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| Monday, 12 July 2004 |
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There is still a lot of cricket left says Aussie coach Sa'adi Thawfeeq reporting from Australia CAIRNS, Sunday Australian coach John Buchanan still thinks that there is a possibility of either team winning the second cricket Test being played at the Cazalys Stadium here. "The game is at a very interesting stage now. Sri Lanka is still 106 runs behind and there are roughly 200 overs to go. There is a lot of cricket to occur at this point of time," said Buchanan looking ahead at the remaining two days of the Test. Sri Lanka finished day three at 411 for five wickets in reply to Australia's 517. "Both sides have got a lot of work to do on a very good wicket, which I don't think will deteriorate too much over the next couple of days," said Buchanan. "If either side falters with the bat and loses 4-5 wickets in a session that would give the other side a possibility for a win. That is still a big possibility in the next two days. It could change the game dramatically." Buchanan gave credit to the Sri Lankan batsmen for batting well not only against the spin of Shane Warne but also against Australia's three-pronged pace attack which had destroyed their batting on a seaming pitch at Darwin. "They bided their time and waited for the opportunities to come along which they generally put away pretty well. Their batting has been of great patience and their game plan probably will be to bat as long as they can utilizing the strength of their side which is the batting," said Buchanan. He also praised the batting of Marvan Atapattu who top scored for Sri Lanka with 133. "Marvan is a very technically correct player. He prides himself on being able to bat on for longer periods of time. He will be disappointed at getting out soon after lunch having batted for as long as he had. He obviously has the capacity to do that having six double hundreds to his Test record," Buchanan said. Atapattu playing only his second Test in Australia said that scoring a hundred outside home was always special for him. "It was hard work and I am glad to get a hundred in Australia. But I have worked harder than this at one of my centuries at home against Pakistan at Kandy," said Atapattu. As openers you don't get starts often. We get the most difficult periods to bat with the new ball and if you overcome it then you must make the most of it. I've always thought to myself that if I get a start to make the most of it," said Atapattu. He described his dismissal to the second ball after the lunch break as: "I faced more wicket-taking deliveries than the one I got out to. It is an eye-opener." Atapattu said from the batsmen's point of view the pitch played much better than yesterday and that his side will be looking forward to getting as many runs on the board. |
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