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Australia now have lost nine Tests on the trot in Asia after slumping to a 3-0 clean sweep to Sri Lanka this week. Here are my series ratings of the players from each side.
Mitchell Starc (10/10) (24 wickets at an average of 15) A menacing presence across all three Tests, Starc completed one of the finest-ever series in Asia by a visiting bowler.
Shaun Marsh (9/10) (153 runs at 76)
Marsh showed his batting colleagues the value of having a clear plan against spin in Asia and executing it with confidence and a clear mind. He should be an automatic selection for the upcoming tour of India.
Steve O’Keefe (7/10) (3 wickets at 25)
O’Keefe’s injury during the first Test was a huge setback for Australia. He had outperformed Nathan Lyon in the warm-up game, bowled beautifully at Kandy, and shown great skill with the blade, facing 178 deliveries in the opening Test, almost as many as David Warner (184) did for the whole series.
Josh Hazlewood (5.5/10) (7 wickets at 32)
Hazlewood was badly handled by skipper Steve Smith in the second and third Tests. The highly-skilled quick was allowed to bowl only three overs with the new ball combined across the final three innings of the series. Hazlewood’s role in this series was to build pressure while Starc and the spinners attacked, and he did this well, conceding a miserly 2.7 runs per over.
Steve Smith (5/10) (247 runs at 41)
Smith gets marked down for his poor captaincy, which I dealt with in a piece on Wednesday. He put together two fine knocks – 55 at Kandy and 119 at Colombo – but was otherwise disappointing with the blade.
Nathan Lyon (5/10) (16 wickets at 32)
Lyon’s series stats look solid, yet in reality he was unable to have the kind of decisive influence he and his team would have hoped for. The off spinner still appears unsure of how to bowl in Asia, adopting several different approaches across the series, and finishing by spearing in swift, flat deliveries at Colombo.
Mitch Marsh (4.5/10) (163 runs at 27, plus two wickets at 59)
Marsh made starts in his first five innings – 33, 25, 27, 18 and 53 – but was unable to push on and compile an innings of great value. He did, however, look more assured against spin than any other Australian, bar Smith and his brother, and has a decent batting record of 327 runs at 33 in his five Tests in Asia.
David Warner (3.5/10)
Warner now has gone almost two years and 13 Tests without a century outside Australia. By the time Warner finally made a half century, in the fourth innings of the third Test, Australia had been humiliated.
Jon Holland (3.5/10) (163 runs at 27)
Was badly rattled by the aggression of the Sri Lankan batsmen on debut and sprayed the ball all over the pitch. Bowled much better at Colombo but does not look Test quality, lacking the accuracy and guile of fellow left armer O’Keefe.
Adam Voges (3/10) (118 runs at 20)
Voges had a strange series. He often looked reasonably comfortable against the Sri Lankan spinners, and unlike others was prepared to bat well within himself. Uncharacteristically, though, he repeatedly frittered away his wicket with careless strokes.
Usman Khawaja (2/10) (55 runs at 14)
Khawaja looked overawed by the prospect of facing quality spinners on dry Asian pitches. He either was locked in siege mentality, camped on the back foot to almost every delivery, or he was coming forward to play unnecessarily cavalier shots. He seems bereft of a plan to even get off strike against spin, let alone to master it.
Joe Burns (2/10) (34 runs at 8)
In his first Test series in Asia, Burns too seemed to be unsure of exactly how he should tackle the home spinners. Like Khawaja, he swung from being too defensive at times to too aggressive at others.
Moises Henriques (1/10) (8 runs at 4)
Dumping first drop Khawaja for bits-and-pieces all-rounder Henriques was one of the more perplexing choices made for years by the Australian selectors. He was supposedly picked for his proficiency batting against spin, yet got himself in a frightful tangle in both digs.
SRI LANKA
Rangana Herath (10/10) (28 wickets at 13, plus 119 runs at 24)
The 38-year-old spinner managed to baffle the Australians with the most subtle of skill sets. He did not prosper via outrageous turn or confounding bounce, but rather through slight variations in pace, flight and angle, and the ability to land the ball exactly where he wanted.
Dhananjaya de Silva (9/10) (325 runs at 65, plus two wickets at 31)
Lit up his debut series with flowing strokes, while also showing considerable talent with the ball.
Kusal Mendis (8/10) (296 runs at 49)
Mendis’ sensational 176 in the second innings at Kandy turned the Test and the entire series on its head after it had looked like Australia would storm to a 1-0 lead.
Dinesh Chandimal (8/10) (250 runs at 42)
A hugely gifted cricketer, Chandimal has the potential to finish his career as one of the finest keeper-batsmen in Test history.
Dilruwan Perera (8/10) (15 wickets at 25, plus 116 runs at 19)
Perera tore Australia apart at Galle with a 10-wicket haul and a dashing knock of 64 in what was the high point of his Test career.
Lakshan Sandakan (7.5/10) (9 wickets at 23)
Sandakan bamboozled the Australians in the first Test with his well-disguised googly. After that he had little work to do as Herath and Perera took charge.
Nuwan Pradeep (5/10) (two wickets at 26)
The fast bowler had minimal responsibility as Sri Lankan relied almost entirely on their spinners to rout the tourists.
Angelo Mathews (4.5/10) (152 runs at 25)
Mathews had an underwhelming series with the bat, due in a large part to poor shot selection.
Kaushal Silva (4.5/10) (133 runs at 22)
Silva floundered in his first five innings, unable to crack double digits, before grinding out a pivotal ton in the second dig of the third Test which put victory beyond Australia’s reach.
Kusal Perera (4/10) (148 runs at 25)
Made plenty of starts but had no influence whatsoever on this series.
Vishwa Fernando (3/10) (one wicket at 16)
The young left arm quick made one of the strangest debuts you will ever see at Galle. He bowled just two overs for the match, sending down a buffet of long hops and wide dross, yet somehow came away with the wicket of Burns.
Suranga Lakmal (3/10) (1 wickets at 54)
Like Pradeep he was barely required due to the dominance of Sri Lanka’s spinners.
Dimuth Karunaratne (1/10) (41 runs at 7)
Was absolutely destroyed by Starc, who dismissed him five times in the series.