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| Tuesday, 30 March 2004 |
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Lanka has special memories for me - Warne by Sa'adi Thawfeeq The faith Australian captain Ricky Ponting has on leg-spinner Shane Warne is immense. As he had done at Kandy, to win a close contest by 27 runs, Ponting had so much confidence in his bowler to deliver the goods in the final Test at the SSC that he brought him on in the final session despite him going to tea with figures of no wicket for 66 off 20 overs. "When the game is up for grabs there is probably no one in the world you would rather have on your side with the ball in his hand," said Ponting after Warne had bowled Australia to yet another incredible victory with just eight balls to spare in the third and final Test against Sri Lanka. It was not so much the margin of victory the Australians were worried about but the number of overs, which had whittled down to just two and the last pair batting. Although it was Michael Kasprowicz who took the final wicket which signaled a 121- run win for the Aussies and with it a clean 3-0 sweep of the series, it was Warne who sent Sri Lanka tumbling towards defeat by bowling Kumar Sangakkara in the second over after tea. Warne followed this wicket with those of Dilshan, Vaas and Zoysa to finish with four wickets for 92. "Sri Lanka holds some special memories for me. Standing there just before I bowled Zoysa I was thinking about the time I stood on this ground 12 years ago. It was a similar situation, with the match going down to the wire. After I got the wicket I felt very happy and emotional about what this last 12 years has been like," said Warne. "He did not have a lot of luck in this game, although he probably bowled as well as he did in the other two, but it was good that he got the results at the end of the day," said Ponting. "It was a matter of him being patient, especially when he has got a few left-handers to bowl to with a fair bit of rough to bowl into. If he lands it in the rough enough times then soon enough something is going to happen," he said. Although the 34-year-old spinner would have been disappointed that he failed to break West Indian Courtney Walsh's world Test record of 519 wickets, nevertheless it was a great achievement for him to win the Player of the Series award in his comeback series after serving a 12-month drug ban. Warne finished the series with 26 wickets at an average of 20.03 and played a crucial part in Australia's win in the subcontinent. He goes home with 517 wickets. "I couldn't have asked for a better series. I feel very, very good. One thing I've been happy with is the amount of spin I've been getting. Probably I haven't spun the ball over the past few years as much as I'd have liked and I think the 12 months has given a rest to my shoulder and my finger. I'm back spinning the ball big time," said Warne. "For Ricky to show the faith to give me the overs in the first innings of the first Test match gave me a lot of confidence for the series." "I've worked pretty hard for the last two or three years. I suppose the rewards have been there for the last 20 or 25 test matches. They've all been pretty good. The wicket was still pretty good. Although it was turning we saw once two blokes got in as we did yesterday, it's still a good wicket and you needed to bowl well. To win three-nil over here is not an achievement to be taken lightly. Sri Lanka is a very good side," Warne said. "I didn't think I was going to get the seven [which Warne needed to pass Courtney Walsh's record of 519.] Obviously it was on my mind to do it. It would have been lovely to get it here because Murali goes to Zimbabwe from here so he'll probably race about 80 ahead or 40 ahead or however many he can get in a couple of games," he said. Ponting also praised the efforts of man-of-the-match Darren Lehmann who scored 153 in the first innings and took a match bag of six wickets 92 runs. "He had a great series and it is great to have him back in the side. He is a great character and he adds a lot of energy out in the field as he always has something funny to say," said Ponting. |
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