Can Sri Lanka repeat the 2016 Test whitewash against Aussies?
Sri Lanka's 3-0 whitewash against Australia in 2016 was thus far one of the best performances in Tests for Mathews
Not many would have expected a Sri Lankan fightback and win after having being cleaned up for 117 on day one of the first Test in Pallekele. What resulted thereafter is history worth reminiscing about. Sri Lanka not only won the Test but emphatically clinched the series.
The year was 2016–the last excursion of the Australians to Sri Lanka. History could repeat as Sri Lanka take them on again in a two-match Test series when the ongoing white-ball series ends. Till that series, the Australians had never been beaten 3-0 by the Lankans. But Angelo Mathews and the team management including coaches and the selectors fashioned a remarkable heist which the skipper calls one of his best career moments.
“The series win in England back in 2014 was also special as we played it in foreign conditions,” he reflected.
“Both were very tough, played against some quality oppositions. I would say th ey are the best series I’ve ever played in my career as player or as captain.”
After two back-to-back defeats to New Zealand and England by identical 2-0 margins, beating the world’s top-ranked team didn’t seem within reach. But Sri Lanka exploited the visitors on slow turning pitches to create history.
“We knew we were going to play on spinning wickets. That was the strategy going forward for us. We knew it was going to be bat against the bat and that whoever scores more runs will end up winning the series,” Mathews said, just days ahead of their two-match series against the same oppositions at Galle.
When Sri Lanka erased the first innings deficit of 86 in Kandy (Australia made 203 in reply to Sri Lanka’s first innings total of 117), four of the top-order batters, including the skipper, had already returned to the pavilion. There seemed little hope of a recovery. But Kusal Mendis, who came at the fall of the third wicket, played a career-defining innings of 176 to set a target that was beyond Australia’s reach. It was a knock that turned the series in Sri Lanka’s favour, admits Mathews.
“It was unfortunate that we ended up at 117 in the first innings but in the second innings, Mendis’ 176 was the turning point of the series. He gave the entire team the momentum, the confidence going forward. Then the rest of the batters raised their hands. The talk between the batters was that, whoever gets a start, should bat deep and bat through to a good total. That’s exactly what the batters did and Kusal Mendis’ innings was fantastic. It was of highest quality,” Mathews explained.
In Galle, Australia were exposed to worse conditions. Sri Lankan spinners completed the final rites of the visitors on a rank-turner in less than three days as the 229-run win gave Sri Lanka a 2-0 lead going into the final game at the SSC.
The hosts hammered the final nail in Australia’s coffin with a commanding victory to seal the series 3-0 at SSC—a historic feat that no Sri Lankan team has ever achieved since gaining Test status back in 1982. (They previously beat Australia 1-0 in a three-match series in 1999 under Sanath Jayasuriya, who also masterminded the 2016 victory as chairman of selectors).
“The thought process of the leadership group and the management team was to give them the freedom and that played a major part in our success,” Mathews explained.
“Guys like Mendis and Dhananjaya (de Silva) were familiar with the system. What we told them was to keep doing what they have been doing and not to change anything. For instance, if you want to hit the first ball for a six, go for it. That was the confidence given by the management, coaching staff and the leadership group.”
While Mendis stole the show at Pallekele, it was up to another young player to deliver in the final Test at SSC. Walking in at 26 for five, debutant Dhananjaya de Silva posted 129 runs to secure the whitewash sharing match-winning stand with Dinesh Chandimal (132). He finished as the highest run-getter from either side, scoring 325 runs in six innings, followed by Mendis (296) and Chandimal (250).
“We were in deep trouble at SSC after electing to bat first. Then Dhananjaya and Chandimal had that partnership and took us out of trouble. Then we had Kaushal Silva hitting that 115 in the second innings. Throughout the series, we performed exceptionally well across all departments and when we were in trouble someone put up the hand to deliver,” he continued.
Even though batting contributed much to the victory, the performances of the spinners—Rangana Herath, Dilruwan Perera and Lakshan Sandakan—played a key role. Herath finished as the highest wicket taker with 28 scalps including 13 wickets in the final game at SSC. Together, they claimed 54 of the 60 Australian wickets that fell in the series, with three five-wicket hauls from Rangana Herath and one from Dilruwan Perera.
“It showed their class and experience,” Mathews said, of Herath and Perera.
“This is why we always say that experience plays a major part. It was just easy for me as captain. I just had to hand the ball over to them and they did the rest. They were so experienced and they knew exactly what’s to be done and they delivered. That’s what you called experience and class.”
Fifty-four wickets taken by Sri Lanka spinners is the most by them in any series. Their previous best was a tally of 50 wickets against New Zealand in a series at home in 1998. Sri Lanka do not have the luxury an experienced of Herath or Perera this time.
But Mathews, who is in excellent form with the bat, having amassed 199 and 145 not out in the recent series against Bangladesh, believes that, while lacking a bit in experience, Sri Lanka still has what it takes to trouble the Australians.
“If you compare the team with one played in 2016, we are a bit less experienced, but we have done it against Bangladesh, done it against West Indies as well. I am confident we will do very well in this series,” he concluded, crediting his own good form to working hard.