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| Wednesday, 24 March 2004 |
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Ponting looks for whitewash; Lanka plays for pride by Sa'adi Thawfeeq With the Test series already lost, Sri Lanka come to the headquarters of Sri Lanka Cricket with only pride to play for when they meet Australia in the third and final Test beginning at the SSC today. Australia leads the three-Test series 2-0. The situation is similar to the one-day series when Australia came to SSC with an unbeatable 3-1 lead in the five-match series. Although Sri Lanka made it 3-2 by winning the final game, it was more or less a token victory. Whether Sri Lanka can repeat that feat in the Test match will be known over the next five days. What the Test series has proved so far is that Sri Lanka have been dominant over Australia in the first innings and thrown it all away in the second unable to sustain the pressure. That is why Australia is the best team in the world. Sri Lanka captain Hashan Tillakaratne under pressure to retain his position as captain as well as his place in the team, makes no bones about it. "I think we have to be mentally tough to take on these Australians. The finishing touches are not there. We saw how they finished us off in the two Tests. That is lacking in our cricket," said Tillakaratne. "We cannot relax against them even for 10-15 minutes. They can always come back and nail you as they did to us in Galle. You can relax with any other country but not against Australia." "We have learnt many things from Australia in the series. I am sure we can benefit by it, especially the youngsters," he said. Tillakaratne said that it was high time Sri Lanka overcame their stakes and won a Test against Australia. "We haven't played our best cricket in the one-dayers as well as the Test matches. We have dominated the last two tests and it is high time to turn the result around." "We have batted badly in the last two Tests. After getting them out for 120 at Kandy there was no excuse for us not going and getting a big score. The second day was a placid batting track. We just made a mockery of our batting that day. "At Galle we lost due to playing very negative cricket on the third morning. That changed the whole game and allowed Australia to come back very strongly," said Tillakaratne. "I am worried the batsmen are getting out in their 30s and 40s and not converting them into big scores. We need big partnerships. That's what the Australians have been doing in the series. They all know how difficult it is to get in but once they do that they just go on and make a big score," he said. Personal form About his own personal form, Tillakaratne said that it was a big concern. "I am trying my best to get some runs. I have to get back to the drawing board and see where I am going wrong." "I haven't been playing any bad shots it is unfortunate. I think my shot selection is a little poor. I am trying to be positive and play my normal game. I don't want to change my game. As soon as I got the captaincy I was scoring runs but it has suddenly disappeared. I have to back myself and try and come out of the situation. I think I am due for a big score. It's around the corner," he said. Since starting of the New Zealand series with scores of 144 and 93, Tillakaratne's scores in the next three series against West Indies, England and Australia has been 13, 13, 7, 0, 1, 45, 20, 12, 33, 25, 16, and 7. "It does not bother me whether I remain as captain for the next series. If I am to step down I just want to go out on a high note and try and perform at my level best,' he said. "The Zimbabwe tour is round the corner and we will have to put our best foot forward and try and make some runs." Sri Lanka will be happy to have Tilan Samaraweera back in the side after missing the Kandy Test with a groin injury. He will replace Avishka Gunawardene who stood in for him at Kandy. Whether Samaraweera will bat at No. 3 is something the selection committee will have to decide. Samaraweera has a formidable Test record at the SSC, his home ground. In six Tests he averages 171 with an aggregate of 513 runs inclusive of three centuries and two fifties. With the SSC pitch being traditionally conducive to bounce more than Galle and Kandy, Sri Lanka are hoping to play a three-man seam attack comprising Chaminda Vaas, Nuwan Zoysa and uncapped Nuwan Kulasekara which could mean they will have to leave out leg-spinner Kaushal Lokuarachchi. Finishing as they had begun Australia's thoughts are again centred on whether to play an extra fast bowler. They gave it a lot of thought at Kandy before finally settling in for an unchanged side. Brad Williams or Brett Lee's replacements Shaun Tait are the likely choices. "Williams has been one of those unlucky guys. He was fantastic last summer in Australia and he does deserve the chance to play if we do go that way," said Australia captain Ricky Ponting. "There are a lot of things we have to consider going into this game. Has the balance been right or not? Do we need another quick bowler or not? We've got toss up those things today and see what balance we come up with. This selection is going to be very difficult, like it has been for the first two," he said. Ponting said that the team made a commitment at the meeting that they were going to endeavour to finish the tour as well as they had started it. "This is a team that has set a lot of records over the years and achieved a lot of things that other teams have not been able to achieve. There wouldn't have been many sides that have come here and won a Test series 3-0. That is something we want to do," said Ponting. "We were a little bit disappointed with the one-dayers. We were probably in a position to win that series 5-0 and we let them off a bit there. We don't want to take the foot off the accelerator this time," he said. Playing Murali, a key factor One key factor in Australia's success in the series has been their ability to successfully tackle the spin of Muttiah Muralitharan. "I think we have done an outstanding job right throughout this tour. He's (Murali) had very little impact during the one-day series and although he has made an impact in the Test series with 20 wickets he's had to work very hard for those and has had to bowl lots of overs," said Ponting. "Quite often it has been the tailenders that he has knocked over. We have played him really well and our batsman has done a fantastic job. They have been able to occupy the crease and soak up the pressure. It has been in the second innings when the wicket has worn a little more that we have played him best," Ponting continued. "We have not tried to negate him. We have scored 3 or 3.5 runs an over against him over long periods of time. If you are just going to sit on him like England did then it is going to make it very hard for you to win Test matches. We've tried to manipulate fields. If you hit a couple of times over the top it is amazing how quickly they put a man back there and then you can easily hit one down the ground. That is the approach that all our batsmen have had. It was not a set approach; it was up to each individual. Although he has taken 20 wickets he has never been able to sustain pressure on our top order batsmen," he said. The teams: SRI LANKA (from): Hashan Tillakaratne (captain), Marvan Atapattu, Sanath Jayasuriya, Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Tilan Samaraweera, Chaminda Vaas, Nuwan Zoysa, Muttiah Muralitharan, Nuwan Kulasekara, Kaushal Lokuarachchi, Upul Chandana. AUSTRALIA (from): Ricky Ponting (captain), Justin Langer, Matthew Hayden, Damien Martyn, Darren Lehmann, Andrew Symonds, Adam Gilchrist, Shane Warne, Jason Gillespie, Michael Kasprowicz, Stuart MacGill, Brad Williams, Simon Katich. UMPIRES: Steve Bucknor (West Indies) and David Orchard (South Africa), TV umpire: Peter Manuel (Sri Lanka), Match Referee: Chris Broad (England). |
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