Sports
Exciting Test series awaits fans after hard-fought ODIs
by Rex Clementine
After three weeks of eight exciting one-day games, the Australians will now move to the south coast where Galle will host them for two Test matches. On paper, Sri Lanka, a team that had struggled in white-ball cricket for some seven years, had a snowball’s chance in hell. But cricket is such a funny game. One stunning run chance at Pallekele in the third T-20 scripted by Dasun Shanaka gave them confidence that there’s nothing impossible in sports and Sri Lanka looked a different side from thereon.
A lot has been said about the ODI series win being Sri Lanka’s first against Australia in 30 years at home. It is also their first-ever five-match series win against the five-time World Champions. It’s a pity that this series was not part of the ICC World Cup Super League. Had it been they would have carried vital points in a bid to qualify automatically for the World Cup. Now, even if they win their next six games in the Super League – against New Zealand away and Afghanistan home, they will not have enough points to go through.
The performance of several young players was the talking point. While Charith Asalanka and Pathum Nissanka posted their maiden hundreds, Kusal Mendis finally delivered coming up with consistent performances. Wanindu Hasaranga is feared by every opposition while Maheesh Theekshana has improved leaps and bounds. Dunith Wellalage looks a mature man for a 19-year-old and claimed some big wickets in the series. Chamika Karunaratne showed the potential of a true all-rounder who needs a bit more trust from his captain. He is nicknamed ‘suicide’ by his NCC team mates and while the energy is good it could also bring him trouble unless he controls his emotions when things heat up. But, Sri Lanka had played boring white ball cricket in the last half a decade and the least thing we should complain about is energy.
What really pleases you is that the team could have in fact won all five ODIs. The manner in which they chased down stiff targets and the character they showed defending below par totals gives you assurance that this team has turned a huge corner. The Aussies may give you a loan to come out of the economic crisis but they give no corner in sports and the manner in which the likes of David Warner and Glenn Maxwell were tamed was quite impressive. Warner in particular looked a pale shadow of his former self. The Sri Lankan players will be hoping that we have not spoken too early with regards to Warner.
Head Coach Chris Silverwood has certainly made an impact and during a media interaction, he agreed that this team has the potential to do greater things when they fire on all cylinders. A lot of people feel that Australia will struggle in Galle as spin is their Achilees’ heel. But a look at stats would suggest that they have in fact done better in Galle having won two Tests and lost one. Those Australian sides that won in 2004 and 2011 played spin much better one may say. In the same breath Sri Lankan spinners of yesteryear were far better than the current inexperienced lot. The trio of Ramesh Mendis, Praveen Jayawickrama and Lasith Embuldeniya struggled in the recent Bangladesh Tests as pace won Sri Lanka the games. Hoping pace to win you Test matches against Australia is wishful thinking. But the good news for Sri Lanka is that their batsmen are in form. This will be a keenly contested series like the limited over games.
Australia are ranked number one in the world in Test match cricket. A 2-0 series win will see seventh-placed Sri Lanka climbing up to number five above Pakistan and England. A 1-0 series win will see them securing the number six spot.
With Pathum Nissanka returning to the side the team will have a few selection headaches as to which batsman to leave out. Opener Oshada Fernando who replaced him in Bangladesh when Nissanka was injured could be the casualty.
There will be lot of emotions as well when the Australian train today in Galle for the first time as it was here Shane Warne took his 500th wicket. A match bag of ten wickets by the late leg-spinner helped Australia win the Test 2004 Test match. Later that year, when the tsunami struck, he was the first cricketer to visit the city pledging his support to rebuild. The winners of the series will take away the Warne-Murali Trophy.
The first truly heavyweight clash of this expanded T20 World Cup format comes freighted with both history and subplots. A rematch of the 2010 World T20 final at Kensington Oval, the match pits Jos Buttler’s defending champions – who are aiming to become the first team to retain the trophy – against the Australian winning machine, victors at the 2021 edition and current world title-holders in Test and ODI cricket. And that’s before you throw in the Ashes for afters.
Already there is added pressure on England, after the rain in Bridgetown led to a share of the points in their opener against Scotland (and that having conceded 90 runs from 10 overs without taking a wicket in a tepid bowling display). Lose to their oldest rivals and it will leave their Super 8 prospects open to being waylaid by the perils of net run-rate calculations, or worse.
The Scotland match was the third abandonment in five suffered by England, after a rain-affected home series against Pakistan, which has clearly hampered their readiness for this campaign after almost six months without playing T20 together. It does not take much for a side to click in this format – and England looked in decent shape when they did get on the field against Pakistan – but Buttler will be anxious for things to go their way on Saturday, if only to avoid further questions referencing the team’s disastrous ODI World Cup defence last year.
Australia, under the laidback leadership of Mitchell Marsh would love nothing more than to add to the English sense of jeopardy – having helped bundle them out of the tournament in India on the way to taking the crown. Their head to head record is less impressive in T20 however, with England having won six of the last seven completed encounters, as well as that 2010 final.
Despite a wobble with the bat, Australia avoided mishap against Oman earlier in the week, the experience of David Warner and Marcus Stoinis shining through in difficult batting conditions. Surfaces in the Caribbean – not to mention those games staged in the USA – have already had teams scratching their heads; rather than the “slug-fest” England had prepared for, following a high-scoring tour of the Caribbean in December, it looks as if boxing smart may be the way to go.
Speaking of Warner, this could be the last time he faces up against England in national colours – and another match-winning contribution would likely reduce the chances of them meeting again in the knockouts. On the other side of the card is Jofra Archer, fresh from an emotional maiden outing at Kensington Oval and ready to take on Australia for the first time in any format since 2020. Can Mark Wood fire up England’s campaign, as he did during last summer’s Ashes? Will Pat Cummins be back to harass the old enemy once again? Seconds out, it’s almost time to rumble.
Cummins is set to return after being rested for the Oman game, which saw Mitchell Starc leave the field with cramp. Starc is understood to be fine and could keep his place – which would likely see Nathan Ellis miss out. Marsh is still not fit to bowl, with Australia likely to continue with the allrounder combination of Stoinis and Maxwell to give them cover.
Australia (probable XI): David Warner, Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh (capt), Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Josh Inglis (wk), Tim David, Pat Cummins, Nathan Ellis/Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood
The one change England may consider is Reece Topley coming in for Wood, with the expectation that there will be some rotation among the seamers through the course of the tournament.
England (probable XI): Phil Salt, Jos Buttler (capt & wk), Will Jacks, Jonny Bairstow, Harry Brook, Liam Livingstone, Moeen Ali, Chris Jordan, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Reece Topley/Mark Wood
[Cricinfo]
Once is coincidence, twice is a clue, and three times is proof.
To paraphrase Agatha Christie, that is the narrative around South Africa’s meeting with Netherlands at this T20 World Cup.
The Dutch beat South Africa at the 2022 tournament and ended their semi-final hopes in a match where South Africa appeared to be sleep walking, and then beat them again at the 2023 ODI World Cup, where they exposed South Africa’s vulnerability in the chase. If they to do the treble, not only will Netherlands take the lead in Group D, but they will offer conclusive evidence of the threat they pose to Full Members, especially South Africa.
Of course, it will take some doing after South Africa’s opening performance against Sri Lanka, where they reduced their opposition to their lowest T20I total and chased it down in fairly straightforward fashion thanks to the most stable middle-order of their white-ball era. In Aiden Markram, Tristan Stubbs, Heinrich Klaasen and David Miller, South Africa have bankers and big-hitters and, for this match, they also have the advantage of experience. They’ve already played at Eisenhower Park, and have first-hand knowledge that run-scoring doesn’t come easily;Klassen said they are prepared to use their “cricket brains” and play “smarter cricket”.
But the conditions could be good news for Netherlands, who are not naturally a line-up of big hitters and build their innings on a foundation of turning ones into twos. In other words, they tend to take a slightly more conservative approach to batting, which may work well here, but they’ll be wary of the uneven bounce of the surface and will have to come up with plans to counterattack especially against South Africa’s seamers. Their own bowlers were exemplary in Dallas and will look to build on that performance against a line-up that will likely be more proactive than Nepal’s, but who they have managed to keep quiet not once, but twice in the past. Third time’s the charm, they say.
Anrich Nortje’s stunning return to form against Sri Lanka means South Africa may not have to tinker with the bowling combination, and Gerald Coetzee and Tabraiz Shamsi may have to wait their turns to get a game. The batting line-up should be unchanged, with no space for Ryan Rickelton yet.
South Africa: Quinton de Kock (wk), Reeza Hendricks, Aiden Markam, Tristan Stubbs, Heinrich Klaasen (wk), David Miller, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Ottneil Baartman, Anrich Nortje
Conditions in New York may tempt Netherlands to include an extra seamer and they have Kyle Klein in their squad. But it could come at the expense of a shortened batting line-up and they may not want to risk that.
Netherlands: Michael Levitt, Max O’Dowd, Vikramjit Singh, Sybrand Engelbrecht, Scott Edwards (capt, wk), Bas de Leede, Teja Nidamanuru, Logan van Beek, Tim Pringle, Paul van Meekeren, Vivian Kingma
[Cricinfo]
Nuwan Thushara’s last over brought Sri Lanka screaming back into the match,as he first bowled Rishad Hossain, and then nailed Taskin Ahmed in front of the stumps with a pinpoint swinging yorker. This left Bangladesh eight wickets down, with 12 runs still to get.
However, the experienced Mahmudullah was at the crease for Bangladesh, and despite some further nervy moments, pushed Bangladesh across the line off the last ball of the 19th over.
But this was a match chiefly decided by Bangladesh’s own outstanding bowling. Mustafizur Rahman was the best among them, using shorter lengths and his cutters efficiently, to claim figures of 3 for 17. Rishad Hossain’s three-for through the middle overs also kept Sri Lanka quiet.
Mustafizur was instrumental in Sri Lanka’s downward spiral through the middle overs, which culminated in a crash-and-burn end. Ultimately, their inability to find boundaries, or even rotate strike against good Bangladesh bowling resulted in their downfall. A score of 125 for 9 always seemed poor on a decent pitch, even if their bowlers made a match of it in the end.
Brief scores:
Bangladesh 125 for 8 in 19 overs (Towhid Hridoy 40, Litton Das 36; Dhanajaya de Silva 1-11, Nuwan Thushara 4-18, Wanidu Hasaranga 2-32, Matheesha Pathirana 1-27) beat Sri Lanka124 for 9 in 20 overs (Pathum Nissanka 47, Dhananjaya de Silva 21; Tanzim Hasan Sakib 1-24, Taskin Ahmed 2-25, Mustafizur Rahman 3-17, Rishad Hossain 3-22) by two wickets
[Cricinfo]
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