 The first Test match between Sri Lanka and Australia will be played
from August 31 at Galle. Sri Lanka will go into the Test match after having won
the T20I but lost the ODI series 3-2 and would love to turn the corner on their
opponents. The Aussies, on the other hand, will need to get going against the
Sri Lankan spinners given that they have not had the best of times against the
slower bowlers from the sub-continent.
Click for Live Score Card of Sri Lanka Vs Australia
Sri Lanka have named a 16-member side for the Test matches as well, which is rather
a big crowd of players for a home series. but it would be much better to have
players available to them rather than having to reach out for the backups in case
a Sri Lankan player gets injured.
The first thing to note for the Sri Lankans is that in the absence of Muthiah Muralitharan, who announced his retirement from Test match cricket last
year, the side will be looking for different spin options to lead them into
the game.
This includes the likes of experienced Rangana Herath, the mysterious Ajantha Mendis and leg-spinner Seekkuge Prasanna, not to mention Suraj Randiv, who
is in the squad too. With Tillakaratne Dilshan out to captain the side,
the side will have enough on their spinning plate to test the opposition.
The sense one gets is that the pace bowlers will be used to remove the shine from
the ball and check whether there is any reverse - that aside, a lot of the bowling
will be done by the pace bowlers. Sri Lanka may look to go into the game with
three spinners and one regular pace bowler, especially if Angelo Mathews can bowl
his medium pace at the beginning of the innings.
It will be interesting to have a look at the Australian batting as well. Only
eight of the players seem to be sureties - for the rest, the captain will need
to do some soul searching. This includes the batsman at the number six position,
for which there is a choice between Shaun Marsh and Usman Khawaja and the bowling
spots for the third pacer and the lone spinner.
Trent Copeland could nudge Peter Siddle out as the third spinner while
the spinning spot could go to one of Michael Beer or Nathan Lyon.
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