Friday, Jan 10, 2003
Friday, Jan 10, 2003 |
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Cricket
By Ted Corbett
I'm sure you can understand my confusion. Instead of lying down and curling up in a ball and possibly shedding a tear or three the much-abused Sri Lankans spent 50 overs on Thursday night breaking records and winning by 79 runs. They smashed 343 for five, Sanath Jayasuriya hit 122 in 102 balls and Marvan Atapattu 101 in 124 balls. Together they batted 34 overs to established a new high with 237 for the opening stand, bettering their top score together and establishing a new record for any Sri Lankan wicket. No-one else reached 40 and the last 14 overs brought only 94 so that it fell short of the 400 suggested by a 30-over score of 226. But it beat the 267 which was its previous highest score in Sydney and set a new high for Australia. It is its third highest score anywhere. It still holds the highest score ever - 398 against the babes from Kenya in 1995-6 - and its score was 16th highest of all time. Not a bad evening's work against the most powerful attack on the planet. Actually it was nothing like a great attack. Without Shane Warne, who says he is ready to bowl in matches again, and Glenn McGrath, who will play in Hobart against England this weekend, it was wretched. Brad Hogg, the left arm spinner who will be Warne's stand-in for the World Cup, went for 75 runs in nine overs which must make Stuart MacGill ask why he is being left at home. Andrew Symonds' offspin was a pale imitation of classic slow bowling. I hope Australia doesn't have to rely on these two at any stage of the World Cup. The fielding was the worst I have seen from an Australian team in 20 years. Hogg dropped Jayasuriya off Shane Watson and Michael Bevan, a celebrated fielder, not only dropped a catch but let a ball slip under his body over the boundary ropes. These two were not the worst. Second string Australia is nothing like as strong as it was only a few years ago when the nation could turn out three high-class Test teams. The new spirit in the Sri Lankan camp may be due to the return to fitness of Muttiah Muralitharan but Jayasuriya was also back at his brilliant best. I thought he might have lost his way after 24 innings with only one century; instead he sent the ball screaming head high through the covers, lobbed a six - one of four - over third man and ignored the pain from a Brett Lee blow as he galloped singles and turned twos into threes. Sri Lanka has been written off as a bunch of non-triers and damned for halting practice sessions. Its transformation was astonishing. Indeed it suggested it might create Australian tri-series history in the next 10 days by reaching the finals despite losing its first three matches. By the time Murali entered the fray in the 22nd over Australia was three down for 110 requiring eight runs an over. He acted out a pantomime, arranged his field elaborately and then, as if to prove it would take more than a hernia operation to kill his skill, pitched the first six balls perfectly. He still bends it like Beckham as well as turning it like a top. Bevan stretched forward and grimaced; four runs came off the first over, three off his second, two off his third. During his ten overs he collected two more victims for 44, including Brad Hogg his 299th. Long before the end 34,000 spectators were walking away in disbelief. Perhaps they thought they had gone to the wrong ground too. Australia was all out for 264 with three balls left - Sri Lanka collected the bonus point - even though Russell Tiffin and Simon Taufel made fools of themselves by refusing to give a decision until the last ball of the match. Quite disgraceful.
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