What are Sri Lanka's chances in Australia
Submitted by Jehan on October 16, 2010 - 09:20
Since 1985 Sri Lanka have played 40 ODI matches in Australia against Australia and have only won eight games and lost 32. That sounds more like a record that should belong to Zimbabwe or any associate nation than Sri Lanka. But it is not.
Sri Lanka have been woeful in all their tours to Australia. But can their fans Down Under expect anything different this time round or will it be the same dissapointing old story again?
In order to answer that question we must stop patting ourselves in the back and start facing the facts.
Can the openers take the attack to the Australians against the new ball?
The fire power in Sri Lanka's batting line up has mostly been at the top. The onus has been on the openers to get them off to a quick start and put the opposition on the back foot early. Australia's pace bowling attack and the extra bounce and pace on pitches in Australia have made this a tough task for the likes of Jayasuriya. Therefore it has always been a case of the middle order and lower middle order trying to repair the damage when the Aussies destroy to the top order early.
This time may not be any different. With Mahela Jayawardene opting to open batting much of Sri Lanka's fire power rests at the top four batting positions. If the Aussies manage to dismiss Dilshan and Jayawardene early then the pressure will be on the skipper and other inexperienced young batsmen to perform.
Can Sri Lanka's bowling attack curb the Australians?
In Malinga and Muralitharan Sri Lanka have two bowlers who can run through a side but their performances will depend much on the captain's willingness to set attacking fields. In recent times Sangakkara has come under heavy criticism in the local media for being too defensive as a captain.
Suraj Randiv can look pretty innocuous but there is something about the lad that has made him Sri Lanka's highest wicket taker in the last 12 months. Between 16 Oct 2009 and 16 Oct 2010 Randiv has taken 16 wickets from 11 matches at an average of 25.12 outdoing the likes of Malinga and Muralitharan. I expect Randiv to be one of the leading wicket takers on the tour.
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Comments
20 November 2008
51 sec
I didn't realise that Randiv was SL's highest wicket taker in the last 12 months.
This is going to sound ridiculous to alot of people but I really believe they should promote Kapugedera to open the batting (with Mahela in the middle order).
Not because he deserves it but because it could do wonders for him. It's a gamble that Ranatunga took with Jayasuriya and Kaluwitharana in Australia and look how it transformed their careers.
It's worth a gamble - that's all I'm saying. I think our batting is too top-heavy otherwise.
4 September 2010
1 year 19 weeks
Here is current SL top orders batting record on Australian Soil at an ascending order of Averages.
Dilshan
19 18 4 447 82* 31.92 499 89.57
Mahela
36 35 2 1121 120 33.96 1398 80.18
Kumar
31 30 1 1191 128 41.06 1538 77.43
Others have hardly played in Australia. So everything depends on these guys and Since Angelo is going to play as a batsman his skills in handling pace and bounce would be quite useful.
@Michael
Yes it's worth a gamble. But my suggestion has been to send Chandimal as an opener with Dilshan. Kapugedara has got more than enough opportunities. Let that guy who scored a century on his second ODI show his true colours
4 September 2010
1 year 19 weeks
Surajs inclusion is going to be quite handy. He has been the most prolific bowler in the recent past and he possesses the right attributes to succeed in Australia. We need tall spinners who can bend their backs to get that extra bounce which is quite handy for them even though they are spinners. I would not mind seeing Lanka going with a combination of 3 fast bowlers and a spinner , spinner being Suraj Randiv which would hardly happen.
This should be the team
Dilshan
Tharanga
Sanga
Chandimal
Mahela
Mathews
Kapugedara/Jeevan Mendis
Prasad/Tissara/any other fast bowler
Kulasekara
Malinga
Murali/Randiv
Mahela should bat @ no 5.....Wew need more experience in the middle
25 January 2010
10 weeks 2 hours
Hope our boys put on a decent show
14 March 2010
2 years 9 weeks
I'm looking forward to see Dilshan tearing the Aussie attack. Since promoted up to the order, He has been a success in South Africa and England which the condition is quite similar to Australia.
And then there's Sanga in at No. 03 and he can play the anchor role. I believe Tharanga should be given the chance to opening as He has done well not to be sidelined.
4 September 2010
1 year 19 weeks
From the given squad I would like to see the following combination.
Dilshan
Chandimal
Sanga wk
Mahela
Jeewan
Angelo
Thisara
Kulasekara
Malinga
Dilhara||Prasad / Randiv for the ODI in SCG batting ahead Malnga
Murali
Since Angelo is gonna be playing just as a batsman, we need an extra fast bowler. For the ODI in SCG Randiv can play removing one of the fast bowlers since its the spinners paradise in down under.
Radcliffe ur corect
Apo me musalaya!!
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