Sri Lanka in Australia thread

[Jnr.]

It would be terrible if our attack was McGrath, MacGill, Williams, Bracken. What a long tail...

 

[Waughney]

Thankfully I won't ever see that happening.

 

[Arjun]

It is definately not a good idea to play 2 or 3 spinners, the pitches at Cairns and Darwin are going to favour the pacemen (the reason for Macgill not being picked) and offer little help to spinners. At most 2 spinners but 3 is out of the question.

Lankan seamers will need a lot more than just helpful conditions to take Australian wickets. None of them look promising. Quality of the bowlers also matters, and is lacking in the Lankan so-called pace attack. With a problem of finding even 2 quality pacers, the Lankans may have to play 3 spinners

Also you make it sound as though Bichel is a bad tail-end batsmen. He saved Australia in the world cup and only recently scored a First class century for Queensland.

Not bad, but better than Zoysa, hyped as an all-rounder.

Zoysa has shown his potential as an all rounder in the ODI series against Australia winning a match for them with an unbeaten knock of about 40 off about as many balls, so I don't see why he doesn't have a chance of doing similar things in the tests.

He has never gone past 50, has an average of close to 10 and has never lasted long. Give him a place in the top 7 positions, and you may find batting skills missing.

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

nobody who misses a stumping off Adam Gilchrist, who scores a fast 100, deserves to wear the gloves.

And those who miss catches? Should their hands be cut off?

 

[Waughney]

Lankan seamers will need a lot more than just helpful conditions to take Australian wickets. None of them look promising. Quality of the bowlers also matters, and is lacking in the Lankan so-called pace attack. With a problem of finding even 2 quality pacers, the Lankans may have to play 3 spinners

Vaas and Zoysa would be my immeadiate selections. Vaas is a classy player and I have no doubt he has a good chance to rise to the challenge during the coming series. You may not rate Zoysa but I do he is not as good as Vaas but now that he hasn't had an injury in a while I beleive he has time to settle in the Sri-Lankan side, establish himself and fufill his potential as a good seamer.
Yes, quality of bowlers does matter, the quality of Sri-Lankan spinners (excluding Murali of course) was shown throughout the series against Australia (where conditions favoured them considerably) is no greater than quality of Vaas and Zoysa, and seeing as though conditions will suit them this time around they are definate selections.
If Murali plays I will not be suprised to see them use 2 spinners but the selectors would be extremely daft to pick 3.
My Sri Lankan attack if:
Murali plays: Murali, Vaas, Zoysa, Herath (was the second best of the SL spinners on the Aus tour)
Doesn't play: Vaas, Zoysa, Fernando, Herath

 

[marc71178]

MacGill's batting is a joke, but Zoysa's no great tailender either- even Bichel and Lee can bat better.

Erm, Bichel has First Class tons - of course he can bat better!

 

[marc71178]

The only batsman worse than MacGill is McGrath.

*cough* Saggers and Harmison are disputing that.

 

[Sudeep]

McGrath did improve his batting before he broke down. Won't say he's the worst current batsman.

 

[Sudeep]

Murali's mum: I don't want him to go to Australia
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket/3800995.stm

 

[luckyeddie]

Murali's mum: I don't want him to go to Australia
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket/3800995.stm

Are we talking parallels here?

Talk of lots of telephone calls, advice from mothers...

coming soon.... "You look a bit peeky, Muttiah darling. I've got just the thing. Here - let me fetch my handbag..."

 

[Arjun]

Vaas and Zoysa would be my immeadiate selections. Vaas is a classy player and I have no doubt he has a good chance to rise to the challenge during the coming series. You may not rate Zoysa but I do he is not as good as Vaas but now that he hasn't had an injury in a while I beleive he has time to settle in the Sri-Lankan side, establish himself and fufill his potential as a good seamer.
Yes, quality of bowlers does matter, the quality of Sri-Lankan spinners (excluding Murali of course) was shown throughout the series against Australia (where conditions favoured them considerably) is no greater than quality of Vaas and Zoysa, and seeing as though conditions will suit them this time around they are definate selections.
If Murali plays I will not be suprised to see them use 2 spinners but the selectors would be extremely daft to pick 3.
My Sri Lankan attack if:
Murali plays: Murali, Vaas, Zoysa, Herath (was the second best of the SL spinners on the Aus tour)
Doesn't play: Vaas, Zoysa, Fernando, Herath

Zoysa bowls at medium pace. He has to be accurate all the time, or the Aussies will have that bowling for breakfast, lunch and dinner. They have made a mess of almost every medium-pacer who has bowled to them. That should also be considered. He is no doubt talented, but many Lankan fans say that he has a pathetic attitude and is rather lazy- not the player to feature in a team that plays the Aussies. Hopefully he will be more positive.

The spinners were not that great- Dharmasena, to be honest, is a pie thrower and Chandana bowls rubbish quite often. However, Herath bowled better than these 2 and far better than Kulasekara, a medium-pace target of Aussie batsmen. The spinners, bar the unsung heroes of 96, were better than this current 'pace' attack.

Vaas is a definite selection, but Zoysa is not one likely to make an impact in the series. There is a difference between taking on a weak Zimbabwean makeshift team and dealing with a serious, attacking batting side. Other options should be kept open. The conditions may not suit Vaas and Zoysa much, as Australian pitches don't offer much seam, but a lot of bounce. However, it also has to be seen how well they actually use those conditions- they were disappointing in South Africa and in the VB Series of 2002/03.

Picking 3 spinners should also be considered if the pace options are Dilhara, Maharoof and Kulasekara- none of them look promising, and all have been targeted by the Aussies and even the young Zimbabweans. The opposition batsmen play seam better than spin, so that should also be considered.

The first choice of attack is good, but Sanath should be used as a bowler too, since he is a very good bowler, given he's a batsman first. It adds balance to the side.

Same for the second attack, but not both Zoysa and Dilhara- they're likely to go for a lot of runs between wickets and their batting, at least Dilhara's, is nothing to cheer about. Maharoof can get more runs and is more positive. Whatever be the attack, I hope they don't go for too many runs- especially Dilhara, who has a lot of potential to run through batting sides.

 

[AUST_HiTMaN]

Im going on a little family holiday to Cairns, just so happens i arranged it around the dates the test was on (how did that happen ) So im hoping to see some decent cricket up there. It would be good if murali came to Australia, i would like to see his action in real life, im sure its just the TV that makes him look like he straightens his arm.

Interesting to see no Macgill, i was hoping he would be up there givin it a shot at the Sri Lankan attack, only thing i can think of for the selectors going for the pace is the humid conditions up there would provide some movement?

Ahh well, I just hope to see some decent cricket up there and get to meet some of the players.

 

[marc71178]

Murali's mum: I don't want him to go to Australia
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket/3800995.stm

She's just jealous of the attention Warne's Mum's been getting!

 

[Waughney]

Zoysa bowls at medium pace. He has to be accurate all the time, or the Aussies will have that bowling for breakfast, lunch and dinner. They have made a mess of almost every medium-pacer who has bowled to them. That should also be considered. He is no doubt talented, but many Lankan fans say that he has a pathetic attitude and is rather lazy- not the player to feature in a team that plays the Aussies. Hopefully he will be more positive.

Yes, he does bowl at medium pace but pace is not everything, a bowler also needs nip and bounce of a pitch which is what Zoysa has. He also has the delivery that moves back into the right-hander, which will come in handy. Seeing as the conditions will suit his style of bowling don't you think he will be more potent than another spinner?
I don't know many Sri Lankan fans but may his poor attitude be as a result of his constant plague of injuries which would prevent him from getting into a proper fitness and training regime.

The spinners were not that great- Dharmasena, to be honest, is a pie thrower and Chandana bowls rubbish quite often. However, Herath bowled better than these 2 and far better than Kulasekara, a medium-pace target of Aussie batsmen. The spinners, bar the unsung heroes of 96, were better than this current 'pace' attack.

You must consider Australia's ability to play spin. In the recent series Vaas and Zoysa took 17 wickets in 5 matches between them. The spinners excluding Murali (Herath, Jayasuria, Dharmasena, Samaraweera, Chadana, Dilshan and Lokuarachchi) took 11 wickets between them in 12 matches. The Australians played these bowlers with ease on spinners paradise and no doubt they will slaughter them on a seamers pitch.

Vaas is a definite selection, but Zoysa is not one likely to make an impact in the series. There is a difference between taking on a weak Zimbabwean makeshift team and dealing with a serious, attacking batting side. Other options should be kept open. The conditions may not suit Vaas and Zoysa much, as Australian pitches don't offer much seam, but a lot of bounce. However, it also has to be seen how well they actually use those conditions- they were disappointing in South Africa and in the VB Series of 2002/03

My rating of Zoysa has nothing to do with the Zim series, nobody regards those games as tests.
You must remember these won't be normal Australian conditions, Hohns has said it will favour the pacemen but also the humid tropical conditions will also provide swing, which the pacemen will relish and put to better use than 3 spinners.
I didn't get a chance to see any of the SA series but the pitches in the VB series are always absolute flat tracks, offering little assistance to bowlers.

Picking 3 spinners should also be considered if the pace options are Dilhara, Maharoof and Kulasekara- none of them look promising, and all have been targeted by the Aussies and even the young Zimbabweans. The opposition batsmen play seam better than spin, so that should also be considered.

3 spinners shouldn't be considered if the options are Herath, Dharmasena, Samaraweera, Chadana, Dilshan and Lokuarachchi who didn't pose any troubles for the Australian batsmen in conditions that suited them.

The first choice of attack is good, but Sanath should be used as a bowler too, since he is a very good bowler, given he's a batsman first. It adds balance to the side.

He is an OK bowler when the conditions are OK, but not good enough to be ranked as one of the attack.

Same for the second attack, but not both Zoysa and Dilhara- they're likely to go for a lot of runs between wickets and their batting, at least Dilhara's, is nothing to cheer about. Maharoof can get more runs and is more positive. Whatever be the attack, I hope they don't go for too many runs- especially Dilhara, who has a lot of potential to run through batting sides

I haven't seen much of Maharoof but my reasoning behind picking Dilhara Fernando was his attacking bowling, he hits the pitch hard and moves the ball of the seam, he can also add that pace that you think is missing along with some reverse swing with the old ball.

 

[Waughney]

Im going on a little family holiday to Cairns, just so happens i arranged it around the dates the test was on (how did that happen ) So im hoping to see some decent cricket up there. It would be good if murali came to Australia, i would like to see his action in real life, im sure its just the TV that makes him look like he straightens his arm.

I'm going for a holiday to Cairns at the same time, except that we arrive in Cairns the day the test finishes . They were the only tickets left available with that Jet-Star $29 promotion.

 

[AUST_HiTMaN]

I'm going for a holiday to Cairns at the same time, except that we arrive in Cairns the day the test finishes . They were the only tickets left available with that Jet-Star $29 promotion.

Ahh spewin. We arrive at 4am on day 2 of the test. So might just take the sleepin bag and camp outside the enterence while Mum and me Auntie goes to the hotel room :P. 4 Days of cricket is better then none i guess.

I know its a bit off topic to what you guys are talking about regarding stats ect, but does anyone know the agency that i can get tickets from in Cairns? Being West Australian i wouldnt have a damned clue about who is the ticketing agency over there.

 

[Waughney]

Ticketmaster 7 is what your after: http://www.ticketmaster7.com/eventprofiles/profiles.asp?profileid=654

Warne 50-50 for Sri Lankan series

 

[AUST_HiTMaN]

Yeah i searched on ticketmaster7, but they dont have the Cairns match yet, ill ring the WACA and see if they can come up with some phone numbers or anything.

The link above is one for the Gabba, the test is going to be played at Bundaberg Stadium, Cairns

 

[Waughney]

Yeah sorry wrong link (didn't actually look at the page thought it was going to be the main one), but I read they are the ticket sellers for all cricket matches in Queensland, maybe send them an e-mail?

 

[AUST_HiTMaN]

Yeah I will do, combine that with a phone call to the WACA tomorow and I should get some answers

Thanks for the help dude.