**Official** Australia in Sri Lanka Jan - Feb 2025

[Burgey]

If pitch is in the middle of the roped off area, then it seems to have a lot of grass?

View attachment 44889

It hasn’t been cut yet. It’ll be bald as a badger come game day, with. Couple of craters at either end as is the subcontinental way to make things competitive

 

[Burgey]

With that green pitch, could Sri Lanka have pulled off the biggest bluff in history and will hit Australia with pace knowing Cummins and Hazlewood are missing?

No. They aren’t that bright

 

[Spikey]

Why the Sri Lanka series could be the start of more free cricket on TV

Australia may be about to enter a new era of overseas Test cricket on free-to-air television as Seven prepares to broadcast the Sri Lanka series starting this week, a harbinger of future bidding for matches in India and elsewhere.

www.theage.com.au

On one level this series was expedient by Seven, given the late January/early February timeslot well clear of football. Australia have not played a Test match overseas this early in the year since January 1970, during a tour of Apartheid South Africa.

But those close to the network insist that it is part of wider play to get more cricket onto its television and digital platforms, based on booming audiences for the World Test Championship final in 2023 and then for this summer’s India series.

Seven now views these series as commercially attractive for the right price, and will weigh up their timezones, calendar slots and potential advertising revenue accordingly.

 

[the big bambino]

With that green pitch, could Sri Lanka have pulled off the biggest bluff in history and will hit Australia with pace knowing Cummins and Hazlewood are missing?

They might play themselves as that would bring Boland right into contention.

 

[Prince EWS]

They might play themselves as that would bring Boland right into contention.

Australia's batsmen would be much less uncomfortable with that sort of pitch than Sri Lanka's too.

 

[TheJediBrah]

With that green pitch, could Sri Lanka have pulled off the biggest bluff in history and will hit Australia with pace knowing Cummins and Hazlewood are missing?

Haha just joking around, 0% chance of it actually happening. Would be incredible tactics if they did though

 

[Qlder]

It hasn’t been cut yet. It’ll be bald as a badger come game day, with. Couple of craters at either end as is the subcontinental way to make things competitive

Yep, reported on cricket com this happened straight after coach Jayasuriya had an animated discussion with the curator

"The entire strip was scoured by broom to ensure all the grass was stood up, at which point it underwent more than half an hour of forensic mowing to ensure it presented the sort of bare appearance normally associated with the subcontinent"

 

[Burgey]

Yep, reported on cricket com this happened straight after coach Jayasuriya had an animated discussion with the curator

"The entire strip was scoured by broom to ensure all the grass was stood up, at which point it underwent more than half an hour of forensic mowing to ensure it presented the sort of bare appearance normally associated with the lesser cricketing nations"

Yeah, always bound to happen.

 

[govinda indian fan]

Yep, reported on cricket com this happened straight after coach Jayasuriya had an animated discussion with the curator

"The entire strip was scoured by broom to ensure all the grass was stood up, at which point it underwent more than half an hour of forensic mowing to ensure it presented the sort of bare appearance normally associated with the subcontinent"

If it is turner would be interesting to see if smith is still good enough to replicate 17 bgt performance

 

[govinda indian fan]

I watched the last series in '22 and I see this as worst case another 1-1 draw (Halba was saying 0-2 loss for Australia)

Khawaja, Labuschagne, Smith, Carey, Lyon and Starc did well last tour, so the core experience is still there. Kuhnemann and Murphy also did well on spinning Indian decks as did Head when he opened. With Konstas and Webster being added to the mix there's a lot to like.

Konstas is great find but doesn't look like he is good vs spin. Looked clueless vs jadeja at mcg

 

[Burgey]

He just needs to bosh them.

B O S H
O
S
H

Slog.

 

[Shady Slim]

Why the Sri Lanka series could be the start of more free cricket on TV

Australia may be about to enter a new era of overseas Test cricket on free-to-air television as Seven prepares to broadcast the Sri Lanka series starting this week, a harbinger of future bidding for matches in India and elsewhere.

www.theage.com.au

letsgooooooooooooooooooooooo

 

[Qlder]

Smith has confirmed Head will open with Khawaja.

So who will bat 5, Konstas, McSweeney, Inglis or Connolly?

 

[cascade]

Everything I've seen suggests Inglis at 5, Kuhnemann will play, and then it's a question of Boland vs Murphy for the last spot.

 

[Qlder]

Aussie selectors really churning through the debutant openers. McSweeney dropped after 3 tests and now Konstas dropped after 2.

What I don't get about the Head move to open is that everyone knows it's so he can start against pace instead of spin. But in Sri Lanka's last test in Galle they opened with spin in both innings

 

[TheJediBrah]

Smith has confirmed Head will open with Khawaja.

So who will bat 5, Konstas, McSweeney, Inglis or Connolly?

So basically 2 out of McSweeney, Webster, Connolly or Inglis will play. Batting between 5 and 7 along with Carey.

Konstas won't be picked to bat middle order in Sri Lanka lol

 

[Spikey]

the youngster having to be dropped because travis head is a big baby against spin. smh.

 

[halba]

Konstas dropped. Never thought he was international standard for red ball. Especially against quality spin

 

[halba]

the youngster having to be dropped because travis head is a big baby against spin. smh.

He can hit spin eg against the new ball when there's less turn. We saw this in their lone victory in India

 

[halba]

So basically 2 out of McSweeney, Webster, Connolly or Inglis will play. Batting between 5 and 7 along with Carey.

Konstas won't be picked to bat middle order in Sri Lanka lol

Inglis is a good player against spin and mcsweeney as well. They don't need Webster's mediums on this pitch