The Liebke Ratings: Sri Lanka versus Australia first Test

And lo, there was much rejoicing, for Australia were playing Test cricket again.

Armed with a mace presented to captain Steve Smith for being the ‘ICC Number One Ranked Team Most Likely To Wield A Mace’, the Australians arrived in Sri Lanka for the First Test in Kandy.

Here are the ratings for the first Test.

DRS
Grade: B+
Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to bat and waste their reviews first. Because the Sri Lankan top order were employing the unorthodox tactic of reviewing every single decision that went against them, generally on wildly optimistic attempts to overturn LBWs.

Such was their eagerness to use DRS that suspicions began to be raised that some of them were getting out just so they could review.

Relive The Roar’s live coverage of the first Test.
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Fortunately, for Sri Lanka’s sake, the Australian bowlers seemed equally hellbent on burning reviews, with Steve O’Keefe at one point claiming one of his deliveries straightened enough to earn an LBW decision.

Incredibly, Smith fell for this absurd lie.

And yet there’s something refreshing about a period of play where no reviews remain. It’s much better than Tests where DRS isn’t used, because there’s a satisfying lingering cloud of idiocy hovering over all the players.

Also, it gives the umpires an opportunity to make terrible decisions without any real fear of ridicule, because everybody defaults to blaming poor DRS use by the captains instead.

We saw this on the final day when two terrible decisions were made regarding O’Keefe edging the ball onto his pad. O’Keefe was reprieved from an LBW decision a couple of overs after fresh reviews were given in the eightieth over when the replay revealed the inside edge.

This was in stark contrast to him being given not out two overs before the eightieth over when he was caught bat-pad to an unseen edge with Sri Lanka having no reviews remaining.

Should O’Keefe have walked? Of course not. His hamstring was a ruptured mess. He could barely stand, let alone walk.

Lakshan Sandakan
Grade: B

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Way back on the first day, after a fully fit O’Keefe helped the rest of the Australian attack to knock Sri Lanka over for just 117 runs, Australia’s reply was cut short when rain rolled in and washed out the third session.

This would become a pattern, with only two-thirds of each day available for play because of either rain, bad light or the Test already having been decided.

Australia’s attempt to build a big lead on the two-thirds of play available on the second day was undone early when Steve Smith inexplicably decided to charge down the pitch at Eranga Herath and was stumped. The shot left many to ask what had come over the captain.

Perhaps the only person who knew what had come over Smith was Smith himself. Because he would have had a damn good view of it, what with his head gazing skyward while playing the shot.

Herath went on to take four wickets in the first innings, as the Australians managed 203 in reply. Matching Herath’s haul was debutant Lakshan Sandakan, who cleaned up the tail to take 4/58.

This wasn’t Sandakan’s finest moment in the Test, however. That came later when the youngster was bowled off his box late in the Sri Lankan second innings, backing away from a Mitchell Starc short ball that deflected off his groin and back onto the stumps.

Yet further evidence that LBWs should be permitted for bouncers well outside leg stump.

Kusal Mendis
Grade: B+

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Because before Sandakan had a chance to get bowled off his box, the Sri Lankans had to first remove the 86 run first innings deficit.

This seemed unlikely when they were 2/6 after three overs. Starc had bowled a double wicket maiden, with Sri Lanka’s Dimuth Karunaratne walking to the crease, then walking off again without facing a ball after rain brought about the Day Two traditional early finish. He returned to the crease the next morning only to leave three balls later for a duck, meaning he’d walked to and from the crease more often than he’d faced deliveries. This quality feat usually reserved for golden duck-makers left Sri Lanka deep in trouble.

But with the entire batting line-up falling about him, Sri Lanka’s 21-year-old batsman and part time anagram of ‘milk sundaes’ Kusal Mendis arrived at the crease and made a startling 176 to set the Australians 268 to win.

In a low-scoring Test, Mendis was the only batsman to score more than fifty, until Steve Smith made 55 on the final day.

Sportsmanship
Grade: D

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Because Smith had made just 26 when he arrived at the crease on the final day with Adam Voges on nine and Australia 3/83, still needing 185 to win.

Both batsmen were batting in their baggy green. Always a delightful sight. Someday I hope to see a player bat in an entire kit made of sewn-together baggy greens.

Who wouldn’t want to see Steve Smith fidget with a baggy green box? No true Australian, that’s for sure.

Still, there was some speculation over how Smith would react if Australia lost the Test. He’d never lost a Test as captain before, and the general crankiness of his demeanour in recent times suggested he might perhaps respond to defeat with a legitimate tantrum. On his back, kicking the air, screaming ‘no, no, no!’ in anger.

In the end, he humbly congratulated the Sri Lankan team on their victory. Some call this good sportsmanship. I call it simply not caring enough.

8/161
Grade: A+

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Because before Australia lost the Test, Peter Nevill and the injured O’Keefe dug in with the score on 8/161 for a world record 25.4 scoreless overs, as part of a partnership of 178 balls for just four runs.

A heroic effort, but ultimately Australia’s inexperience at batting out draws was their undoing. The amount of fake cramping and needless sight screen adjusting on the final day was poor. They barely changed their gloves at all and in perfect conditions to change from baggy greens to helmets and back again at least twice an over, they hardly switched at all.

Heck, Australia even spent a significant period of rain and gloom on the final day eating lunch. That’s not how you save a Test, guys. They’ll be looking to improve in this facet of the game when the Second Test starts on Thursday.

But I’m getting ahead of myself.