Sri Lanka vs Australia Test series preview

Australia 3-0, Sri Lanka are too dim in their bowling attack and will struggle when batting against the pace and bounce of Aussie bowlers and the pitches itself.

cautious optimism bearfax, cautious optimism!

Australia will win the series 3-0 With Clarke & Hussey to continue their dominance this summer. And a return to form for Watto with the bat.

Half centuries Red K.?

dammit I lost me glasses. It's not Sydney is it? SL have got a slim chance. NZ proved last year on greeny old Bellrive anyone is vulnerable medium fast bowling. I think the seamers have been schooled by the mighty Rumesh Ratnayake and Eranga seems a genuine prospect. The tricky bit for the SL is getting enough runs. May not need too many if they get lucky with the ball. For the remaining matches on flatter tracks they do have some pretty good bats. Usually ancient bats struggle against even relatively inexperienced pace. However, having watched the redoubtable Kallis and to a lesser extent Huss, Jayawardene, Sanga and Dilshan, despite having a combined age off about 300, should be hard to dislodge. If they stay in, anything could happen. Matthews has shown a bit of pluck. Same if CA order a flatter Bellrive. Herath is a real spinner, if he has time and runs, he could do some damage. But everything would have to go right. Australia 3 or 2 zip.

Starc's one of the future fast bowlers in Australia along with Patterson, possibly Cummings if he stays uninjured, Cutting, Bird etc. You already know Johnson and Siddle will give their all and Hillfy is a good backup. But we need some of the young blokes to get the experience and build confidence. Give Starc a few of the games. He may not yet be the top bowler but he's left handed, tall, raw, fast and can be explosive. Just needs the international experience and we'll need that in the Ashes series.

Yeah sorry from me too. 2-0 to Australia, I don't think Sri Lanka's bowlers have the ability to bowl Australia out of the series, and on these decks I would back Clarke and Hussey over Dilshan and Jayawardene as run scorers. I am also tipping first test half-centuries from Warner, Cowan, Hughes and Watson to help the stability of our top order.

Matt I agree with you and then disagree with you. Firstly you are quite right regarding Khawaja. He did have a poor year last year after being disgracefully dumped by the Oz selectors and it obviously impacted on his play. But though he was top of the averages for about 2-3 years before that, you are correct in pointing out my mistake about his efforts last year. However this year he is performing well and given his overall performances should be next cab off the batting rank for Oz team selection. The Burns issue though I would challenge and this is the problem with short term assessments while overlooking long term efforts. Burns has a first class average of 42.28. Doolan is on 39.16, Quiney after two good years can only manage 36.5. That firstly is a significant gap especially between Burns and Quiney. Looking at this year you are only looking at ten or less innings for most players, and that' should only ever be looked at in terms of the players overall long term averages. Doolan is having a very good 'start' to the year having scored 2 centuries and two fifties and a first class average for the year of 64.2. But these figures were inflated by his performance in the Australia A match which Quiney was invited to also participate in but Burns was not. You will notice there were some big scores made in that match and it seemed after some initial effort the South African bowlers almost lost interest. Doolan picked up 161 not out for that match. His Shield average though at present is a creditable 48.1 for this year. Quiney's averages are even more distorted because he has played only 7 first class innings this year and three of them have ended as not out scores . Including his 85 in Australia A, his average for the year is 41. But Shield scores only plummet his average to 28.3. Burns during that time in 9 innings and only one not out score has a century and a 64. Quiney this year has scores of 36, 0 not out, 2, 25 not out, 5, 85 and 11 not out. Hardly top grade stuff wouldnt you say Again remember Burns was not given the opportunity to play for Australia A and a question must be asked why not, given he is in recent seasons one of the best performing young players and is only 23. There is justification for giving Doolan the nod ahead of Burns for recent performances. But not Quiney, who in reality even now is not performing as well as Burns, let alone in the past. Personally I found it extraordinary that he was selected for the Australian team in the first place. But then I felt the same about Shaun Marsh. It seemed that some favouritism was applying as well as giving too much credence to the value of a few recent performances.

oh sorry Andy, SL 3 nil obviously and I hope your Roo is dedicated to North Melbourne.

Hilfy should carry the drinks

Johnson is a liability.

Khawaja has certainly not been consistently in the top two shield performers over the past few years. He was outstanding 2 seasons ago but was woeful last season (he and Hughes averaged around 28.) Thankfully he has rediscovered some touch this season. It's not surprising to see him back in the mix now that he's back making runs. He's got the talent to go far Burns need to lift a little bit more before he can be a legitimate candidate. He's done well so far in his career but, as you said, he hasn't had a brilliant season so far. He's had moments of quality but only averaging about 30 this season. He's deservedly behind the likes of Quiney right now but is one for the future. I agree with you with the batting order. Try Clarke at 4 and Watson at 5 or 6.

I'm happy with Hughes. I'd like Khawaja to finish off the season by getting his career shield average back up over 50 (it dropped below thanks to a bad year last year).

At least the selectors have picked one of the two best young batsmen in the country at last. Hopefully Hughes will this time take advantage of his selection and play a little more conservatively than his last test knock. Potentially the best young batsman coming through. For a while there I thought they were going to select Quiney and I was tempted to go down to head office and throw eggs at them. Common sense....finally....seems to have prevailed. Doolan has done very well in the short term (which seems more important than overall performances to the selectors) but he still only has a first class average under 40 and needs to do a lot more before he should be considered. But he's still young enough to improve a lot. As for Khawaja, he MUST be next cab off the rank. Seems they have a set against him, yet he has been consistently in the top two Shield batting performers over the last two or three years. And I noticed that Burns was totally ignored also yet he is Hughes age and performing well. Bit of a slow start this year but he has the talent and deserves to be considered before Doolan and certainly well before Quiney. Australia's first four (if Clarke takes 4 and Hughes 3) looks much more solid than it has. Still unhappy with the opening combination but its a start. Especially would be good if Watson is at 5 or 6 because I suspect he would perform with the bat much more effectively in those positions. They just might give Sri Lanka a bit of a hurry up. I suspect Hughes will prove to be better suited to 3 than opening.

Doolan should not be considered again.

Doolan out for 6

I reckon Johnson will carry the Drinks in Hobart. Hilfenhaus in his last stand. Disappointed Australian Selectors didn't give Uzzie his 2nd chance at nailing a spot rather than giving Mr Hughes a 3rd bite of the cherry at the same ground that he dug his grave in last summer! Maybe this summer it will be Ct Kumar rather than Ct Martin as the Circus show act.

Khawaja gone for 56. Scott Henry has just made his hundred (and people wonder why NSW players get picked!) Doolan has his chance now. Apparently he was dropped 1st ball by the keeper.