**Official** Australia in Sri Lanka

[Ferd]

Sri Lanka win by 3 wickets

 

[Slow Love™]

Pity Zoysa just missed out on 50 - he virtually won this game single-handedly. Arnold's so weird - he often seems very difficult to dismiss, but rarely scores highly (or at one-day pace, for that matter). He batted just like this when Sri Lanka toured Australia for the VB series just previous to the world cup.

Surprising that Kasprowicz and Williams, who both bowled very well, didn't finish their overs.

On to the tests - I hope they can make room for Kasprowicz. Logic would say that on (test) form, Lee should miss out, but I don't think that's gonna happen. This is assuming that both Warne and McGill play, which should probably be the case.

 

[LankanPrince]

Yeeeessss! What an excellent all round performance from Nuwan Zoysa helping Sri Lanka to edge out Australia in style. He has finally fulfilled that talent he always had and produced a match winning performance. He lead the weakened SL bowling attack without Vaas from the front bowling impressively and getting the Australian batsman into trouble and confusing them with his subtle variations in pace. His 3/34 included the wickets of Australia's stand in captain, Adam Gilchrist and the dangerous Andy Symonds who had got off to a promising start. What made his bowling even better was that his economy was very good, an economical performance. As for Zoysa's batting, it was on another level compared to the rest of the Sri Lankan team. He punished the Australian spinners in true Sri Lankan style showing a good innovative, aggressive technique and blasted 2 6s and 5 4s. His leg side shots were very powerful and he also has good timing. The other notable performances in the SL team were the improving Sangakkara's 35 and Muralitharan's 2/35. However Zoysa brought the enthusiasm and aggression necessary to give Australia a good beating. He has restored some of Sri Lanka's pride which has been damaged in the series. This hard working, talented guy deserves another shot at test cricket and hopefully will be selected for test matches. Through leading the bowling attack in such a way he has proved that he is top candidate in SL to be Vaas's opening partner. His muscle with bat also makes him very useful in the lower order, in my opinion he should bat above Russel Arnold who seems very short on form and was crawling. Hopefully he can build on this good performance and become a better all round player.

 

[Jono]

*Holds up sign saying "open with Zoysa"*
Lol brilliant from Zoysa, absolutely brilliant. Sri Lanka bowled beautifully but their batting is still a worry but not when someone like Zoysa can bat like that.

Some bad captaincy by Gilchrist throughout the match though and it cost him his undefeated captaining streak. However all credit goes to Zoysa, absolutely brilliant and its great to see. Lets get to the tests.

 

[Andre]

Hats of to Nuwan Zoysa - excellent all-round effort - somehting that may very well make him as a cricketer. Yet it also may prove to be a hinderance of future expectation. Whatever happens, I hope he sees the posoitives from today and his confidence grows because it would be a shame for Sri Lankan cricket to lose a man of his ability.

Adam Gilchrist as captain came up with some puzzling decisions, one can only assume he was trying to bowl Lee into some form before the Tests. I thought Hogg was used very, very poorly and that he bowled better than his figures suggest. Again, Symonds batted well and Hogg did the job with the bat. Brad Haddin looked like a fish out of water - with the bat and in the field.

It may have been an idea to give Simon Katich a few overs with thew ball, just to see if he could grab a crucial wicket or 2 - it's his niché. He's not much good for long spells but he can jag 1 or 2 quick wickets - maybe he was worth a punt this match.

Michael Clarke struggled with the bat today, which was a shame - I was interested to see him have a bat with the whole innings to bat through, but such that he's been batting with 10 or so overs remaining for the past 2 months, its not suprising he wasn't able to build and innings.

Michael Bevan struggled again, he needs something special in his next series against Zimbabwe should he be picked. Damien Martyn did little to suggest he was going to be a thorn in the side of the Sri Lankans. Simon Katich looked promising before an unfortunate run-out.

Michael Kasprowicz and Brad Williams again bowled with purpose and panaché to ensure Australia has a healthy selection dillema before the first Test. It will be interesting to see if Hogg stays on with the remainder of the squad - I hope he does, he could be valubale later in the Test Series. On the strength of Andy Symonds' perfomance today, it will be hard to leave him out in the first Test.

For Sri Lanka Kumar Sangakkarra again showed he was a player of substance, while Saman Jayantha looks an interesting prospect. I thought he may have opened today with Atapattu at 3 but this was not to be. Nuwan Kulesakera was fairly up-and-down while Murali was again potent - it beggar's belief as the why he didn't bowl 10 overs.

Upul Chandan again proved a handy cricketer, while Russel Arnold's performance should be give more credit than the scorecard will show. He batted with patience, held the lower order together and allowed Zoysa the self-belief he needed.

In all honesty, Australia fell 30 runs short on what seemed a fairly decent track.

 

[marc71178]

Unless it was 2-2, I think he was going to have a break once the series was won.

Small point, but if it was 2-2, then the series won't have been won!

 

[LankanPrince]

Hats of to Nuwan Zoysa - excellent all-round effort - somehting that may very well make him as a cricketer. Yet it also may prove to be a hinderance of future expectation.

Hmmm, thats an interesting perspective to look at it from I doubt it will hinder Nuwan Zoysa in his future progress as a Sri Lankan cricketer though. He is still relatively young at 25 and is supremely talented, so I think that the Sri Lanka's cricketing loving public will not burden him with high, unreasonable expectation, this will not be beneficial to his progress and the Sri Lankan cricket in general. Despite this phenomenal performance, I believe Zoysa does not have the reputation to be a household name in Sri Lanka like Sanath Jayasuriya, Muttiah Muralitharan and Chaminda Vaas. If there is high pressure and expectations it is usually on Sri Lanka's veteran World Cup 96 winners who have achieved massive feats and are still expected to play to that level. This is good because it allows the younger, less experienced players to relax and show off their natural game just as Nuwan Zoysa did today. Can you believe in this match he has managed to maintain his career strike rate of over a hundred, that is amazing considering he has batted in 38 ODI innings.:O

 

[Swervy]

Hmmm, thats an interesting perspective to look at it from I doubt it will hinder Nuwan Zoysa in his future progress as a Sri Lankan cricketer though. He is still relatively young at 25 and is supremely talented, so I think that the Sri Lanka's cricketing loving public will not burden him with high, unreasonable expectation, this will not be beneficial to his progress and the Sri Lankan cricket in general. Despite this phenomenal performance, I believe Zoysa does not have the reputation to be a household name in Sri Lanka like Sanath Jayasuriya, Muttiah Muralitharan and Chaminda Vaas. If there is high pressure and expectations it is usually on Sri Lanka's veteran World Cup 96 winners who have achieved massive feats and are still expected to play to that level. This is good because it allows the younger, less experienced players to relax and show off their natural game just as Nuwan Zoysa did today. Can you believe in this match he has managed to maintain his career strike rate of over a hundred, that is amazing considering he has batted in 38 ODI innings.:O

yeah and he has managed to bump up his batting average to a whopping 13

 

[LankanPrince]

yeah and he has managed to bump up his batting average to a whopping 13

You really are a shallow minded fooooooooool! I knew some joker would tag on to Zoysa's average. The average isn't the most important stat, its his strike rate over a 100, not even the most aggressive batsman in the world have this. Also give him credit for the match winning all round performance or I might start degrading English players when they win matches single handedly (or whatever team Mr. Self Centered supports!).

 

[Jono]

Lee: 9 overs, 1 maiden, 52 runs, 1 wicket, (2nb, 5w)

What is wrong with him? Honestly he cant string more than 3 good games together.

 

[marc71178]

The average isn't the most important stat, its his strike rate over a 100, not even the most aggressive batsman in the world have this.

No, but then again the more aggressive batsmen in the world tend to get 40 or 50 off 55-60 balls - much more use to a team than 13 off 12 balls!

 

[age_master]

Hats of to Nuwan Zoysa - excellent all-round effort - somehting that may very well make him as a cricketer. Yet it also may prove to be a hinderance of future expectation. Whatever happens, I hope he sees the posoitives from today and his confidence grows because it would be a shame for Sri Lankan cricket to lose a man of his ability.

Adam Gilchrist as captain came up with some puzzling decisions, one can only assume he was trying to bowl Lee into some form before the Tests. I thought Hogg was used very, very poorly and that he bowled better than his figures suggest. Again, Symonds batted well and Hogg did the job with the bat. Brad Haddin looked like a fish out of water - with the bat and in the field.

It may have been an idea to give Simon Katich a few overs with thew ball, just to see if he could grab a crucial wicket or 2 - it's his niché. He's not much good for long spells but he can jag 1 or 2 quick wickets - maybe he was worth a punt this match.

Michael Clarke struggled with the bat today, which was a shame - I was interested to see him have a bat with the whole innings to bat through, but such that he's been batting with 10 or so overs remaining for the past 2 months, its not suprising he wasn't able to build and innings.

Michael Bevan struggled again, he needs something special in his next series against Zimbabwe should he be picked. Damien Martyn did little to suggest he was going to be a thorn in the side of the Sri Lankans. Simon Katich looked promising before an unfortunate run-out.

Michael Kasprowicz and Brad Williams again bowled with purpose and panaché to ensure Australia has a healthy selection dillema before the first Test. It will be interesting to see if Hogg stays on with the remainder of the squad - I hope he does, he could be valubale later in the Test Series. On the strength of Andy Symonds' perfomance today, it will be hard to leave him out in the first Test.

For Sri Lanka Kumar Sangakkarra again showed he was a player of substance, while Saman Jayantha looks an interesting prospect. I thought he may have opened today with Atapattu at 3 but this was not to be. Nuwan Kulesakera was fairly up-and-down while Murali was again potent - it beggar's belief as the why he didn't bowl 10 overs.

Upul Chandan again proved a handy cricketer, while Russel Arnold's performance should be give more credit than the scorecard will show. He batted with patience, held the lower order together and allowed Zoysa the self-belief he needed.

In all honesty, Australia fell 30 runs short on what seemed a fairly decent track.

agreed

the old dead rubber syndrome i think.

i was surprised to see that Katich didn't open, sure Haddin might knock off 30 odd but he gets out for not many a fair bit too, Katich builds up a OD innings nicely.

Gilchrists 1st loss as captain i think.


onto the tests - Macgill has said that he thinks Australia is likeley to play 5 slower bowlers - Macgill, Warne, Lehmann, Symonds and Katich - that would however leave Martyn out, probably something i would say that the selectors are unlikley to do, but who else would you leave out...

 

[Neil Pickup]

Did I read 16 off 67 balls right? Ow

Zoysa has the highest career ODI SR in the world doesn't he?

When he came into bat at the Eng/SL OD at Trent Bridge in Summer '02, i said to the guy next to me, "This is either gonna be Six or Out." Sure enough, first ball, great big hoik across the line, bye bye middle stump.

 

[Swervy]

You really are a shallow minded fooooooooool! I knew some joker would tag on to Zoysa's average. The average isn't the most important stat, its his strike rate over a 100, not even the most aggressive batsman in the world have this. Also give him credit for the match winning all round performance or I might start degrading English players when they win matches single handedly (or whatever team Mr. Self Centered supports!).

give me a batter who averages (and shows the ability to score) 30 and at a strike rate of 70 over someone who averages 13 (a not out 40 odd helps him get that ave up as well) and a SR over 100 any day.

Yep he must have played well for 3 wickets and 40odd..but one swallow does not make a summer.When it comes down to it, we all know he is an average international player,who had a great game.For Mr self Centered please read Mr Realistic

 

[Craig]

I feel bad for Martyn, his confidence really is shot ATM.

It will be interesting who is in Sri Lanka's bowling line-up v Australia in Tests.

You would think it could be:

Vaas (certainty), Zoysa (you would think so perhaps), Murali (obvious), Chandana, Dharmasena/Lokuarachchi.

Looked up the record of Dinushu Fernando, and his FC record is pretty good (ave around 22 s/r under 50). Although he didnt set the world alighte v England.

 

[LankanPrince]

I never mentioned Nuwan Zoysa as a batsman, but as a bowler who makes useful contributions lower down the order in the last few overs of an innings. Taking this context in mind a 13 off 12 balls can be considered useful in the last two overs of a match (when Zoysa usually bats). He is obviously not going to be in the middle for a good 10 overs to knock up 40 runs using textbook shots at a steady rate. Remember he is a bowler with batting POTENTIAL, not a top class batsman so this is a completely unrealistic expectation. The fact that he is unpredictable and doesn't have the batting reputation makes him can make him a dangerous element at times (like Australia found on Sunday)
So before posting it would refreshing if some people (i.e. Swervy, Marc) actually thought about the context which was first mentioned, otherwise you get plain ridiculous comments that do not add anything to an interesting conversation.

 

[marc71178]

That's all very well, but in that case to get a true context you need to have the S/R of all players in the last 2 overs or whatever.

Just because a player's career S/R is 80, that doesn't mean that every 10 balls he faces, he scores 8 runs...

 

[Swervy]

stop crying LankanPrince, my comment about his 'whopping' batting average was an off the cuff jokey comment in reply to your comments about his amazing career batting strike rate of over 100 over 38 matches.......that amazing career SR does seem a bit less amazing when when you consider his average.

He did great in the game vs Australia,but he has a long way to go before he convinces me that he anything more than a medium paced bowler of average ability,and a batsman of no note what so ever apart from his 47 the other night.

I am not a mind reader...how was i meant to know that when you refer to his SR of over 100 being so brilliant,that really you wanted it to be taken in the context of his bowling as well.

Just chill out lad

 

[LankanPrince]

Hey I am always chilled out, I am a true ruuudebwouy! However when I ever I argue, I argue to the degree where it really annoys people! I thrive on this but am not a person to get upset easily in an argument, so take me on if you dare and I will dismiss you!

 

[LankanPrince]

That's all very well, but in that case to get a true context you need to have the S/R of all players in the last 2 overs or whatever.

Just because a player's career S/R is 80, that doesn't mean that every 10 balls he faces, he scores 8 runs...

Now you really are sad my friend, trying to pick at all the trivial flaws in my already flawed, biased arguments. You already know I am maaaad but you actually spend time to analyse and answer my posts with thought out responses, hmmm that really is remarkable! You gotta be the most serious guy on this forum, right?