Australian Win Test Series Against Lanka, Move Up To Fourth Position

Colombo, Sept 20: The third and final test between Sri Lanka and Australia ended in a draw after the latter  put up a stiff resistance in the second innings. Australia lifted the Warne-Muralidaran trophy by dint of  winning the first test at Galle.

Michael Hussey was chosen Player of the Match for all the matches in this series.

The rained-out second test in Pallekele ended in a draw, though it seemed that Australia would have won that test if it had a few more hours of cricket; and the third and final test, in which nearly five days of game was played for the first time in the three tests, also ended in a draw, reports The Hindu.

Australia was all out for 488. Aussie Captain Michael Clarke, who scored his 15th test century – his first since early last year - and the ever-dependable Michael Hussey were involved in a match-saving partnership, after overnight century maker Phil Hughes (126) fell cheaply in the morning.

After Sri Lanka put 473 in the first innings, in reply to Australia's 316, only one team could have won the match – Sri Lanka. But with Anjelo Mathews taking far too long for his maiden test ton in the first innings, which left too little time for Sri Lanka to bowl out Australia a second time, and Sri Lanka playing one spinner short, there was only one result that was possibly – a draw.

Of the Australian wickets fell in the second innings on Day 5, seven went to Ranganna Herath, the best spinner in view on either side, in this series. Herath does not turn the ball much – and it could be because he, like most Sri Lankan spinners, grew up watching Muralidaran. And, no one can turn the ball like Murali here. Yet – but he relies on his spin, slight changes in flight, angle of delivery, and length. Even on a pitch that offers nothing, he is not easy to handle.

The other Sri Lankan spinner was part-timer and captain T.M.Dilshan. He was, at best, someone who could, with doses of luck, contain batsmen in test cricket. Dilshan has over-bowled himself in this series, and the blanks in the wicket column of the scoreboard illustrates that he hardly deserved the number of overs he sent down.

With no one to support Herath from the other end, Sri Lanka was done in by its own perplexing tactics, and lack of initiative than by any serious Australian resistance.

Australia is set to replace Sri Lanka as the new No 4 team in test rankings once the new test rankings are released. Sri Lanka will move down one place to No.5

When the Aussies last visited Sri Lanka in 2004, they white-washed the home team 3-0, in a three test series. It was team that was being moulded; had a new Captain in Ricky Ponting, and a bunch of frighteningly quick fast bowlers. That team, barring a few troughs, never looked down – till the recent Ashes series that is.

Nearly seven years later, the settings remained the same as the Australian test team began its tour in Galle in late August – a new captain in Michael Clarke, a team that is in the process of rebuilding and only one player with previous Sri Lanka experience. It did not have quality quick bowlers that Ponting had, but that hardly mattered as the Sri Lankans, also in the process of re-building after changes in captaincy and the World Cup debacle, gave up far more quickly than they had done in the recent past.

The find of the series undoubtedly, is Shaun Marsh (240 runs at an average of 80). To make test debut at the age of 28 is a little strange in these days when the age of capping new players has dropped to the late teens across the world. But some early success in his career in his province, and him doing well in the shorter format apparently had a negative influence on Marsh. It required Tom Moody to talk sense into the young Marsh and guide him.

And, the reason he had a look in is because Ponting was unavailable for the second test!

The most under-rated Aussie player, Michael Hussey, scored two centuries and two fifties in 5 innings to become the highest scorer in this series by a huge margin – the next highest scorer in either side was Angelo Mathews, with 274 runs. There was no need to guess who the Man of the Series would be: it was Hussey.

The last test also saw both Phil Hughes and Michael Clarke regain form. Though the Sinhalese Sports Club wicket offered nothing to the bowlers, Australia was under pressure when it came to bat a second time. And, Hughes made his runs as others around him faltered, and Clarke's century ensured that draw would be the result.

Australia looks well set in its batting. But it needs to have a hard look at its bowling. Minus Ryan Harris, the attack looked pedestrian in Colombo. The newly-capped fast medium bowler T.Copeland, while accurate, does not hurry the batsmen. He waits for the batsmen to make mistakes. Former curator and spinner Nathan Lyon, looked a great find in Galle, but the wickets dried up on him since the first innings of the first test.