Aussies spun around by unheralded Lankans
The Australian last bastion falls - victory for the Lankans - Pix by Amila Gamage
Angelo Matthews’ much-maligned men performed the incredible when they swept to a 106-run win over Australia slightly before tea on day five of the opening Test in the series at the Pallekele Stadium yesterday.
Under the cash for their performances from the World Cup, the Sri Lankans, unheralded and unsung, came back in a big way to net the biggest fish of them all — the number one ranked team in the world. Tutored and advised no end in the art of playing spin on turning wickets, when it came to the crunch, the Aussies (save for one or two), found the Sri Lankan spinners a difficult proposition.
The reliable left-armer Rangana Herath had a match-bag of 9 for 103, while debutant Lakshan Sandakan finished with seven for 102. More importantly, he sowed the seeds of doubt in Aussies minds by his sharp and unreadable spin.
Herath, the mastermind
The man who set up this win, and rightly earned the man-of-the-match award, was the prodigiously talented 21-year-old, Kusal Mendis. His splendid innings of 176 was just about half the Sri Lankan second innings’ total. He seemed free of nerves, put the bad balls away and stepped the good. His innings should imbue some of his top order players with confidence in the Tests to come.
This is Australia’s second loss to Sri Lanka in 27 Tests. The first was in that Test at Asgiriya in September 1999. Steve Smith has lost his first Test as skipper in his 12th attempt.
A slightly delayed start on day five may have perturbed the team and the supporters. But they made up for lost time by disposing of Adam Voges shortly after the start. The Aussie goose seemed to have been cooked because he was the player who could have dug in for the long haul and bailed them out. He is also the player who had a Bradman-esque average.
Smith was devoid of his quirky mannerisms as he concentrated hard and endeavoured to shore up his team’s innings. His only boundary was a back foot force through the untenanted covers off a short Sandakan delivery. For the most part, he was flicking through square leg and mid-wicket. His 55 off 125 balls was important to his team. With him out there, there was still some hope.
Mitchell Marsh was impressive once again, Striking the ball crisply. his reach permitted him to keep the spinner at bay. But the Aussies who lost Smith at 139, also lost March one run later. Mitchell Starc’s was a very soft dismissal. The imperious drives for four through the covers in one Dilruwan Perera over proclaimed his pedigree. On the backfoot to a Sandakan delivery, he served up a dolly to the bowler.
Then came a staggering rear-guard action by the injured and almost immobile Steve O’Keefe and the stumper Peter Nevill. They kept the Sri Lankans at bay for more than 25 overs while they added a mere four runs. Those came when O’Keefe bestirred himself to sweep a delivery for four. Plenty of singles were not taken as O’Keefe was almost immobile.
Mendis, the craftsman
Another debutant, Dhananjaya de Silva, made the long-awaited breakthrough when his back-of-the-hand delivery was edged to Dinesh Chandimal by Nevill. The latter read it late and tried a hurried cut. With the last man in, O’Keefe came down the track to a Herath delivery, missed and was castled.
In was joy, pure and unconfined, for the Sri Lankans who had to put up with a quite a bit of criticism. There were even some misguided calls for the captain’s head. The series has only started. Even though this is not one of the great Australian sides, they will come back fighting. But Matthews has now got the bit between his teeth and he is not likely to surrender the initiative all that easily. The next Test will be at the low and slow Galle Stadium and the Aussies will be similarly tested.
One final point: what happens to the two-tier system when the seventh ranked team topples the first?
Matthews, an elated skipper jumps in joy
| Cricinfo: Herath bowls Sri Lanka to historic victoryTonight, Sri Lanka are gonna party like it’s 1999. Specifically, like it’s September 11, 1999, the only other date on which they beat Australia in a Test. That victory came in Kandy with an XI full of Sri Lankan greats – Aravinda de Silva, Arjuna Ranatunga, Sanath Jayasuriya, Mahela Jayawardene, Muttiah Muralitharan, Chaminda Vaas. This win, up the road in Pallekele, is all the more remarkable for the dearth of such legends. Then again, it could be the making of some new ones.
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| The Age – Australia: Batting ill-discipline cost us, says SmithKANDY: Australian captain Steve Smith has bemoaned his team’s lack of batting discipline, as the tourists scramble for a fresh plan heading into this week’s second Test. The Australians were beaten by 106 runs in the series-opener in Kandy, having been spun out for 161 on day five. It was Smith’s first loss in 12 Tests as captain, Australia’s first to Sri Lanka since 1999 and their seventh-straight defeat in ‘Asian’ conditions, including series against Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates and in India. The bowlers did their job on the opening day, dismantling Sri Lanka for 117, but returns of 203 and 161 with the bat were not good enough. Smith was the only Australian to pass 50 in the match, with a fighting 55 in the second innings. “I think our batting, we lacked a little bit of discipline in our first innings. I thought we were in a good position to get a much bigger lead than 86, so we didn’t push on as much there as we would have liked,” Smith said. “In the third innings of the match, I didn’t think we did a great deal wrong. Kusal Mendis played an exceptional innings to score 176 – I guess that took the game away from us.”
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| NDTV: 17- Number of years for Sri Lanka to win their second Test against Australia. They had secured their first win on September 11, 1999 in Kandy 2 – Number of Tests won by Sri Lanka against Australia. Their first win was also in Kandy but it was at the Asgiriya stadium. Since then, Sri Lanka have lost 10 and drawn three Tests against Australia 7- Number of consecutive losses for Australia in Asia. They lost four against India in 2013and two against Pakistan in the UAE in 2014/15. Their last win in the sub-continent came against Sri Lanka in Galle in 2011. 15 – Number of LBWs in the Test at Pallekele. This is the most number of LBW dismissals in a Test match in Sri Lanka. 176 – Kusal Mendis’ score in the Test at Pallekele, which is highest individual score. This is the second-highest individual score by a Sri Lankan batsman in a Test against Australia, behind Kumar Sangakkara’s 192 at Hobart in 2008. However, it is the highest individual score by a Sri Lankan batsman in Pallekele, going past Younis Khan’s 171* in 2015. 0.13 – The run-rate during the four-run stand between Steven O’Keefe and Peter Nevill, the lowest in the history of Test cricket. The partnership consumed a total of 178 balls but it was worth only four runs. 25 – Consecutive number of maidens bowled by the Sri Lankan bowlers in the Australian innings. This is the first time that such a feat has been achieved. 24 – Number of five-wicket hauls by Rangana Herath after taking 5/54 in the second innings. This is the second-most number of hauls by a Sri Lankan bowler, behind Muttiah Muralitharan’s 67. 1 – First loss for Steven Smith as skipper. He had captained three Tests against India and won one while drawing two. He led Australia to four wins in six Tests against New Zealand while also winning two Tests against the West Indies.
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| Daily Mail – London: Australia suffer 106-run defeat in first TestAn incredible record-breaking ninth-wicket stand between Steve O’Keefe and Peter Nevill was not enough to prevent Australia slipping to a 106-run defeat against Sri Lanka on the final day of the first Test in Kandy on Saturday. Nevill and O’Keefe, playing in only his second Test match, faced 154 consecutive balls without scoring as Australia attempted to salvage an unlikely draw in the fading light at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium.
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