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The Liebke Ratings: Sri Lanka vs Australia third ODI

Australia's stand-in captain David Warner. AP Photo/ Eranga Jayawardena
Expert
29th August, 2016
2

With the ODI series locked at one game apiece, Steve Smith had wandered off home for a rest, leaving Dave Warner to take the reins of the Australian team. He immediately removed the reins from them and told them to go play cricket instead.

Here are the ratings from the Third ODI between Sri Lanka and Australia.

Captain David Warner
Grade: A

Dave Warner’s first official act as captain was to lose the toss, thereby immediately bringing into question his credentials as a tosser. Great thinking from Captain Warner to rebrand himself so successfully straight away.

His other main captaincy tactic was to distinguish himself from Smith by spending pretty much the entire fielding innings smiling broadly, as if he was having the greatest day of his life. And why not? If I were an Australian cricket captain, I’d be grinning like a giddy buffoon the entire time I was out there too. Good for Warner. I’d almost forgotten that an Australian captain could smile.

Warner’s final off-the-wall tactic was to use Australia’s sole review to ensure that a run to Dilruwan Perera was instead credited as a leg bye. A surprisingly subtle piece of mind games there from Warner, demoralising the batsman by denying an important run and gaining his side a small, but crucial edge.

Mitchell Starc’s first over
Grade: A-

The match had started, inevitably, with Mitchell Starc taking a wicket in his first over, bowling Danushka Gunathilaka for 5. Starc’s ability to take wickets in the first over has become so consistent now that it would come as no surprise if it became the basis of an officially licensed Cricket Australia drinking game by the time the Australian summer rolls around.

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But Starc followed his first over by stupidly bowling a second over. Why would he mess with such a successful formula? He should clearly have bowled another first over instead. In fact, Starc should just always bowl ten first overs each match and completely destroy the opposition batting.

It’s pretty disappointing, in fact, that coach Darren Lehmann has never suggested such an obvious tactic to him.

Still, despite the sloppy coaching from Boof, Starc later returned to bowl his seventh over – his sixth non-first over in succession – and took another wicket there with an inswinging yorker, inspiring the commentators to declare that he is a captain’s dream.

And he truly is. Perhaps second only to the dream of heading home for a kip halfway through a series.

Tillakaratne Dilshan
Grade: B+

This was Tillakaratne Dilshan’s final ODI match, as he’d announced his retirement earlier in the week. Alas, however, there was no fairytale ending for the man who’d introduced the world to the Dilscoop.

Unless, that is, you consider being caught by George Bailey off the bowling of Adam Zampa for 42 runs off 65 balls to be a fairytale ending.

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In which case, Dilshan lived happily ever after.

Shaun Marsh’s umpiring
Grade: D

Thanks to yet another glorious batting display from Dinesh Chandimal, who made 102 from 130 balls to be the last man out, Sri Lanka ended with 226 runs.

Australia’s pursuit of the 227 runs they needed for victory began poorly with Warner caught spectacularly by the fairy tale fingers of Dilshan. This brought Shaun Marsh to the crease, and the people’s champion wasted no time in stamping his umpiring prowess on the game.

First, he had no hesitation in giving Aaron Finch out, LBW, when Finch went to check with him whether Amila Aponso’s delivery might have, in fact, been sliding down leg side.

After successfully sending Finch on his way, Marsh then boldly declared himself to be not out when a low catch was claimed shortly after by Chandimal off the bowling of Angelo Mathews.

But this decision was also shown to be an incorrect one by the television replays and Marsh was eventually sent on his way by the third umpire.

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A lot of people deride Marsh’s batting prowess and lament the fact that he’s been given so many seemingly undeserved opportunities in the Australian side. So, cunning work from him to highlight the enormous flaws in his umpiring game in order to make his batting look that much better by comparison.

George Bailey
Grade: B

If anybody might have been upset by Dave Warner’s ascension to the captaincy for this match, it would have been George Bailey. After all, Bailey had been Australia’s full-time stand-in skipper during Michael Clarke’s reign as perennially injured ODI captain

But if you think Bailey would begrudge Warner his captaincy chance, or, indeed, begrudge anybody anything at all, then you don’t know George Bailey. After all, he’s the man with a hundred per cent win rate in Test matches who smilingly decreed it to be ‘fair enough’ when he was dumped from that side.

Here he rescued the Australian side, making 70 from 99 deliveries, as he combined with first Travis Head (36 runs from 48 balls) and Matthew Wade (42 runs from 46) to guide Australia to the brink of victory and give Warner his first win as ODI captain.

Great work from Bailey. And great work from Warner too. If Warner wins every remaining game of this tour, I vote he gets to keep the captaincy, with Bailey his vice captain.

That’ll teach Smith a lesson.

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