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It seemed that some of the madness of Sri Lanka’s miracle win in Melbourne had seeped into Friday, as the visitors claimed a historic victory to win their first ever series on Australian soil. First it was the selectors who had apparently lost their minds, as they rewarded Xavier Doherty’s 4/46 by dropping him for Nathan Hauritz.
It was a ludicrous decision after his sparkling debut, like tipping out fine champagne for flat lemonade.
To treat these matches as nothing more but Ashes practice shows scant respect to a team that deserves it. The lost momentum from these defeats could equally have an impact when the Tests roll around.
Then there was the lunacy infecting the media, who had somehow decided overnight that Marcus North might be challenging to become Australia’s next Test captain.
Did the newsroom twig that this would rely on him outlasting Ricky Ponting in the team? With North heaving out a constipated 19 off 73 balls for WA against the English attack today, his Test spot is looking about as safe as an apricot danish on Amanda Vanstone’s tea-tray.
Not to mention the fact that the supposed “deep divisions” in the side stem from Michael Clarke’s captaincy in limited-overs cricket. Clarke has never captained the Test side, and North’s grand total of two ODIs were both played over eighteen months ago.
Clarke may not be the eventual candidate, but North will take over as Test captain around about the time Stevie Wonder replaces Mark Webber at Red Bull Racing.
Even the commentators were losing their grip on reality. As Sri Lanka elected to bat, Glenn Mitchell kept referring to “the opposing kipper”, as though Ponting had recently had an operation to become part fish.
James Brayshaw, meanwhile, opined that “the ball needs to be thrown to Mitchell Johnson. And some acid, perhaps.” Please no – the last thing we needed was Johnson dodging pink elephants in his run-up. Or deciding to get any more tribal tattoos.
It was only the Sri Lankan openers who had retained their sanity, playing out a couple of maidens in a composed start to proceedings. Peter Siddle, as had become a feature of his last few Tests, bowled without luck, with airborne pulls, skewed drives, and thick edges all evading fielders.
Upul Tharanga and Tillakaratne Dilshan dug in though, and soon built momentum, taking their run rate up to around five an over through the duration of their 98-run partnership.
Johnson looked ineffective and unconvinced, and Hauritz was nudged around with ease on the slow square, until Dilshan missed an absolute pudding to be lbw sweeping.
Tharanga was unfazed, continually clearing his front leg to haul the spinner over midwicket.
The Sri Lankans’ thoughts on Watson were made clear when Mahela Jayawardene, on just four, marched down to the pitch to Watson’s first ball to swat it over square leg. The all-rounder hit back via a terrible call from umpire Marais Erasmus, when a ball that was inside-edged and hitting high on the pad was given out lbw.
Captain Kumar Sangakkara continued his habit of wearing Muttiah Muralitharan’s jumper, perhaps to confuse Watson into bowling half-volleys down the leg side. He and Tharanga took the score to 161/2 when rain arrived. The umpires displayed their fraternity’s patented brand of insanity, holding up play for nearly two hours for the sake of light drizzle.
It had little effect in the end, beyond shortening the innings to 45 overs. Sangakkara started where he left off, lofting Hauritz over cover in an over costing nine.
Further asylum moments followed, when both batsmen ended up at the same end after an edge wide of Haddin. The keeper inexplicably sent down a lollipop throw that cleared Watson at the bowler’s end. Clarke, unseen by Watson, collected a few yards behind the stumps, then instead of ambling in to knock the bails off, fired it straight into Watson’s leg.
Tharanga made it home.
Sangakkara eventually holed out for 45, leaving Wednesday’s hero Angelo Mathews to blast 17 off 11 in the Powerplay before rain set in again after 41 overs.
That was it for the Sri Lankan innings, with Tharanga unbeaten on 86, meaning the insane geniuses of Duckworth and Lewis were put to work. First they had to figure out what Sri Lanka would have likely scored in 50 overs, then what proportion of that Australia had to chase in their reduced innings.
It ended up being 244 from 39 overs, a very stiff total on a slow pitch with a wet outfield. Sri Lanka’s wickets in hand had proved crucial to tilting calculations their way.
Really, Australia were never in the chase. Haddin went early, bowled through the gate. The requisite captain’s knock didn’t come, Ponting’s mad stubborn insistence on playing the pull shot early in his innings bringing about his downfall once again.
Clarke took ten balls to get off the mark, with some beautiful seam movement by Thisara Perera and Nuwan Kulasekara cutting him in half, before he and Watson plundered 14 from the 12th over.
For a minute they seemed to be taking the ascendancy, but then Murali had Watson plumb lbw on the sweep, and Clarke top-edged an ugly pull-swipe to a ball too full for the shot. Murali, in everything, took the tumbling catch at third man.
Sri Lanka were reminiscent of Australian sides from ten years ago. While batting they had been aggressive in chasing singles and second runs. In the field they were dynamic, positively buzzing around the batsmen with obvious intent each ball.
The persistent drizzle and wet outfield hadn’t bothered their bowlers, pace or spin, who continued to put the damp ball in the right spot. Lasith Malinga was unplayable, a string of sizzling yorkers followed by a masterfully-disguised slower ball leaving Cameron White shaking his head in admiration. Michael Hussey, beaten by turn, chipped Murali tamely to long-off.
White and Steven Smith looked in two minds whether to consolidate or attack, deferring the reduced batting Powerplay until the required rate was nudging 12 an over. A five-minute rain delay cost them another over while barely reducing the total.
When they finally did take it, Malinga bowled two of the three Powerplay overs for a total of six runs, and White was Brian Statham-ed, top of off stump, by Kulasekara. Game over.
The only thing that hadn’t been raining all night were boundaries: the Sri Lankan deluge of Melbourne had dried to Simpson Desert proportions. Mitchell Johnson changed that with an ungainly pulled four, followed by a truly monstrous six into the second tier of the O’Reilly stand.
But any hopes of a Malinga-style revival were snuffed out when he was run out next ball, after a sensational Jayawardene stop of a scorching cover drive. It wasn’t so much a candle in the wind as a candle in a river. The only thing undampened were Sri Lankan spirits.
Smith was stumped two balls later, Hauritz skied Suraj Randiv to long-on, and Malinga fittingly did the honours, bowling Clint McKay middle stump with four balls to spare to finish with 1/33.
Finally, a Sri Lankan team has beaten Australia at home. The significance cannot be underplayed. It was clear from Murali’s reaction.
The veteran erupted with schoolboy delight when he caught Clarke, and souvenired the ball as soon as the win was sealed. It was one of the few missing ticks on an astonishing resume, and there was no hiding his delight in his post-match interview.
Perhaps this is no longer a team on the rise. Perhaps they’ve arrived. Some of their predecessors have come here worrying about the scale of defeat. This incarnation never seemed to be thinking of anything but a win.
The emphatic nature of that win was the striking part, and far from the product of hallucination. For 25 years, Sri Lankans have thought they must be mad to dream of victory here. Last night, they were the ones to keep their heads and play with sober clarity.
Doubtless they spent the night deeply savouring the moment, though whether sobriety and clarity were still involved is another matter.
Australia, on the other hand, could only head back to the hotel and pack their bags for Brisbane, with nothing now to play for but a shred of morale.