Great win in Galle, Just Keep a Lid on it!

Well, what a fantastic win it was for the Australian cricket team in the first Test against Sri Lanka last week. Winning the toss and batting first was crucial, as the ball spun and spat right from the first morning, but the Aussies played some excellent cricket to take a 1-0 lead in the three Test series.

What is important now for Australia is that they don’t get too far ahead of themselves. Worryingly, there are signs of this creeping in. Shane Watson was quoted after the match as saying Australia ‘still would have won if we had bowled first’. While that will never be known, lets not forget that Sri Lanka were able to score almost as many in their second innings (on a far harder wicket for batting) as the Aussies put on the board on day one. Keeping a lid on it would be well advisable for Australia’s new vice captain.

To summarise the Test, Australia had the best of the conditions and executed its plans well to win the game. The ‘old men’ of the batting order – Ponting and Hussey – set up the victory on Day 1, with valuable contributions of 44 and 95 respectively. Hussey’s innings in particular was a gem, handling the turning ball comfortably and pouncing on anything loose. As Michael Clarke said, ‘it was worth 150 on that wicket’. Watching Hussey go about his business while the less experienced trio of Hughes, Khawaja and even Watson struggled through both innings made me (and I’m sure others) wonder just how many Simon Katich would have made. Whilst it’s hard to judge batsmen on such a terrible wicket, Phil Hughes would be very keen for a score as the series moves to Pallekele on Thursday.

The major story to come from the first Test was the emergence of spin debutant Nathan Lyon. To take the wicket of Kumar Sangakkara with his first ball in Test cricket en route to a 5 wicket haul is something that dreams are made of. A fantastic achievement. This author was surprised at his inclusion ahead of Michael Beer who played the last Test against England and also had better figures in the tour game, but Lyon took his opportunity and bowled very well. He was aided by an extremely helpful surface and took just the one wicket in the second innings when perhaps more was expected, but match figures of 6/107 are a great start. Let’s hope the selectors learn from the mistakes of the past and stick with him.

Moving to the second Test and there will be yet another debutant in the baggy green. Shaun Marsh will play his first Test in place of Ricky Ponting who has flown home to attend the birth of his second child. It’s expected Marsh will get his chance at number 3, with Usman Khawaja to stay at 6. The Aussie top order of Watson, Hughes and Marsh is very green (a far cry from Langer, Hayden & Ponting) and given that this Test is sure to be played on a much more batsman-friendly wicket than the last, at least one of these three will need a big score.

Sri Lanka lost the first Test due to irresponsible batting, led by their captain Tillekeratne Dilshan. Poor outs in both innings for the skipper, who will need to improve his output in Pallekele. Mahela Jayawardene showed his tremendous class with a century in the second innings and he made it look as if he was batting on a different track to everyone else. At times, the Australian attack showed little in the way of plans for him. Sangakkara was undone by two excellent deliveries, from Lyon in the first innings and Watson in the second. The odds would suggest that’s unlikely to happen again. Perhaps the biggest bonus for the Australians was that no seamer bowled more than 28 overs in the first Test, which is a massive plus given the scheduling of back to back (to back!) matches.

You would expect a strong response from Sri Lanka in this match. Ajantha Mendis was a surprise omission from their line-up in Galle and should make a return in this one. The groundstaff will be under instruction to produce a flat wicket following the ICC’s investigation into the Galle pitch, so this match looks like it could produce plenty of runs. Let’s just hope that the Aussie batsmen can get amongst them.

For the punters, a draw looks the most likely outcome in this match, although the prudent will wait until at least lunch on Day one before investing. Michael Clarke looked very good in the first Test in compiling 83 across both innings and MTN punters who backed him for most series runs should be confident, especially as they would have already hedged on Hussey.

It promises to be another Test of finding out about this new look Australian team. A great win in Galle will be quickly forgotten unless the Aussies can back it up with another strong performance in this one. Everything went Australia’s way in the first Test and taking 20 wickets may be a far harder proposition here. The series lead is like gold at the moment, fingers crossed that Australia can keep their nuggets safe over the next 5 days.

 

Thanks to Chris Hyde/Getty Images AsiaPac for use of the image.