*Official* Australia in Sri Lanka 2016

[straw man]

Fantastic win by Sri Lanka after everyone (including me) was dismissive of their first day effort.

Also like the Pakistan win in England, this sets up the rest of the series very well.

 

[Shady Slim]

You're lucky you got to watch it. Most frustrating I can't access this series on any tv or radio.

i watched it

just happened to be on india's ten sports which my tv picks up through the use of... technology...

 

[honestbharani]

That Mendis innings has to rank very high not just among the ones played this year, but all time imo. No one else found batting remotely easy on that deck... Add the situation of the match when he came out to bat and the fact that the pace at which he scored gave SL enough time to win it and it's truly incredible.

Fully agree but would probably state everyone found scoring runs at a decent clip very very difficult rather than batting as such... I mean the blockathon showed survival at least was not THAT difficult. But yeah, an amazing knock and surely one of the greatest of all time, pity he had like 5 people watching it live..

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Well played SL great comeback win after day 1. Unlucky Australia, showed some real fight late on and to block that much with an injured player showed some character. Can they come back in the remaining tests?

Fatty Herath is some bowler. SL will miss him so much when he retires.

 

[Spikey]

"Nevill has to be given credit for taking the bulk of the strike" lol he has taken basically half of the balls in this partnership!

They really turned the strike over well

 

[Daemon]

You know how people always say bowlers should keep the batsmen on one end and work them over? Well in this case playing the same bowler over again without facing the bowler from the other end may have helped the batsmen a bit imo. And if that's true then ticking over the strike would have been worse for that particular partnership. They were in a zone where they didn't need to think about anything else besides the next few overs from the same bowler.

 

[watson]

Fully agree but would probably state everyone found scoring runs at a decent clip very very difficult rather than batting as such... I mean the blockathon showed survival at least was not THAT difficult. But yeah, an amazing knock and surely one of the greatest of all time, pity he had like 5 people watching it live..

Watched the highlights on youtube and noticed that the ground was empty. Such a travesty for Mendis' great innings, and the Sri Lankan team on the last day.

 

[TheJediBrah]

Well played SL great comeback win after day 1. Unlucky Australia, showed some real fight late on and to block that much with an injured player showed some character. Can they come back in the remaining tests?

Fatty Herath is some bowler. SL will miss him so much when he retires.

How were they unlucky? Just because you show some fight and still end up losing comfortably doesn't mean you're unlucky IMO

 

[ajdude]

worked all afternoon; how far away from stumps/potential bad light/rain were australia?

 

[91Jmay]

Was about 20 minutes to tea I think, any play after would have been for a maximum of an hour I think.

 

[harsh.ag]

Credit to Mendis, Herath, Sandakan, Nevill, and SO'K. SL could look at replacing Perera, maybe with an all-rounder to shore up the batting a little more.

 

[Stefan9]

Good performance by Sri Lanka. Aus need to do better in turning conditions.

 

[BeeGee]

Congrats to Sri Lanka. Great game. Test cricket is so ****ing good.

 

[viriya]

I never doubt fatty in SL but didn't see a kid coming up big like that considering how **** out batting has been lately. Great win.. crazy that fatty is even matching Murali records (most 4th innings 5-wkt hauls) now.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

How were they unlucky? Just because you show some fight and still end up losing comfortably doesn't mean you're unlucky IMO

Well losing a spinner to injury on a turning pitch is unlucky and the game was in the balance when he went off.

How much that changed the end result we will never know but it won't have helped Australia.

 

[hendrix]

what an epic test

 

[DriveClub]

Couple of good wrist spinners coming out of SL, in addition to Sandakan there's also Vandersay the traditional leggie and Tharindu Kaushal the wrist spinning offie in the horizon, exciting times for SL with the younger brigade.

 

[DriveClub]

Does anyone know of any cricket podcasts that cover cricket around the globe like this test?

 

[TheJediBrah]

Well losing a spinner to injury on a turning pitch is unlucky and the game was in the balance when he went off.

How much that changed the end result we will never know but it won't have helped Australia.

I guess that's fair.

It's their own overconfidence that's cost them again, especially in the 1st innings. David Warner was an embarrassment. Should have had enough sense to get some practice in before returning to Test Cricket, and not play it like a moron while he's at it.

Also Nathan Lyon is so not good enough it's not even funny. Watch him get completely and utterly outbowled by John Holland in the next test.

 

[adub]

Herath has been my favourite non Aus player for years. How can you not love a chubster who wanders up to the crease, rolls his arm over, doesn't turn it a whole lot, and still has batsmen baffled?

Celebrating him finally getting a win against us and being instrumental in it. Well done that man in particular.