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| Saturday, 6 March 2004 |
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Beaten at their own game by Sa'adi Thawfeeq Expectations were high when Sri Lanka met Australia in the five-match one-day international series. But as it turned out to be, the world champions proved a shade too good for the home side as they added another one-day series to their impressive collection winning by a margin of 3-2. It was not that Sri Lanka was outplayed by their opponents, but the fact was that they failed to seize on initiatives and capitalize on them that saw them concede the series by the fourth game. Australia play their cricket to almost perfection. They try to eliminate all errors if that is possible. To put it in perspective they make the least amount of errors and that is why they are successful. The best way to upset Australia's well-laid plans is to seize the initiative from the outset and not allow them to dominate you. Once you allow them to do that it is rather difficult to comeback against a team of all-round strength. Where Sri Lanka failed to deliver was in their batting. The figures in the series prove that Sri Lanka were unable to consistently put together useful partnerships which led to their downfall. Whereas Australia averaged 35.27 runs per wicket, Sri Lanka comparatively averaged 23.20.The world champions exposed quite frankly the frailties that exist in the line up once the two most experienced pair skipper Marvan Atapattu and Sanath Jayasuriya are removed. The Australians knowing that fully well targeted the pair and succeeded. The only time they failed - in the second one-dayer at Damhulla, the pair put together a century opening partnership and Sri Lanka were able to squeeze out a win by one run.That Atapattu and Jayasuriya made just 146 runs between them in 10 innings tells the story. Jayasuriya began the series targetting two milestones, but he achieved only one as the most capped one-day player for Sri Lanka. The other he will have to wait for the five one-dayers in Zimbabwe to accomplish. The end of the series found him still 36 runs adrift of Aravinda de Silva's record one-day run aggregate of 9284 for Sri Lanka although he began it needing only 112. Jayasuriya was also out of sorts with his left-arm spin which looked pretty innocuous (except at the SSC). He picked up a solitary wicket in the entire series conceding 172 runs. The failure of this pair to give good starts put undue pressure on the middle-order batting and it is to the credit of Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene that Sri Lanka were able to compete with Australia on equal terms to a certain degree. Sangakkara was outstanding scoring the only century in the series. His wonderful effort in the fourth match at the R. Premadasa Stadium turned out to be a wasted one when the rest of the batting failed to complete the good work. Sangakkara provided the platform for victory which was within touching distance at one stage of the innings when he was hitting the Australian bowling to all parts of the ground. In addition to being called upon to keep wickets in the last three games. Sangakkara displayed consistency in his batting to aggregate 250 runs, which was only seven runs shy of the most made in the series - Australian captain Ricky Ponting who had 257. Jayawardene was a steadying influence in the series although he still has to curb the little bit of imprudence he displays now and then. He is certain to learn with time. Playing against a relatively weak Australian side, Sri Lanka nearly threw away the opportunity of victory when they suffered a similar collapse as they had displayed in the fourth game at the R. Premadasa Stadium. However on this occasion they had to thank Nuwan Zoysa for seeing them through. Dropped from the national team for lack of commitment and fitness for nearly 18 months Zoysa returned with a roar to make the final game played on his home turf the SSC a personal one for him. He bagged three wickets and then hit a career best unbeaten 47 to steer a nervous Sri Lanka to a three-wicket win which would have given them some confidence for the Test series. One-day game is all about batting and one doesn't have to look beyond one's nose to know why Sri Lanka failed. They were outstanding on the field. Their fielding although a bit rusty at the beginning picked up brilliantly and the bowling was exceptionally good to keep the strong Australian batting line up under 250 in the final two games. Leg-spinner Upul Chandana was the most impressive, although experienced pair Chaminda Vaas and Muttiah Muralitharan also had their share of success.Ponting held the Australian innings together for the first four games. But in his absence in the final match, the team failed to top 200 and lost. Ponting made a fifty in each of his first four innings and was a model of consistency throughout the series. Around him was built the rest of the Australian batting. However the most impressive contribution in their series victory came from Andrew Symonds whose performances with bat and ball impressed the Australian selectors so much they included him in the Test squad for the first time. Symonds's all-round contribution of 211 runs and five wickets won him the man-of-the-series award. The ability of the Australian pace bowlers to extract much bounce and movement on the slow tracks provided for the series was also another factor that contributed to Sri Lanka's loss. The home team had always held the upperhand playing on such surfaces, but on this occasion they were out thought and out played by the Aussies. CENTURIES (1) Sri Lanka (1): 101 - K.C. Sangakkara (4th ODI, RPS) HALF-CENTURIES (12) Sri Lanka (4): 80 - D.P.M. Jayawardene (3rd ODI, RPS) Australia (8): 93 - M.L. Hayden (2nd ODI, Dambulla) CENTURY PARTNERSHIPS (5) Sri Lanka (2): 1st wkt 121 Atapattu (47)/ Jayasuriya (55) (2nd ODI, Dambulla) Australia (3): 1st wkt 104 Gilchrist (66)/ Hayden (40) (1st ODI, Dambulla) FIVE WICKETS IN AN INNINGS (3) Australia (3): 5/41 G.B. Hogg (1st ODI, Dambulla) NOTE: Sri Lanka's best was 3/34 by W.P.U.J.C. Vaas (3rd ODI, RPS) and 3/34 by D.N.T. Zoysa (5th ODI, SSC). RUN RATE: Sri Lanka scored 1044 runs for 45 wickets off 234.5 overs scoring at 23.20 runs per wicket and 4.44 runs per over. Australia scored 1164 runs for 33 wickets off 246.1 overs scoring at 35.27 runs per wicket and 4.72 runs per over. |
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