cricket with balls

Some people in Australia may not have noticed, with the races and the election going on, but an international team flew in with Murali recently.

Some call them Sri Lanka.

Some call them the chucker’s team and others call them the team that the fat man captained to victory over the evil Australians.

Either way they are here, and I feel like I should give a little pre test gambit on the series.

If you can call two tests a series.

Sri Lanka’s batting has always been the strength. Old man Santath, Old man Marvin and Old man Mahela have all been around since Arjuna was an XXXL. Sanath just smashed Paul Rofe and Callum Bailey all around the Adelaide oval. But he would, that’s his kind of ground, flat pitch that caters for spinner, with the shortest square boundaries you’ll find in Australia.

Problem is the first test is at the Gabba and Paul Rofe and Callum Bailey won’t be in attendance.

Kumar is the main man for Sri Lanka with the bat, the boy can play, but like a lot of sub continent players before him he isn’t suited to Australian wickets, the gabba especially. What will help Sri Lanka is the fact the Australian bowling line up is new. What won’t help them is the fact Brett Lee likes bowling to Sri Lanka, especially Sanath. And if Tait plays (unlikely, but possible) he will be fired up to bowl quicker than Malinga, and who needs that.

Their bowling is interesting, I think Fernando is too fragile, and if he shows any weakness he becomes a huge liability. Malinga is a good bowler, but there is also a chance that once you get use to him, he comes onto the bat nicely. Vaas could have been the worlds best first change bowler, back in the day, problem was he was the main man due to the fact Sri Lanka has never had a good enough quick to go with him. While he is still good for some wickets he aint the man he used to be.

Murali (chief chucker) is the man who has to take the majority of the wickets. The Aussies generally play him better than most. And Australian wickets don’t seem to be his favourite. Having said that he hasn’t spent much time here in tests since the fat racist stuck his arm out (quite correctly). He really needs upwards of 15 wickets in the two tests for Sri Lanka to win.

Australia is not perfect this time around, in fact if ever a side was going to come here it would be after Warne, McGrath and some other guy retired.

Sri Lanka needs to get Jacques (I’m assuming) out under ten in his first innings. They need to make the opening slot a weakness. I’ve seen a lot of Jacques bat (cause he bats a lot) and once he is in, he is fucking awesome. He can take a test away by drinks on the first day. However he is not a great starter, like most players with basic footwork, he can get nicks early on, somehow Sri Lanka need to make sure he gets one early in the first test.

If Jacques gets in a big partnership with Hayden or Ponting in the first dig, that’s it, game over baby, game over.

The other advantage Sri Lanka must capitalise on is Australia’s new bowling attack. Santath and Kumar need to attack Lee, forget about Clark and destroy Johnson or Tait and milk MacGill.

Sounds easy enough on paper. Lee can’t be allowed to get early wickets, but Ponting must take him from the attack going for too many runs. Clark must be ignored, just treat him the same way you would McGrath. As for Johnson or Tait you can’t allow them to take early wickets or have their bad balls go unpunished.

This is a very important series for world cricket, no really it is.

If Jacques comes in and smotes them, look out, if he gets his confidence in international cricket, there are gonna be fast bowlers crying into the cereal before games.

And if Lee can finally step up, and Tait and Johnson become International bowlers, oh my. Seriously I’m getting all giddy at the thought of it.

The Australians will keep rolling as number one.

However if Sri Lanka can expose the weakness at the top, stop the bowlers from gelling, well they might even snatch a draw, which means India can snatch a draw or ass a win and then the world as we know it, will never be the same again.