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Australia look to clinch Sri Lanka series

14th September, 2011
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Roar Guru
14th September, 2011
10
1143 Reads

By next Tuesday the mystery that is the state of Australian cricket will either take a step towards being solved or plunge back into the mire alongside Phillip Hughes’ plummeting batting average.

Fittingly, the step towards solving this mystery will play out in Colombo.

Although there will be no interrogation of suspects (Don Argus would make a great Columbo), the evidence as to the state of the national cricket side will be laid out for all to assess.

How Michael Clarke’s side handles the pressure of closing out the series will provide a small peek into the future.

Through door number one is a future of strong performances, mental toughness, Test victories, sunshine and lollipops that eventually leads to Australian cricket fans forgetting about the 2010-11 Ashes as if it were that one time they got embarrassingly drunk at the work Christmas party.

Door number two is the gateway to hell – In all its Argus Report glory.

Given their Test performances over the last couple of years, at the start of the series Australia would have happily taken a one-all series result (not that they would admit it as hoping for draws is for sissies).

However, having thoroughly outplayed Sri Lanka in the first two Tests they would surely feel aggrieved if they were to come home with anything other than a series victory.

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Through the series so far the Australian batsmen have shown tremendous patience and skill, the bowlers have hunted as a pack, Michael Clarke’s captaincy has been refreshingly attacking, and their fielding has been world-class for the first time in several years.

Having won the first Test, during the second Test in Kandy an incisive team bowling performance in the first innings combined with a fantastic stand between Mike Hussey and Shaun Marsh put Australia in a winning position.

Unfortunately the combination of tropical weather and the Sri Lankan batsmen finally figuring out that when they are wearing white they aren’t playing Twenty20 conspired against the Australians. The match ended in the most English of results – a rain-affected draw.

Despite the less than desirable result there were certainly several performances of note for Australia.

Among them, Mike Hussey is starting to make everyone think he might be a robot the way he keeps churning out runs. Additionally, Shaun Marsh’s excellent ton on debut will help to silence the doubters (me included) that believed he doesn’t have the temperament for the longer form of the game.

Interestingly, Marsh’s innings of 141 meant that after just one Test he has a higher Test score than his Dad did in 50 Tests. Geoff’s best ever score was 138.

No doubt Shaun will forever remind Geoff of that. In fact, Geoff’s epitaph will probably read: “Here lays Geoff Marsh. Not as good as his son.”

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With the series now shifting to Colombo for the third Test, it must be noted that Sri Lanka have an impressive recent record in their country’s largest city.

Sri Lanka haven’t lost a Test match at the Sinhalese Sports Club (SSC) ground since they last played Australia there in March 2004. Since then they have won six of the 10 played at the ground. Three of their last four wins at the ground have been by an innings (South Africa, Bangladesh and India).

It’s not a record that alludes to the ground being a fortress for the Lankans, especially on their current form, butit certainly indicates that they won’t be pushovers.

Historically, early in the match the pitch in Colombo has flatter than Will Smith’s flattop in The Fresh Prince of of Bel Air. There have been several 600+ first innings scores.

With Tillakaratne Dilshan’s side having rediscovered their batting mojo during the second innings in Kandy, the Sri Lankan captain will be hoping to bat first and let his talented batting line-up go to work.

Later the pitch generally starts turning round corners and the spinners have played their part in the results. And although Sri Lanka’s main man was Murali for many of those victories, it wasn’t only him. They will be confident if they can get Australia batting on the fifth day.

Australia has two selection dilemmas.

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Michael Clarke has used the power of numbers to realise that four doesn’t go into three. The first blood on Clarke’s hands in his life as a selector will be that of Marsh, Ricky Ponting, Usman Khawaja or Phil Hughes.

Ponting looks likely to come straight back in after returning home to attend the birth of his child and Marsh surely can’t be dropped after making a hundred on debut.

Hughes looks the likely man to miss out. For his sake he hopefully has the good sense to not announce it on Twitter before the selectors are able to like he did in the Ashes of 2009.

In the bowling department, Ryan Harris looks likely to miss out with a slight hamstring tear. The Queensland quick must have smashed a mirror or two (or three, or four) in the last seven years given his run with injuries.

That or he could just have the body of an 80-year old woman with a degenerative bone disease. Either way it’s stopping him from playing cricket consistently.

Peter Siddle is in the box seat to replace Harris given his experience at Test level.

The weather could possibly play a part again with a chance of thunderstorms forecast for the first three days. An “English” result looks on the cards once more.

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Although I’m sure Australia will want to win the match, I doubt they’ll be particularly disappointed if a draw is how it pans out.

I believe Australia deserve to win the series. Over the next five days we’ll see if they believe they do too.

Sri Lanka versus Australia
 Third Test – September 16 – September 20 2011
Sinhalese Sports Club Ground, Colombo. Sri Lanka

Sri Lankan Team (from): Tillakaratne Dilshan (capt), Shaminda Eranga, Rangana Herath, Mahela Jayawardene, Prasanna Jayawardene (wk), Suraj Randiv, Suranga Lakmal, Angelo Mathews, Ajantha Mendis, Tharanga Paranavitana, Dhammika Prasad, Seekkuge Prasanna, Thilan Samaraweera, Kumar Sangakkara, Lahiru Thirimanne, Chanaka Welegedara.

Australian Team (from): Michael Clarke (capt), Michael Beer, Trent Copeland, Brad Haddin (wk), Ryan Harris, Phillip Hughes, Michael Hussey, Mitchell Johnson, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, Shaun Marsh, James Pattinson, Ricky Ponting, Peter Siddle, David Warner, Shane Watson.

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