Australia’s fortunes turn on bowling choices ahead of first Test in Sri Lanka
Australia’s fortunes turn on bowling choices ahead of first Test in Sri Lanka
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The batting order in Galle looks set – but absence of Cummins and Hazlewood leaves decisions on the variety of spinners.
Australian Test teams have had a shift in their relationship with Sri Lanka, a country they tour rarely but for a long time toured with success. In five trips from 1983 to 2011, the visitors only lost one Test, which was enough to decide their only series loss after the second and third matches were heavily washed out. But in 2016 a pretty handy Australian side got whitewashed 3-0, after first dropping the ascendancy in a remarkable turnaround in Pallekele. Then in a shorter series in 2022, after a sizeable win on a surface that spun big, Australia got pummelled by an innings in the second match, while the country they were visiting was in upheaval with massed crowds on the streets causing the popular overthrow of a broken government.
The political situation and national finances of Sri Lanka have eased a little, but its cricket administrators still make an efficiency by concentrating Tests in Galle. In the series starting this Wednesday, both matches will be played there, as they were the last time Australia visited. It suits the home team: since that Australia loss, they’ve dropped one other game at the ground but have won six. Galle is a not a place for draws anymore; the most recent was in 2013, which was 25 matches ago. Prabath Jayasuriya, a left-arm spinner who stepped up to Tests from a humble Colombo club cricket pedigree at the age of 31, has enjoyed his trips down the coast more than anyone. Eight matches there, eight five-wicket bags, twice going on to take ten in the match. That’s eight matches out of a career totalling 18, while 71 of his 107 wickets have come at that ground. Four or five more matches at his rate and he would catch Rangana Herath and Muttiah Muralitharan to be Sri Lanka’s premier Galle specialist. That should give an indication that it’s a handy ground for spin. Sri Lanka’s squad also has Jeffrey Vandersay’s leg-breaks, off-breaks from Nishan Pereis and Dhananjaya da Silva, left-arm spin from Sonal Dinusha, and potentially finger spin from either hand via Kamindu Mendis. But with four seamers plus Angelo Mathews also available, they have options for all conditions.
