about then mental state of our batsmen.

At home they dominate, overseas they struggle (apart from the West Indies who are obviously struggling at test level)

The media post-mortem will rightly conclude that this current Australian team is fallible against spin

Sri Lanka thorougly deserved the 3-0 white wash
Take the wins

However they did open the bowling in this series with a 38 year old spin bowler
If they do that in an Australian Test series they are likely to get beaten

I think that back to back series , 3 tests in each country , and then award a series winner might have to be considered in future
It would be nice to host the Lankys in Australia for 3 tests in October/November
Australia would start 0-3 down

Pretty ordinary display by our batsmen. Apart from S Marsh and Smith in the last test there is not to much to be proud of. Starc produced a great bowling performance.
Lyons bowled alright but never really looked like running though them. Surely we have a better spinner in Australia then Holland, he looked second rate. Zampa would have been a better option once O'Keefe went down.