England rejoice! The Australians are playing some of the worst cricket in their history. Their recent record reads like this: 1 Test loss to Pakistan, 2 Test losses to India, 1 ODI loss to India, 1 T20 loss to Sri Lanka, 2 ODI losses to Sri Lanka. Of course, this means one of two things. First, the Aussies are stuck in a rut and will continue to play poorly and get stuffed in the Ashes. Second, and I suspect more likely, the hosts will come out all guns blazing and give England a real contest. Let's go inside a couple of the Sri Lanka matchups to see how things are shaping up:
Only T20I (Perth) - Sri Lanka 135-3 (16.3 overs) beat Australia 133-8 (20 overs) (Randiv 4-0-25-3, Perera 4-0-22-2) by 7 wickets with 21 balls remaining. This was every bit as easy as it sounds for Sri Lanka. Australia batted first on a typically quick Perth wicket and had soon crumpled to 43-5. Sri Lanka took all the chances which came their way, no more spectacular than the one handed grab taken by quick bowler Dilhara Fernando to dismiss the opposition skipper Michael Clarke. Brad Haddin and Steve Smith staged a recovery of sorts but both got out in the 18th over to spinner Suraj Randiv, who utilised the extra bounce in the track to keep the Aussies on the backfoot and cutting, generally unsuccessfully. The lack of acceleration towards the end of the innings meant that 133 was never going to be competetive. The inexperienced bowlers John Hastings and Clint McKay bowled tidily in reply but never had enough in the bank to defend, particularly as Mahela Jayawardene and TM Dilshan found fluency at the top of the order which their opponents so lacked. When they fell trying to push for an early finish, Kumar Sangakkara steadied the ship with his usual cool head and Thissara Perera ended proceedings in spectacular fashion, launching Smith's leggies for 2 massive maximums.
1st ODI (Melbourne) - Sri Lanka 243-9 (44.2 overs) (Mathews 77* off 84, Malinga 56 off 48, Doherty 10-1-46-4) beat Australia 239-8 (50 overs) (M Hussey 71* off 91, Perera 8-0-46-5) by 1 wicket with 34 balls remaining. Quite simply, a miracle. Despite the fact that it looked once again as if the Australian batting lineup had reached a target well under par, they still managed to reduce the visitors to 107-8, before a stunning comeback from new kid on the block Angelo Mathews and No.10 slogger Lasith Malinga. To be fair, the Aussies got off to a very decent start with the bat, through Michael Clarke and Brad Haddin, who looks back to great form after his injury and will now certainly start with the gloves in Brisbane. However, the introduction of Thissara Perera's medium pace sparked a collapse. It's not although he did much with the ball on a fairly flat pitch, but he simply plonked the ball on a good line and length and let the batsmen make the errors. Case in point, Cameron White misses a straight one playing down the wrong line. Richie Benaud called it a "marvellous delivery". It wasn't. Shaun Marsh rebuilt the innings alongside the under pressure Michael Hussey - a double failure for Western Australia sent the local media into a frenzy, but although this wasn't a spectacular knock, it was sensible and displayed the right temperament for difficult situations. The bowling was led by the debutant spinner Xavier Doherty, who looked to have a very solid action and nice subtle variations. He seems a better bet than Nathan Hauritz as things stand. However, he, along with his teammates, should really have seen the game through before Malinga and Mathews' big-hitting comeback, topped off by Murali hitting the winning runs. A great game to watch as a neutral, particular as an England fan!
And to add to the misery, the Aussies suffered another comfortable defeat today in Sydney - report to follow next week. Now let's have a look at this bowling attack which will look to cause the England boys some trouble:
Mitchell Johnson (LA quick, LH bat) - the lynchpin. Despite a horrendous outing in 2009, Johnson is much more potent on home soil on bouncy tracks with much less lateral movement. His huge backlift also poses a serious threat down the order, and is someone who can genuinely disrupt Graeme Swann's rhythm.
Doug Bollinger (LA quick, LH bat) - should recover from a side strain in time for Brisbane. Has been talking a great game all week about how he's going to take Strauss and Pietersen down. Knows the England boys from a stint at Worcestershire, back when he was bald. Now has hair, hence the nickname "Doug the Rug". Quite good, but not as good as he'd tell you. Still a lad though
Peter Siddle (RA quick, RH bat) - the archetypal new Australian cricketer - not suprememly talented but "a trier". A former wood chopper, I'll avoid lazy puns on him cutting Alastair Cook down to size. Oh wait.... Pretty good in 2009, pretty good recently, that's about it. Nice aggressive streak.
The spinners - Nathan Hauritz (RA offie) is the incumbant, but really I can't take him seriously since someone pointed out he looks like Haley Joel Osmont in the Sixth Sense (Google). Opposition batsmen take the same attitude and generally target him these days, hence he'll fail to keep an end tight. Xavier Doherty (SLA) is an unknown quantity but looked a good prospect in the 1st ODI. England would be more likely to treat him with caution so I would plump for him at the Gabba, as a spinner in Oz needs to restrict rather than attack generally (RIP Jason Krejza's international career). But Hauritz can contribute down the order with the bat, so will probably get the nod as the "safe option".
The pretenders - Ryan Harris (RA quick) has had a great year in limited overs cricket and is a good option for the Tests but has had a long-term injury and so will need to be eased back slowly. Peter George (RA quick) apparently had a good debut in India but I know very little about him and I assume there are others ahead of him as things stand. Brett Lee? probably not.
So let's turn briefly to England, for they have done very little of note on tour so far. They had a decent first day against Western Australia at the WACA in Perth, all of the bowlers chipping in to restrict the hosts to 242-8d. Broad picked up 3, Anderson, Finn, Swann and Collingwood 1 apiece. Alastair Cook fell for 5 in bizarre circumstances as England closed on 10-1. WA skipper Marcus North is another under pressure for his test place, but unlike Mike Hussey, came back in the 2nd innings of his Sheffield Shield game with a century. A man who always performs when the pressure is on most, much like Colly for England. Callum Ferguson is pushing for a middle order place of his own after a century for South Australia - Tim Nielsen has said that he very much could be involved at the Gabba. Ferguson had a great start to his international career in ODIs, but then picked up an injury that basically necessitated him having his entire knee rebuilt. He's a talent, and another unknown quantity.
Meanwhile at the Gabba, Queensland were routed for 75 and 96 by a Hauritz-led New South Wales. Pace bowler Mark Cameron took 11-52 on a green-top, something that the rainy east coast could preserve for the 25th November. The pace bowlers, a department in which Australia have the edge, will rejoice.
England's "Top Bloke" of the Week: Broady - not just for his 3 early wickets at the WACA but his reaction to Graeme Swann's minor thumb injury. "He's just glad to get out of the running" he said. Mountains? Molehills? No such thing. LAD
Next week: Introducing the men looking to pile on the runs for England. ODIs 2 & 3 for Aus vs SL. The result of England's WA warm-up and the fun moves on to Adelaide.
RM
Only T20I (Perth) - Sri Lanka 135-3 (16.3 overs) beat Australia 133-8 (20 overs) (Randiv 4-0-25-3, Perera 4-0-22-2) by 7 wickets with 21 balls remaining. This was every bit as easy as it sounds for Sri Lanka. Australia batted first on a typically quick Perth wicket and had soon crumpled to 43-5. Sri Lanka took all the chances which came their way, no more spectacular than the one handed grab taken by quick bowler Dilhara Fernando to dismiss the opposition skipper Michael Clarke. Brad Haddin and Steve Smith staged a recovery of sorts but both got out in the 18th over to spinner Suraj Randiv, who utilised the extra bounce in the track to keep the Aussies on the backfoot and cutting, generally unsuccessfully. The lack of acceleration towards the end of the innings meant that 133 was never going to be competetive. The inexperienced bowlers John Hastings and Clint McKay bowled tidily in reply but never had enough in the bank to defend, particularly as Mahela Jayawardene and TM Dilshan found fluency at the top of the order which their opponents so lacked. When they fell trying to push for an early finish, Kumar Sangakkara steadied the ship with his usual cool head and Thissara Perera ended proceedings in spectacular fashion, launching Smith's leggies for 2 massive maximums.
1st ODI (Melbourne) - Sri Lanka 243-9 (44.2 overs) (Mathews 77* off 84, Malinga 56 off 48, Doherty 10-1-46-4) beat Australia 239-8 (50 overs) (M Hussey 71* off 91, Perera 8-0-46-5) by 1 wicket with 34 balls remaining. Quite simply, a miracle. Despite the fact that it looked once again as if the Australian batting lineup had reached a target well under par, they still managed to reduce the visitors to 107-8, before a stunning comeback from new kid on the block Angelo Mathews and No.10 slogger Lasith Malinga. To be fair, the Aussies got off to a very decent start with the bat, through Michael Clarke and Brad Haddin, who looks back to great form after his injury and will now certainly start with the gloves in Brisbane. However, the introduction of Thissara Perera's medium pace sparked a collapse. It's not although he did much with the ball on a fairly flat pitch, but he simply plonked the ball on a good line and length and let the batsmen make the errors. Case in point, Cameron White misses a straight one playing down the wrong line. Richie Benaud called it a "marvellous delivery". It wasn't. Shaun Marsh rebuilt the innings alongside the under pressure Michael Hussey - a double failure for Western Australia sent the local media into a frenzy, but although this wasn't a spectacular knock, it was sensible and displayed the right temperament for difficult situations. The bowling was led by the debutant spinner Xavier Doherty, who looked to have a very solid action and nice subtle variations. He seems a better bet than Nathan Hauritz as things stand. However, he, along with his teammates, should really have seen the game through before Malinga and Mathews' big-hitting comeback, topped off by Murali hitting the winning runs. A great game to watch as a neutral, particular as an England fan!
And to add to the misery, the Aussies suffered another comfortable defeat today in Sydney - report to follow next week. Now let's have a look at this bowling attack which will look to cause the England boys some trouble:
Mitchell Johnson (LA quick, LH bat) - the lynchpin. Despite a horrendous outing in 2009, Johnson is much more potent on home soil on bouncy tracks with much less lateral movement. His huge backlift also poses a serious threat down the order, and is someone who can genuinely disrupt Graeme Swann's rhythm.
Doug Bollinger (LA quick, LH bat) - should recover from a side strain in time for Brisbane. Has been talking a great game all week about how he's going to take Strauss and Pietersen down. Knows the England boys from a stint at Worcestershire, back when he was bald. Now has hair, hence the nickname "Doug the Rug". Quite good, but not as good as he'd tell you. Still a lad though
Peter Siddle (RA quick, RH bat) - the archetypal new Australian cricketer - not suprememly talented but "a trier". A former wood chopper, I'll avoid lazy puns on him cutting Alastair Cook down to size. Oh wait.... Pretty good in 2009, pretty good recently, that's about it. Nice aggressive streak.
The spinners - Nathan Hauritz (RA offie) is the incumbant, but really I can't take him seriously since someone pointed out he looks like Haley Joel Osmont in the Sixth Sense (Google). Opposition batsmen take the same attitude and generally target him these days, hence he'll fail to keep an end tight. Xavier Doherty (SLA) is an unknown quantity but looked a good prospect in the 1st ODI. England would be more likely to treat him with caution so I would plump for him at the Gabba, as a spinner in Oz needs to restrict rather than attack generally (RIP Jason Krejza's international career). But Hauritz can contribute down the order with the bat, so will probably get the nod as the "safe option".
The pretenders - Ryan Harris (RA quick) has had a great year in limited overs cricket and is a good option for the Tests but has had a long-term injury and so will need to be eased back slowly. Peter George (RA quick) apparently had a good debut in India but I know very little about him and I assume there are others ahead of him as things stand. Brett Lee? probably not.
So let's turn briefly to England, for they have done very little of note on tour so far. They had a decent first day against Western Australia at the WACA in Perth, all of the bowlers chipping in to restrict the hosts to 242-8d. Broad picked up 3, Anderson, Finn, Swann and Collingwood 1 apiece. Alastair Cook fell for 5 in bizarre circumstances as England closed on 10-1. WA skipper Marcus North is another under pressure for his test place, but unlike Mike Hussey, came back in the 2nd innings of his Sheffield Shield game with a century. A man who always performs when the pressure is on most, much like Colly for England. Callum Ferguson is pushing for a middle order place of his own after a century for South Australia - Tim Nielsen has said that he very much could be involved at the Gabba. Ferguson had a great start to his international career in ODIs, but then picked up an injury that basically necessitated him having his entire knee rebuilt. He's a talent, and another unknown quantity.
Meanwhile at the Gabba, Queensland were routed for 75 and 96 by a Hauritz-led New South Wales. Pace bowler Mark Cameron took 11-52 on a green-top, something that the rainy east coast could preserve for the 25th November. The pace bowlers, a department in which Australia have the edge, will rejoice.
England's "Top Bloke" of the Week: Broady - not just for his 3 early wickets at the WACA but his reaction to Graeme Swann's minor thumb injury. "He's just glad to get out of the running" he said. Mountains? Molehills? No such thing. LAD
Next week: Introducing the men looking to pile on the runs for England. ODIs 2 & 3 for Aus vs SL. The result of England's WA warm-up and the fun moves on to Adelaide.
RM
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