After taking one each of the limited overs series - T20 and ODIs - Sri Lanka and Australia will lock horns in the first test of the three match test series at the hosts happy hunting ground, Galle.
Its the first test for Australia after going down 1-3 to the now no.1 side England in the ashes at home. its been a long break from test cricket for the Aussies. 8 months to be precise. But these days international cricketers are expected to adapt quickly to the different formats of the game.
Sri Lanka also on other hand had a not so good series against England getting defeated 0-1 in 3 match series. The series was marred by injuries to players including captain for whom it was the first major assignment as captain.
The Australians have included 4 uncapped players in the squad and the same are expected to warm the benches. Shaun Marsh , one among them might have had an outside chance of making it to the playing eleven but a good fifty from Hughes in the tour game has put an end to those specualtions. Usman Khawaja having scored a patient hundred in the tour game will also make the cut to the playing eleven but his position of batting will be the one to be watch out for. Ricky Ponting will now look to concentrate on his batting and contribute to the team after handing over captaincy to Clarke. Ponting and Clarke, who have been in good run of form in the ODI series, along with Michael Hussey will form the mainstay of this Australian batting during this series. On the bowling front this series will be huge test for the amateur spinner , Beer. Bowling in sub-continent conditions for the first time and against one of the finest players of spin will be a daunting task for Beer.
Sri Lanka will look to dominate on their home soil with new captain Dilshan. They are expected to go with 5 batsman and 4 bowler combination with Angelo Mathews playing as alrounder. A slight thin chance of playing with 3 spinners in mendis , herath and randiv, with mathews acting as the second pacer, might tickle the minds of sri lankan team management as the Australians might struggle with spin. Most probably it will be a 2-2 combination with mendis taking one spinner spot and the other will be toss up between randiv and herath. Herath being a left armer will have slight advantage over randiv. The pace attack will be led by Welegedara and the other pacer is expected to be dhammika prasad even though lakmal has done fairly well in England.
Both team look equally balanced in batting. It will be a contest between Australian pacers and Sri Lankan spinners. The team with better bowling attack will prevail in the series. Sri Lankans will be tough team to beat at home even after the retirement of Murali. It will also take some doing for the Aussies to end the series on high.
Probable Elevens:
AUSTRALIA : watson, hughes, ponting, clarke, hussey, khawaja, haddin(wk), johnson, siddle, beer, harris.
SRI LANKA : dilshan, paranavitana, sangakkara, jayawardene, samaraweera, p.jayawardene (wk), angelo mathews, herath, dhammika prasad\suranga lakmal, welegedara, mendis
Important Players:
Ricky Ponting : Playing as a pure batsman in the team without the additional burden of captaincy. This man is expected to take his batting to the level the world knows of him. He can be a very dangerous batsman which he has proved already in his playing career. A good run of form in ODIs would have boosted his confidence level and he is now ready to take on the world with his batting.
Kumar Sangakkara : Same goes with this batsman. Playing purely as a batsman without captaincy, which he handed over to Dilshan after the world cup, is expected to shine with the bat. Also after given up wicket keeping in test cricket has helped him to concentrate more on his batting.
Its the first test for Australia after going down 1-3 to the now no.1 side England in the ashes at home. its been a long break from test cricket for the Aussies. 8 months to be precise. But these days international cricketers are expected to adapt quickly to the different formats of the game.
Sri Lanka also on other hand had a not so good series against England getting defeated 0-1 in 3 match series. The series was marred by injuries to players including captain for whom it was the first major assignment as captain.
The Australians have included 4 uncapped players in the squad and the same are expected to warm the benches. Shaun Marsh , one among them might have had an outside chance of making it to the playing eleven but a good fifty from Hughes in the tour game has put an end to those specualtions. Usman Khawaja having scored a patient hundred in the tour game will also make the cut to the playing eleven but his position of batting will be the one to be watch out for. Ricky Ponting will now look to concentrate on his batting and contribute to the team after handing over captaincy to Clarke. Ponting and Clarke, who have been in good run of form in the ODI series, along with Michael Hussey will form the mainstay of this Australian batting during this series. On the bowling front this series will be huge test for the amateur spinner , Beer. Bowling in sub-continent conditions for the first time and against one of the finest players of spin will be a daunting task for Beer.
Sri Lanka will look to dominate on their home soil with new captain Dilshan. They are expected to go with 5 batsman and 4 bowler combination with Angelo Mathews playing as alrounder. A slight thin chance of playing with 3 spinners in mendis , herath and randiv, with mathews acting as the second pacer, might tickle the minds of sri lankan team management as the Australians might struggle with spin. Most probably it will be a 2-2 combination with mendis taking one spinner spot and the other will be toss up between randiv and herath. Herath being a left armer will have slight advantage over randiv. The pace attack will be led by Welegedara and the other pacer is expected to be dhammika prasad even though lakmal has done fairly well in England.
Both team look equally balanced in batting. It will be a contest between Australian pacers and Sri Lankan spinners. The team with better bowling attack will prevail in the series. Sri Lankans will be tough team to beat at home even after the retirement of Murali. It will also take some doing for the Aussies to end the series on high.
Probable Elevens:
AUSTRALIA : watson, hughes, ponting, clarke, hussey, khawaja, haddin(wk), johnson, siddle, beer, harris.
SRI LANKA : dilshan, paranavitana, sangakkara, jayawardene, samaraweera, p.jayawardene (wk), angelo mathews, herath, dhammika prasad\suranga lakmal, welegedara, mendis
Important Players:
Ricky Ponting : Playing as a pure batsman in the team without the additional burden of captaincy. This man is expected to take his batting to the level the world knows of him. He can be a very dangerous batsman which he has proved already in his playing career. A good run of form in ODIs would have boosted his confidence level and he is now ready to take on the world with his batting.
Kumar Sangakkara : Same goes with this batsman. Playing purely as a batsman without captaincy, which he handed over to Dilshan after the world cup, is expected to shine with the bat. Also after given up wicket keeping in test cricket has helped him to concentrate more on his batting.
