1st Test: Sri Lanka v Australia at Galle Aug 31-Sep 4, 2011

[TheParraboy]

starts this wednesday

I am expecting SL to win this series. Not having a quality spinner and doubts over our batting to consistantly perform are the main reasons

SL 3-0

Cheers

 

[caylo]

I'm guessing: Hughes, Watson, Ponting, Clarke, Khawaja, Hussey, Haddin, Johnson, Copeland, Harris, Lyon.

Australia win series 2-0, Copeland takes 20 wickets in three match series. Ponting makes a century in each match and Phil makes a century in the first two. Hussey to only pass double figures once in series and be dropped.

 

[Matt23]

Yeah we won't lose 3-0...there Spinners aren't that good, I'll tip a drawn series 1-1

 

[hineyrulz]

With the shithouse bowling stocks on either side it could be a 0-0 series.

 

[beads6]

I reckon they will go with Beer as the spinner. Don't really care which spinner they use tbh. So long as Khawaja is in the side with Copeland I will be happy.

 

[Twizzle]

Siddle 0-98 off 20 for the game at 5 runs an over.

Surely that should be the end of him when the wicket takers are only going for around 2 an over.

 

[Fast Eddie]

With the shithouse bowling stocks on either side it could be a 0-0 series.

Yeah I'd go with a 0-0 draw as well.

 

[yappy]

I reckon they will go with Beer as the spinner. Don't really care which spinner they use tbh. So long as Khawaja is in the side with Copeland I will be happy.

+1

I'm quietly confident actually. The batting is as strong as we can select. With Harris and Copeland having the new ball the openers are going to have to work hard and both should take consistent wickets. I think Watson should also bowl tidily if he can get it to wobble around and should be good for a few wickets. I don't have any expectation on Beer (or Lyon) to get any wickets so every one he does jag will be a bonus and I think Pup is likely to get a 3-fer somewhere during the series.

The wildcard as usual will be Johnson. Whilst he'll be just as likely to spray it around and bowl like a hack most of the time he will probably have a good innings or two along the way. If he can get that to coincide with good performances from our other bowlers we'll win a test or two.

 

[African Monkey]

I've never seen Copeland bowl but he simply has to play in these conditions from what I've heard. There's no point going for all out pace in Sri Lanka when they are the worst conditions in the world for fast bowlers. Maybe even play both Lyon and Beer because Johnson and Harris will be dog tucker on these pitches.

 

[yappy]

Siddle 0-98 off 20 for the game at 5 runs an over.

Surely that should be the end of him when the wicket takers are only going for around 2 an over.

Siddle :crazy:

Seriously he must be pretty thick. When he pitches up and gets the batsmen coming forward he is dangerous. But 9 times out of 10 he bowls like his entire game plan is to get the batsman caught at leg gully off the hip. ](*,)

 

[Hallatia]

I'm tipping 2-1. Sri Lanka should win the series because they are best suited to the conditions and Australia is in a rebuilding phase lalala. But their middle order is still quite weak, so you take a few wickets early and they start to get exposed.

If however, Australia win the first test, then Australia should win the series 2-1.

 

[African Monkey]

I'm tipping 2-1. Sri Lanka should win the series because they are best suited to the conditions and Australia is in a rebuilding phase lalala. But their middle order is still quite weak, so you take a few wickets early and they start to get exposed.

If however, Australia win the first test, then Australia should win the series 2-1.

Their middle order's good it's their lower order that is very weak.

 

[caylo]

Siddle :crazy:

Seriously he must be pretty thick. When he pitches up and gets the batsmen coming forward he is dangerous. But 9 times out of 10 he bowls like his entire game plan is to get the batsman caught at leg gully off the hip. ](*,)

I agree, after his injury against england he pitched it up and had the ball seaming around and some reverse swing and he looked at his best. He bowls every match like its at the Wacca, short and trying to kill the batsmen rather then get him out. When will these fast bowler realize that batsmen generally arn't scared of pace, they are good enough at this level to face 160kph. Its when you start moving the ball around that they stuggle, not sure when to leave or when to play.

 

[aussies1st]

As long as Copeland is picked I'm happy, can't wait to see how he goes.

 

[TheParraboy]

Yeah we won't lose 3-0...there Spinners aren't that good, I'll tip a drawn series 1-1

With the shithouse bowling stocks on either side it could be a 0-0 series.

Yeah I'd go with a 0-0 draw as well.

I'm tipping 2-1. Sri Lanka should win the series because they are best suited to the conditions and Australia is in a rebuilding phase lalala. But their middle order is still quite weak, so you take a few wickets early and they start to get exposed.

If however, Australia win the first test, then Australia should win the series 2-1.

im sorry to say it and break your hearts, but you are all wrong

Bank on a SL whitewash

 

[TheParraboy]

http://www.espncricinfo.com/sri-lanka-v-australia-2011/content/story/530105.html

Khawaja v Marsh poses selection headache

On the strength of a strikingly composed 101 retired in the Colombo tour match, Usman Khawaja has made arguably the more convincing case. Though he opened the batting, Khawaja stayed long enough to see the wicket wear and the spinners wheel away, showing he had developed a more convincing method against spin than the one that saw him defeated by Graeme Swann on debut in the fifth Ashes Test at the SCG in January.


Yet Shaun Marsh's hold on the No. 6 berth has appeared much the stronger in the weeks leading up to the match. He was not taken on the Australia A tour of Zimbabwe, where Khawaja failed to make a score of note in four innings, because he was deemed almost an automatic selection for the tour of Sri Lanka. Marsh has also seen far more of the Sri Lankan Test attack than Khawaja, and has the game to dominate an attack, whereas Khawaja is more likely to accumulate with a game best suited for the top four. Should the merit of one silken innings in a tour match overrule earlier conclusions?


"I don't know, I'm not sure. [Khawaja is] another one who grabbed a hold of his opportunity and that's all you can do," Clarke said. "Obviously he hasn't made too many runs leading into this three-day game in the Australia A set-up, in county cricket and the back-end of NSW.


"He's another one who has put his hand up and said `give me a chance'. I also thought SOS [Marsh] did well in that first one-dayer he played, when he made 70 and creamed them. He played the spin really well. We've got to have a real good think about the position.

 

[Timbo]

In other words, they're picking Marsh.

Siddle will probably get in as well.

 

[TheParraboy]

In other words, they're picking Marsh.

Siddle will probably get in as well.

yeah, another selection headache between siddle and copeland :crazy:

 

[Hallatia]

Silly, silly selectors. Lankans seem much smarter

Sri Lanka reportedly ask fast bowler Lasith Malinga to come out of Test retirement to face Australia
By Ed Jackson in Colombo, Sri Lanka
AAP August 28, 2011

Sri Lanka's cricket authorities have reportedly made a move to bring paceman Lasith Malinga out of his Test retirement for some of the upcoming series against Australia.

The slingy right-arm quick took 11 wickets in the five-match one-day series against Australia but retired from Test cricket in April to extend his career in both the 20-over and 50-over formats.

Malinga has played 30 Tests for Sri Lanka, capturing 101 wickets at 33.15 with his last Test appearance being against India in Colombo in August last year.

But a report in the Sunday Times newspaper claims Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) officials have approached Malinga to make himself available for the Test squad.

While there's no chance of Malinga playing in this week's series opener in Galle, the report says officials are hoping to have him in the team for the second Test in Kandy starting on September 8.

"We have made a request from Malinga to consider coming out of retirement and be a part of the line-up for the second Test at Pallekelle," an unnamed SLC administration official is quoted as saying in the paper.

"He still has not responded to our request, but he was not unfavourable to it either.

"We are keeping our fingers crossed."

Should Malinga make a return to the Test arena, it will send shivers down some Australian batsmen's spines after the 28-year-old twice ripped through the tourists during the one-day series.

His five-wicket haul in Hambantota in the third game of the series sealed a win for the Sri Lankans while he also claimed an unprecedented third ODI hat-trick in the final match, which was also won by the hosts.

Following that series Australia captain Michael Clarke expressed his relief that Malinga wasn't expected to play in the Tests.

"I think a few of the boys are happy we don't face him in the Test series," Clarke said after the final ODI.

"His execution is what is spot on, he hits his yorkers very well, he's got a very good slower ball.

"He's experienced, he's played a lot of games and under pressure he executed his skills very well."

Source

Really rate Malinga, I reckon, if he plays, PB's Lankan whitewash prediction might be right.

 

[Timbo]

Silly, silly selectors. Lankans seem much smarter

Source

Really rate Malinga, I reckon, if he plays, PB's Lankan whitewash prediction might be right.

He came out only a week or so ago and said he'd never come back to test cricket. I doubt this will come to anything.