No respite for Aussies in ODI series:

Lanka to continue spin domination

by Sa’adi Thawfeeq

Australia wounded and humiliated by seventh ranked Sri Lanka in the Test series will be looking for redemption when they take on the hosts in a five-match one-day international series at the R Premadasa Stadium under lights today.

The Australian batsmen were defeated by spin in the Test series which they lost 0-3 and it seems there won’t be any respite for them going into the ODI series as well with the pitches likely to be on similar vein.

“The Aussies are a very competitive team, inside and outside of Australia.

We have to play our best cricket to beat them. We did that in the Test series. Now it’s a fresh start. We’ve got some new faces joining the squad for the ODIs. It’s going to be a zero start for both teams,” said Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews.

“We came into the Australia series thinking we could do well in our home conditions. We had to prepare ourselves to the best of our ability. I thought our support staff did a great job preparing us for the series.

“To win a series against a number one team – especially against Australia – meant a lot to us. The confidence levels after that Kandy match turned around. The boys had a lot of confidence and believed in themselves, and that’s why they turned it around. The confidence levels are pretty high and we hope to continue that in the one-day format as well.

“The wicket looks pretty dry once again. In this part of the world the spinners play a major role in the one-dayers, Tests and T20s. Unfortunately we don’t have an XI. We’re yet to decide and we’ve got a selection headache at the moment.

“We’ve got so many spinners to choose from, a good set of batters and a couple of fast bowlers. We’re yet to decide whether we want to go with two spinners and two fast bowlers or three spinners and one fast bowler,” he said.

The selection headache stems from having too many spinning all-rounders in the squad like veteran opener Tillakaratne Dilshan and middle order bat Dhananjaya de Silva both of whom can bowl off-breaks and Milinda Siriwardana who can bowl left-arm spin in addition to his batting.

“We’ve got fast-bowling options as well with myself and Thisara Perera included in the squad, so you’ve got so many options to choose from.. It depends on the wicket. We’ll come back tomorrow and take the final call,” said Mathews.

One position that Mathews confirmed was the opening slot where he said that Dilshan and Kusal Perera would open. “There won’t be that many changes in the batting.”

Sri Lanka has included two uncapped players in their squad – teenage opening batsman Avishka Fernando and left-arm spinner Amila Aponso. While Fernando is very unlikely to get a game today the possibility of Aponso playing cannot be ruled out.

“I haven’t seen much of them but the selectors have. They say those two are very good. Avishka looked really good in the centre yesterday,” Said Mathews. “Most importantly we wanted to share that dressing room atmosphere and the experience with a younger player like him. Especially because we’re playing at home we have the advantage of bringing in an under-19 player to share the dressing room with the likes of Dilshans and Chandimals.”

All-rounder Thisara Perera despite his consistent failure to deliver has been given another opportunity to showcase his talent against the Australians.

“Thisara is a very important player. He hasn’t performed extremely well – the way we would have liked him to or he would have liked to. But he’s a character who could turn things around on any given day with bat or ball.

We’re hoping he’ll come good in this series,” said Mathews. There is no Rangana Herath to torment the Aussies in the ODI series but there are plenty of spinners in the line-up Mathews can call-up.

Given Australia’s susceptibility to spin bowling, as was seen in the Test series, it’s hard to imagine Sri Lanka won’t stock their side with slow bowlers.

The three Test surfaces provided ample assistance for the spin bowlers, but Australia opener Aaron Finch said the wickets for the limited-overs series might play a little fairer.

“There’s not as much wear and tear (on a one-day pitch as a five-day Test wicket),” Finch said when asked if the pitch at Premadasa Stadium resembled a five-day wicket.

“You assume that the wicket is going to generally be pretty true. There might be a little bit of spin there which makes it hard to score when you first come in against spin,” said Finch.

“One-day wickets around the world are pretty consistent and pretty true. But we’ll have to wait and see. They might shave all the grass and dry it out a bit more and it might turn big,” he said.

Finch is expected to pair of with David Warner as openers with skipper Steve Smith expected to occupy the number three slot followed by Shaun Marsh or Usman Khawaja and then George Bailey who has been the rock of Australia’s ODI middle-order. The 33-year-old has played 76 ODIs including 29 games as captain, and scored a century against India in Perth in January. Bailey also boasts a remarkable record in Asia, averaging 58.54 in 13 innings with a top score of 156.

Fast bowler Mitchell Starc who had an excellent Test series with 24 wickets on spin-oriented pitches will spearhead Australia’s bowling. Starc’s strike rate (24.6) and average (19.79) puts him in the upper echelon of 50-over bowlers, and the left-armer is just two scalps away from 100 in ODI cricket.

Former Australia fast bowler Craig McDermott believes Starc’s imperious Test form makes him a complete package.

“I think he (Starc) has come a long way in the last 18 months, two years,” McDermott told The Unplayable Podcast. “He’s the best one-day bowler and T20 bowler in the world. He’d have to be No.1 picked in our team for all three forms going forward.”