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| Thursday, 1 July 2004 |
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Malinga to make Test debut Sa'adi Thawfeeq reporting from Australia DARWIN, Wednesday - Sri Lanka will unleash their new pace 'find' Lasith Malinga at the Australians when he makes his Test debut in the first cricket Test starting at the Marrara Oval here tomorrow. Twenty-year-old Malinga from Galle CC forced himself into the reckoning ahead of rivals Farveez Maharoof and Dilhara Fernando with a stunning spell of fast bowling in the four-day practice game played here a week ago with figures of six for 90. Two of Australia's Test top order batsmen Justin Langer and Simon Katich were taken by surprise by Malinga's slinging action reminiscent of former Australian fast bowler Jeff Thomson. Although Langer went onto score a century, Katich was hit on the helmet before being dismissed for a duck. Although not tall for a fast bowler standing just over five and a half foot in height, Malinga has turned out to be a pocket dynamo with his exceptional pace especially from a Sri Lankan fast bowler. Many see him as an exciting prospect. "He is pretty quick. We saw some video footage and he looks unorthodox, awkward and another bowler like so many others coming up these days," said Australian captain Adam Gilchrist who has taken over the leadership following Ricky Ponting's unavailability for the Test due to a death in his family. "There seems to be a lot of unorthodox bowlers around these days compared to the more traditional easy to pickup bowlers. We have to be patient with Malinga earlier and then judge our game plan against him after that," said Gilchrist who will be leading his country only for the third time in a Test. Sri Lanka captain Marvan Atapattu said: "Malinga hurried up a couple of batsmen with his pace in the four-day warm-up game. I guess he will be a handful." Malinga will line up with the experienced left-arm pair Chaminda Vaas and Nuwan Zoysa in providing Sri Lanka with the thrust they need to run through the strong Australian batting in the absence of champion world record breaking spinner Muttiah Muralitharan. The spinner's berth is likely to go to leg-spinner Upul Chandana who has the edge with his batting over left-armer Rangana Herath. With Sanath Jayasuriya left-arm spin also available Chandana's right-arm leg spin would add variety. With Atapattu keen to play his best seven batsmen in the side left-hander Russell Arnold gets the nod ahead of Romesh Kaluwitharana. The 30-year-old left-hander Arnold returns to the Test fold after two years. His last Test was at the Centurion against South Africa in October 2002. "I think the best way to go about is play the best seven batsmen available. In that context Russell showed more confidence in his batting in the four-day game than Kalu," said Atapattu. Sangakkara to keep wickets Kaluwitharana who was recalled to the team after nearly a year will have to sit out the Test and leave the glovework to Kumar Sangakkara. Sangakkara was rested from that position for the short series in Zimbabwe when Prasanna Jayawardene took over. This is the first time in two years that Sri Lanka will be playing a Test without Muralitharan. The last occasion was against England at Lord's in 2002 when he was recovering from a dislocated shoulder injury. "It is a little difficult without Murali. We haven't played in a Test match without him for a long time. It will be a big challenge for the others. It is time for someone else to come and do the job for us," said Atapattu. "It was our batting that let us down in the last series. Having seven batsmen in the side the major contribution towards the game should come from them. We bat down to no. 10 in terms of players who can bat. If we click in our batting we can give them a good run," he said. "We have certainly discovered and got to know where we went wrong. In terms of the last series there was nothing else but the morale, determination, the mental toughness that saw the Aussies come back fighting in the second innings. It is something we lacked. We have noted that but we must put it into practice and do in the middle," Atapattu said. Sri Lanka can take some confidence from the fact that the two Tests Gilchrist had stood in as captain; Australia has lost to West Indies and to England. Gilchrist admitted that the contest between the two countries in the last series was 'very close' although the 3-0 victory margin sounded like a crushing win. "I take confidence that they stretched us in that series. We fully expect them to be confident after their win in the 4-day game here," said Gilchrist. "I don't think our focus has ever been on the opposition or what they are thinking. That has been the key ingredient to the success of this team. It is a question of just getting ourselves right, fine tuning and making sure that we don't have too many disruptions like Ricky not coming. We want to get on with business as usual," he said. Ponting's place at no. 3 will be taken by left-hander Matthew Elliott who was roped in by Cricket Australia when he came home from England (where he was playing county cricket for Glamorgan) for the birth of his third son. Elliott (32) played the last of his 20 Tests for his country four years ago. "Although you would wish to have a player of Ponting's class it's nice to have a ready-made replacement Elliott at no. 3," said Gilchrist. "Elliott's been in great touch for a long while. He is experienced in Test cricket and very experienced in first-class cricket." The Test will also mark the return of fast bowler Glenn McGrath from a leg injury and give leg-spinner Shane Warne the opportunity to go past Muralitharan's world record total of 527 Test wickets. Warne marks his 111th Test appearance tomorrow and has 517 wickets. Gilchrist said: "If we can achieve these personal milestones within our game plans it's great. Warnie is talented enough to do it. It is more of a case of if we get our process right towards winning the game what will come with that is individual success and Shane's obviously going to be paramount achieving that success." "Warnie is a huge contributor even on non-spin friendly conditions. The way he bowled in Sri Lanka was right back up there with some of his best stuff. If he is in that sort of form we know no matter where he is playing he will play a huge part in our success," said Gilchrist. However Sri Lanka coach John Dyson said: "Everyone knows that Warne is a great bowler but I am not sure whether he will be able to bowl as well as he did in Sri Lanka throughout another two Tests. I don't think this wicket or Cairns will give him as much help." Sanath turns 35 Sri Lanka opening batsman and former captain Sanath Jayasuriya turned 35th today. His birthday celebrations were held at the grounds yesterday with a picture taken of him with his team mates and a cake with the words 'Happy Birthday Sanath' inscribed on it. The teams: SRI LANKA (from): Marvan Atapattu (captain), Sanath Jayasuriya, Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Tilan Samaraweera, Russell Arnold, Chaminda Vaas, Upul Chandana, Nuwan Zoysa, Lasith Malinga, Rangana Herath, Dilhara Fernando. AUSTRALIA: Adam Gilchrist (captain), Matthew Hayden, Justin Langer, Matthew Elliott, Damien Martyn, Darren Lehmann, Simon Katich, Shane Warne, Jason Gillespie, Michael Kasprowicz, Glenn McGrath, 12th man - Stuart MacGill. UMPIRES: Billy Bowden (New Zealand) and Alim Dar (Pakistan), TV umpire: Simon Taufel (Australia), Match Referee: Chris Broad (England). |
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