Will Clarke inspire Australia to a win in Sri Lanka?
Columnist By Kersi Meher-Homji, 30 Aug 2011 Kersi Meher-Homji is a Roar Expert
- Tagged:
- Cricket, Michael Beer, Michael Clarke, Nathan Lyon, Ricky Ponting, Trent Copeland
How the once mighty Australians have fallen in Test arena! They were on top of Test cricket for over a decade from mid-1990s to mid-2000s.
Now they have to win the Test series in Sri Lanka, starting tomorrow, to have a chance to wriggle back to the number four position in Test cricket.
How will they go?
The highlights of their only first-class match on the tour in Sri Lanka are centuries by skipper Michael Clarke and Usman Khawaja, the latter’s 153-run opening partnership with Phil Hughes (76), and a five-wicket haul by New South Wales fast bowler, Trent Copeland.
But the Sri Lanka Board XI had none of the stars, which make the country so strong. No Mahela Jayawardene, no Kumar Sangakkara, no Tillakaratne Dilshan, no Lasith Malinga.
Relieved of captaincy, Ricky Ponting batted with more composure in the one-day internationals against the 2011 World Cup finalist.
And the additional burden of captaincy seems to bring out the best from Michael Clarke.
Who will play for Australia in the Galle Test?
Shane Watson is a certainty and will open the batting with the talented but inconsistent Hughes.
Ponting will bat at three, followed by Clarke at four, and Michael Hussey at five.
The number six position will cause headaches for the selectors: will it be ‘Uzie’ Khawaja or Shaun Marsh? I would go for the younger Khawaja.
Brad Haddin will keep wickets and go in at number seven. He averages 39.68 with the bat and has hit three Test centuries with 169 as his highest.
Bowling is more problematic.
Although inconsistent, Mitchell Johnson would take the new ball.
A match-winner with his 155 kph pace, he can score brisk runs as well, with a Test century under his belt. But his waywardness in bowling creates problems. Ryan Harris will share the new ball with him.
Copeland deserves to make his Test debut after his fine showing against the Sri Lanka Board XI last week. All-rounder Watson will assist the quickies with his medium-pace and skipper Clarke with his left-arm spin.
Now only one place is left and must go to a spinner. But who will it be, Michael Beer or Nathan Lyon?
To quote skipper Clarke: “They are completely different bowlers. Nathan bowls with a lot more loop and Michael Beer bowls a bit faster and gets it into the wickets a lot faster.”
I leave the final choice to Clarkey. He may have to toss a coin to decide who to pick.
The Warne-Muralitharan Trophy is in balance. Sri Lanka has the home advantage and their spinners are superior to Australia’s.
This may swing the series as the Sri Lankan pitches have the reputation of being spinner-friendly.
But Australia’s record is superior to their opponents’ on Sri Lankan soil. They have won five of the 10 Tests played there and lost only one.
The big worry, however, is Australia’s poor form in 2011. Not one Australian is included in the ICC Test team of the Year.
Here is the XI in batting order which includes five Englishmen and four South Africans:
Alastair Cook (Eng), Hashim Amla (SAf), Jonathan Trott (Eng), Sachin Tendulkar (Ind), Kumar Sangakkara (SL), AB de Villiers (SAf), Jacques Kallis (SAf), Stuart Broad (Eng), Graeme Swann (Eng), Dale Steyn (SAf) and Jimmy Anderson (Eng). 12th man: Zaheer Khan (Ind).
Sangakkara will captain the side and keep wickets.
In my opinion, Watson and India’s Rahul Dravid were unlucky to miss out.
This is the lowest Australia has sunk in two decades. A win in the Test series in Sri Lanka may herald a new era in Australian cricket.
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- Explore:
- Cricket, Michael Beer, Michael Clarke, Nathan Lyon, Ricky Ponting, Trent Copeland
August 30th 2011 @ 5:42am
Lolly said | August 30th 2011 @ 5:42am | Report comment
Sri Lanka are hardly the most settled side and they have bigger background problems than Aus. It’s as good a time to play them as we’ll get. I suppose Clarke might give the new ball to Mitch, but I can’t see the point in that. It’s giving first blood to the other side more often than not. Give it to Copeland, at least you’d hope that he wouldn’t go around the park.
August 30th 2011 @ 5:43am
Viscount Crouchback said | August 30th 2011 @ 5:43am | Report comment
Sri Lanka’s form is difficult to read. They would probably have lost 3-0 rather than 1-0 in England but for the intervention of the rain in the 2nd and 3rd Tests, but their batting improved immensely after the 1st Test and they sold their wickets very dearly indeed. The bowling is obviously rather lacking without Murali and Vaas, but they still retain that wonderful knack of batting for long periods, so I think Australia will have to work very hard to take 20 wickets. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a couple of draws in this series, so perhaps the overall result might come down to who can strike like a cobra when a chance suddenly presents itself late on in one of the Tests. That’s often the way of it in the sub-continent.
August 30th 2011 @ 10:29am
sledgeross said | August 30th 2011 @ 10:29am | Report comment
In a word, no. Theere are problems if half the team dont rate you as skipper.
August 30th 2011 @ 11:48am
sheek said | August 30th 2011 @ 11:48am | Report comment
Hi Kersi,
Am struggling to get into the cricket. It will be interesting to see how the team goes under Clarke. He seems to have matured significantly, & is making all the right noises. Time will tell.
BTW, re your book. I can recall another instance where all 11 fielders bowled. It happened on Australia’s tour of Pakistan in 1980. Second test from memory, when Pakistan passed 600-odd runs for just two wickets down on a feather bed.
Even keeper Rod Marsh took off the gloves & pads to bowl 10-odd overs.
August 30th 2011 @ 12:23pm
Trajan said | August 30th 2011 @ 12:23pm | Report comment
The author went on about how the Board XI had some of their stars missing, which was argued as a reason as to why they are so strong.
Didn’t Australia also rest some big names from the tour match?
Looking forward to a cracker of a series. Does anyone know if Aunty is putting it on the radio?
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August 30th 2011 @ 1:23pm
Johnno said | August 30th 2011 @ 1:23pm | Report comment
No. And i wish the aussie public and media would stop calling him pup, he is a 30 yr old adult man you know. Call him a dog, but not a pup he is 30 everyone in Australia who doesn’t no.
August 30th 2011 @ 1:40pm
The Bush said | August 30th 2011 @ 1:40pm | Report comment
It’s a nickname, not a title, relax…
August 30th 2011 @ 2:11pm
The Barry said | August 30th 2011 @ 2:11pm | Report comment
You should be a tree by now…
August 30th 2011 @ 2:16pm
Johnno said | August 30th 2011 @ 2:16pm | Report comment
lol the barry.
August 30th 2011 @ 2:16pm
Johnno said | August 30th 2011 @ 2:16pm | Report comment
No i disagree The Bush, i think it means more than that. Micheal clarke was seen when he came into the team a pup amongst legends who would go on be a star and carry on the legend of australian cricket. And pup was a nickname with a lot of meaning. And they still call him that as if he has not grown up or matured, still seen as a pup a bit or maybe people just like calling him that coz he still looks young, or just like to say that to be funny or annoying.
Jason Gillespie was 30 when his test career finished, greg Blewett 28 so pup is not a pup anymore he is micheal clarke or has graduated to a dog, a 30 ydr old man is not a pup for heavens sake grow up Australia .
August 30th 2011 @ 1:29pm
Brendon said | August 30th 2011 @ 1:29pm | Report comment
Malinga is retired from test cricket. Sri Lanka will have no Vaas, Malinga or Murali.
Bowling is a problem for both teams. Hussey and Ponting average over 50, Clarke well over 40, Watson has his average over 40 now. Our batsmen have done it in the past but not recently.
It will be interesting to see if our batsmen can handle the spin friendly conditions. Its going to be an interesting series.
Then again everyone thought the England v India series was going to be close.
August 30th 2011 @ 1:31pm
JohnB said | August 30th 2011 @ 1:31pm | Report comment
Kersi – Malinga’s retired from tests hasn’t he, so his absence from the lead up game isn’t relevant. I expect the Australians would also have been happy with Hughes’ 70 odd and that Harris seemed to bowl ok in what was a comeback for him.
For me, the question for Australia is will 4 bowlers be enough? SL’s strong suit is obviously their batting. You’d think that with their attack they’ll have to rely on a fair bit of help from the wickets or a fair bit of impatience from the batsmen to bowl the Australians out twice.
For Australia I can’t see them picking other than the team you’ve suggested (with probably Beer ahead of Lyon by a whisker), but whether there’s enough bowling is the problem (along with there being no other all round capability besides Watson). Left field approaches would be to:
(a) move Watson to 6 (on the basis they’ll want him to bowl more) and open with Hughes and Khawaja, or
(b) to drop Johnson (on the basis that he seems to be either right on or right off, and never in between. If it turns out he isn’t on they can’t carry him in a 4 man attack) and pick the more reliable Siddle (even though he didn’t do anything in the tour match – regardless, I think he would still be picked ahead of Pattinson) or the second spinner. Can’t see either of those things happening, although there’s some merit in either approach.
It might be interesting if Bollinger had been picked, given his good one day form (even though I thought not picking him was the right move) – a lot more pressure on Johnson then I suspect. You’d also like to see Steve O’Keeffe or Steve Smith come on a bit and throw out more of a performance case to be in the side at 6 or 8 in the batting order.
August 30th 2011 @ 1:44pm
The Bush said | August 30th 2011 @ 1:44pm | Report comment
Kersi,
Is the only reason you would go for Khawaja is beause he is younger? Surely it is also sound to include him as he is still considered the most likely bloke to replace Ponting in the next year or two (2) when he hangs up the bat?
Also, what do you think is the likelihood that Lasith will come out of retirement to play Test Cricket again?
It is a shame that the Aussie’s need to win all three to overtake Sri Lanka in the rankings as a straight two (2) – nil or two (2) – one (1) series victory IN SRI LANKA is surely indication enough that we are the superior team (assuming it happens). I cannot see us winning all three (3) Tests and moving into Fourth, but I can see us winning the series in one (1) way or another (possibly by winning the only Test that has a result, for example).
Is there still time to climb the rankings after this series and qualify for the Test Championship? I believe our next set of Tests is in November against India?
August 30th 2011 @ 3:28pm
Kersi Meher-Homji said | August 30th 2011 @ 3:28pm | Report comment
The Bush,
I am an Usie fan since he was a teenager. Also in his Test debut in Sydney this January he played very well in the first innings although he scored only 37. He is a classy batsman.
I would rank Maninga very highly. Why he retired from Test arena is a mystery to me. If I were a Sri Lankan selector, I would request him to come back.
Winning the series even by a 2-1 margin will boost Aussie confidence.
My prediction for the Man of the Match award in the Galle Test? Mitchell Johnson!