Aussies heap humiliation on the Lankan cricketers

The Sri Lankan cricketers suffered humiliation when the Australians made a clean sweep of the Three match series to retain the Warne-Murali Trophy beating the Lankans by five wickets in the final Test with more than a day to spare at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Sunday after tea.

When Australian skipper Michael Clarke won the toss and put Sri Lanka in to bat on a green top, and when the wicket continued to play easy with no help whatsoever to home team fast bowlers, the Lankan batmen should have batted more responsibly and looked for a big score.

But the 294 they made batting the whole of the first day, was about 50 to 75 runs short. True it was creditable that they kept the Aussies on the field the whole day, but the runs they scored was not enough.

Only Mahela Jayewardene 72 and Lahiru Thirimanne 91 batted with any purpose. Had the batsmen following taken the cue from them and struck with responsibility, the first innings story would have been a lot different.

Original squad

Left hander Thirimanne who many reckon should have been in the original squad, batted competently and showed that he has the ideal technique, temperament and the stokes to be one of the stars in the game.

Thirimanne 24 needs more exposure in the cauldron of Test cricket for him to be a complete player. But sadly with the limited over games gaining precedence, Sri Lanka will not be playing many Test matches in the New Year.

Other players who caught the eye and came in for praise from former cricketing greats here were Dimuth Karunaratne and Dinesh Chandmal. Karunaratne for his very correct approach and Chadimal for his wicket keeping and batting.These two are also the whiz kids of the future and must be nursed and nurtured by being put under competent coaches.

Herath respected

The Sri Lankan bowling cupboard is bare. The only bowler that the Aussie batsmen feared and respected was left arm spinner Rangana Herath. Herath lived up to his reputation and grew in stature by mesmerizing the Aussie batsmen.

Mahela Jayawardene playing his final Test as captain and who did not have success in the Hobart and Melbourne Tests came back to his form of old with twin fifties, but that was not enough to save his team from capitulating.

He goes having come to the rescue of Sri Lanka cricket and answering the call for the sake of the game and the country. He has put the game back on rails and it is hoped that if and when Angelo Mathews is appointed captain, he will take it from where Jayawardene left and take it to greater heights.

O’Reilly Stand

The Bill O’Reilly Stand at the Sydney Cricket Ground is an imposing stand in memory of one of the finest leg spin/googly bowlers produced by Australia in the 1930s and ‘40s.

Popularly known as Tiger Bill O’Reilly, the great man was one of the players who helped Sir Donald Bradman’s 1948 team to England for the ‘Ashes’ to remain unbeaten on that tour and be tagged the ‘INVINCIBLES’.

That 1948 team beat all English county teams and won the Ashes with ease and one of the stars was the great O’Reilly.

After O’Reilly it was Shane Warne who mesmerized batsmen O’Reilly style.

Also at the SCG gate which Aussie players have to open and enter the ground is a plaque in honour of the great Sir Don Bradman that reads: Sir Donald Bradman AC played 46 First Class matches at the SCG between 1927 and 1944 scoring 6,182 runs at an average of 91.46.

‘Australian Legends’

The plaque commemorates Australia Posts five ‘Australian Legends’ which features Sir Don.There is no cricket ground that does not have a stand, a pavilion or a plaque in memory of the greatest batsman that the world of cricket saw or will ever see. Bradman was God’s gift to the game.

Walking round the SCG and watching in awe what a wonderful ground it is, and seing the imposing O’Reilly Stand brought back memories of meeting the great man and what he told me when I asked him as to what should a cricket writer be.

It was the 1986/87 Sri Lanka tour to Australia and O’Reilly was covering the series for the ‘Sydney Morning Herald’. It was to be his final assignment as a cricket writer.

Fitting finale

The respected writer Nick Coward organized a gift as a fitting finale and all cricket writers autographed that book, including yours truly and it was presented to the spinner at a simple moving ceremony.

This is what O’Rielly told me: ‘When the cricketers open the gate and enter the field, it is your business. You can praise them or skin them. Once they come off the field what they do thereafter is none of your f…. business’. And ever since, I have followed that great advice.

It was indeed a great honour and pleasure to meet O’Reilly who made waves in that era. My recollections of O’Reilly was reading books and newspapers about the deeds with the ball of that once in a life time genial man.

The Sydney ground that is steeped in history is getting a facelift with some of the stands being demolished and new stands springing up, readying for the 2015 World Cup to be held in Australia and New Zealand.

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