The Australians, by dint of good bowling and then, disciplined, professional batting had played themselves into an unassailable position after just 175 minutes of play on the third day of the Second Test at the Pallekele Stadium.
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| ‘Ton’-up Marsh and Hussey compliment each other |
The architects of the Australian dominance were the left handed pair of Shaun Marsh and Michael Hussey, Hussey; hugely experienced, proven, performer did the expected. But debutante Shaun Marsh exceeded expectations with a superbly combined 141 in his first appearance on the big stage.
A proved Geoff Marsh kept clapping repeatedly and then rose to his feet to acknowledge a chip of the old block.
Worryingly, Sri Lanka’s bowlers did not make much headway on the flat pitch. At times they looked pedestrian and lacking that spirit of inspiration – It was only when against the Aussie middle order that the bowlers appeared to have conviction.
A declaration is expected first thing on the morrow. Sri Lanka’s batting line up will have to come good this time round.
Hussey and Marsh continued to ground the Sri Lanka bowlers as they continued their overnight liaison well into the morning session on day three of the second Murali-Warne Series Test match at Pallekele.
Hussey was by far the more productive enterprising and attractive of the two while his partner was a by-word for patience.
An extra cover drive by Hussey started the flow of runs and he reached his fourteenth Test hundred with a push for two through mid wicket. His 193 ball effort contained 15 fours.
Having passed the hundred mark which narrowly eluded him at Galle, Hussey played with increased freedom. Fours cascaded off his bat: Welagedera straight driven, to Lakmal stroked through the covers, chopped through the slips next ball and then Randiv lofted over mid off. He continued to trade in boundaries as he swept Randiv and then reverse swept Prasanna.
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| Randiv being congradulated by team mates. Pix by Mangala Weerasekera |
Ten minutes before lunch he was lured into error by the rarely used Samaraweera – an unlikely source for a wicket. An off break invitingly tossed up outside the off peg drew Hussey into a lofted shot deep into the covers. Sangakkara clung on to send him back and end a record-breaking stand of 258 for the fourth wicket.
Marsh used the cover drive to good effect and gathered most of his runs in front of the wicket. He reached his 100 in his debut Test with a miscued two to mid wicket. It took him 234 balls to reach the milestone. Marsh included 13 fours and succeeded in doing better in his debut Test than the man he replaced. (Ponting was out for 96 in his first Test.)
Marsh and Khawaja had advanced the score by 17 when the wheels began to come off the Australian innings. The admirable Marsh pulled a short ball from Lakmal to deep mid wicket where Sangakkara dived forward to take a good catch – his second.
Haddin, who has had a horror run in Sri Lanka batted as though his mind was on other things. He lasted a mere five balls. Down the track to Randiv, he hoisted a head-high catch to the ubiquitous Sangakkara. Johnson’s exit in the very first ball was more dramatic. He never read the delivery from Randiv which came in slightly off the pitch to castle him.
Fast bowling left high and dry, Khawaja’s response to this crisis was to step out and hoist Randiv for a glorious straight six. Harris obtained a top-edged four off a scary-looking hook shot, but next ball, played an assured stroke off the back foot through the covers.
The rain came down at about 1.22 and the gods never relented. Play was abandoned for the day at 3.30.
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