As the dawn broke in Sydney there was a lot of talk about the SCG wicket presenting a dry surface to suit the Sri Lankans. As dramatic as always, Shane Warne during the initial pitch report branded it as “Super Dry”.
Both teams resorted to their available spin options in Xavier Doherty, Sachitra Senanayake and Seekuge Prassanna.
Michael Clarke won the toss and had no hesitation in making the first use of a subcontinent like surface and the explosive opening pair David Warner and Aaron Finch walked out to bat under an electric atmosphere second to none, largely filled by the Sri Lankan fans in all sizes and shapes.
Malinga started proceedings from the members end finding good shape from the word go. Aaron Finch survived an early scare when he edged through to the slip cordon off the second Malinga delivery of the match brushing the fingertips of the diving Mahela Jayawardena at first slip. Much to the disgust of Mathews who moved the man from second slip to short cover after the first ball anticipating more catches in front of the wicket due to the slowness of the track. Mathews’s ploy eventually paid dividends as Warner fell to Malinga pushing hard at a slower delivery airborne to the awaiting hands at cover. Warner was well set up by a fast in-swinging yorker previous delivery which forced him to go with hard hands to meet the follow up well disguised slower ball.
Sachitra Senananayake shared the new ball with discipline. Surprisingly, the track offered little turn and he was forced to operate a rather negative middle and leg line for the right handers with very little margin for error. Overall the body language of the Sri Lankan team looked much better than in any of the previous games during the world cup, thanks to the vociferous support at the SCG.
Introduction of Seekuge Prassanna, a like for like replacement for Jeevan Mendis brought the downfall of Aaron Finch as he failed to read the line of the leg spinner advancing down the track. The ball continued to drift towards the leg stump and go straight on with the arm as it brushed Finch’s outstretched pads into the awaiting gloves of Sangakkara down the legside who disturbed the bails with ease finding the batsman well short of his crease.
This brought Michael Clarke to the crease, along with Stephen Smith the pair negotiated Lasith Malinga without being troubled too much. Steven Smith struck two glorious cover drives through a packed off side field off Malinga to keep up with the run rate close to six runs an over. Playing in their home ground both Clarke and Smith continued to negotiate spin with great fluency scoring above 6 runs an over with decisive footwork. The pair played good old fashioned one day cricket ensuring steady progress during the middle overs with minimum of risk.
Clarke was eventually dismissed by a sneering yorker from Malinga for a run a ball 66 at the 32nd over after forming a solid platform with Smith allowing the big hitting middle order to come to the party. Only Angelo Mathews could explain the reason to hold Malinga’s second spell until the 32nd over unless the star bowler prefers to bowl with an older ball to extract any reverse swing.
The Australian innings in the later overs was given a boost by a world class knock from Glenn Maxwell posting a 102 runs in just 51 balls. Maxwell seemed to have the confidence and the ability play around the park to any delivery. Australia’s pacing of the innings was a prime example for any other top teams as they eased past 350 runs in the 47th over. They limited damage inflicted by Sri Lanka’s main bowlers and took the rest apart. Again Sri Lanka’s tactics of going with 3 main bowlers was found wanted.
Even with 7 batsmen and the modern field restrictions the task of chasing down 375 seemed dauntingto the Sri Lankans. However the policy in packing up the batting line up appears to be decisive and is based on the senior batsmen vouching to chase down any score against any attack.
Much to delight of the fans at the SCG and all around the world the Sri Lankans remained in the hunt until the 40th over, thanks to yet another brilliant 100 by Kumar Sangakkara and a productive 62 by TM Dilshan; both scoring at nearly a run a ball against a quality attack. Highlight of the Sri Lankan innings was Dinesh Chandimal’s 52 runs coming at a crucial time off just 24 balls tilting the momentum towards the Sri Lankans after the dismissal of a tiring Sangakkara in the 34th over.
Chandimal middled the ball from the word go hiting a flurry of boundaries including a lofted six over mid on off Watson. That joy was short-lived for the Sri Lankans as he tore his hamstring in an attempt to return to a quick second run. Despite the injury, Chandimal was reluctant to leave the field before being asked to go by Angelo Mathews at the other end bringing an entertaining partnership to an end. Following the dismissal of Mathews off a Watson short delivery to the hands of Brad Haddin behind the wicket, the hopes of Lankans chasing down the total came to an end.
Despite the continuous improvement and the positives from the game, it is difficult to understand the reluctance of Mahela Jayawardena to bat at number 5. Hypothetically had Chandimal come in and played that innings at number 4 instead of at 6, there was a high likelihood either Jaywardena or Mathews was available to see through the 50 overs to the end. However the veteran with more than 400 limited over one day international cricket experience opted to come in at 4 and was up against Mitchell Starc firing missile like deliveries one after the other during the premature batting powerplay opted in by Jayawardena and Sangakkara. Tied down by Starc, Jayawardena attempted a quick single chancing Clarke’s arms at mid off and found himself well short. Starc was clearly the best bowler of the night and troubled all the Sri Lankan batsmen including the majestic Sangakkara.
Going deep into the tournamen, Sri Lankans need to brush up their running between the wickets, especially their skipper. Mathews has been involved in a number of run-outs off late and always presents himself as a candidate with poor judgement particularly in the inner ring. Further if the plan to go with 7 batsmen is final, the part time bowlers need to step up and be more competent to fill in the 20 over void. Thissara Perera needs to add more variations to his repertoire where the deck offers little lateral movement like it did in Sydney as every top team has one or two Maxwell’s need to be coped with.
