Lankans will never forget that Boxing-Day Test
View(s):The Warne-Murali series second Test begins on Wednesday
By S.R. Pathiravithana
Nineteen years ago the cricket-mad Lankans counted their days till the boxing day Test became a reality, but, their adrenaline began to pump not because of the cricket that was dished out but because of an umpire by the name of Darrell Hair who many thought was putting into action a pre-planned drama.
During that game Hair no-balled the Lankan champion off spinner Muttiah Muralitharan. The Lankans may have lost that game, but in the end it was the perpetrators of that drama who had to bite the bullet. Finally it was Muralitharan who went down in history as the highest wicket taker in Test cricket and not the Australian home-grown Shane Warne.
Umpire Darrell Hair having a word with Muralitharan after no-balling him.- File Photo
Three days hence – the day after the Christmas lunch or dinner the Lankans will once again encounter the same foe in the second leg of the Warne-Murali series at the MCG. This time unlike Murali who never shone on Australian soil, they have to encounter Rangana Herath who already has a five wicket haul in his bag while operating on Hobart’s pace-friendly wicket that was not conducive to his type of bowling.
Though Sri Lanka lost the first Test, they can walk on to the second one with some pride. In the first – it was a toss to win, but the Lankans lost it, because, after a dormant two days, the wicket began to unleash its fury during the latter half of the game. Yet, the Lankans batting for the fourth time on that wicket hung on till the eleventh hour.
However, the Lankan chief selector Asantha de Mel is not well pleased with the Lankan show in the first Test. De Mel was a furious man when it came to the singles that the Lankan field gave away during the first game. He said: “Out of the four hundred and fifty runs that the Australian batters got on the first innings there were one hundred and fifty singles. This is far too many in an inning. One thing is that our bowlers must keep to the right corridors while the fielders back them up with good fielding.”
At the same time de Mel also added that he was also not pleased with the batting of the seniors, barring Dilshan who batted a typical Test innings in the first innings.
“Look, both (Kumar) Sangakkara and (Thilan) Samaraweera got in and scored in the second innings, but failed to go the distance. It is not the display that is expected of them. Like Dilshan did in the first, they must build an inning once they get in,” he said.
The chief selector was of the view that the Lankans have a very experienced batting line-up. “If they win the toss they must go in and look to make a score of four hundred and fifty plus. After their loss to South Africa, the Australians are looking out for big wins in this series, to recapture their self-esteem. As a result, they will not be playing negative cricket. They will always look to make a big score quickly as they did in the first Test and put us under pressure thereafter. However, their batting is not what it used to be. So if our bowlers keep to the right corridors, and cut off the easy singles and put them under pressure, we can think of making a game out of it.”
Yet, in a better tone, de Mel added that so far the Lankans had no injury worries.
However, Aussies do have some injury problems. In the second inning skipper Michael Clarke was retired out after a hamstring injury and is only 50 per cent sure of making it for the Boxing Day Test.
It is said that in case that Clarke stays out, Shane Watson would lead Australia. It is also reported that Usman Khawaja who will replace Clarke was given a net session at the Australian Centre of Excellence, last Thursday and he also faced the bowling machine which replicated the lengths delivered by the Lankan bowlers.
After Ben Hilfenhaus was injured during the first Test, it is reported that uncapped right arm fast bowler Jackson Bird from Tasmania would team up Siddle and Starc while Mitchell Johnson staying out.
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