Australia have crashed from unbeatable favourites to facing a must-win match in Sydney on Sunday against rejuvenated Sri Lanka to prevent losing a home triangular one-day cricket series for the first time in 13 years.
Australia’s suicidal batting performance to hand Sri Lanka a stunning 22-run victory in the opening final in Adelaide on Friday puts skipper Ricky Ponting in a perilous situation in the second final at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
Ponting, the skipper of the first Australian team to lose the Ashes last year to England in 18 years, could also become the first home captain to lose a tri-series finals since Allan Border lost out to Richie Richardson’s West Indians in 1993.
Australian coach John Buchanan said the team must brace for the consequences if it loses the tri-series finals to unfancied Sri Lanka, after the humiliation of five run outs and a stumping in their innings of 252 against Sri Lanka’s 274 for eight at Adelaide Oval.
”There would be some fallout if Australia lost the series 2-0, no doubt about that at all,” Buchanan conceded on Saturday.
”[But] the more cut-throat or the more challenging or the more knock-out it is, that’s all good for us because we’re going to face it in eight months’ time in the ICC [Champions Trophy] and soon after that hopefully in the World Cup.”
Ponting was a player in 1996-97 and 2001-02, when Mark Taylor and Steve Waugh lost the limited-overs captaincy after failing to make the finals.
Another factor in Australia’s shock loss on Friday was the hemorrhaging of 54 runs in the final five overs of Sri Lanka’s innings to give them a competitive total for the Aussies to chase under lights.
”Reflecting on last night there were a couple of things, our last five overs went for 50-odd runs which you’d expect them to go for a number of runs but probably not as many as that,” Buchanan said.
”Those 50 runs hurt us a little bit but even then 270 was a reasonable total to chase if we got our foundation right.
”Then obviously we committed suicide not once but four times early, so we made it very difficult for ourselves to get that foundation.”
Ponting blamed the leaking of the last five overs as ”not good enough”, and left open the possibility that fast bowler Mick Lewis might come into the starting 11 at the SCG.
Buchanan agreed but to do that selectors would have to drop a New South Welshman — Stuart Clark or Nathan Bracken — for a match at their home venue.
”I wouldn’t expect the selectors to necessarily jump all over it and say we need a lot of change, but Mick Lewis has been brought into the squad for [his ability in the closing overs],” said Buchanan.
”Whether there’s scope for him to come in, I think the selectors will certainly have a chat with Ricky and myself.”
One possible cause of the run outs was an underestimation of Sri Lanka in the field with athletic Tillekeratne Dilshan having a hand in four of the five run outs with some breathtaking ground fielding.
Australian leg-spinner Brad Hogg said ground fielding was an area in which the Sri Lankans had made great improvement under their Australian coach Tom Moody and his assistant, renowned fielder Trevor Penney.
”They’ve improved a hell of a lot, particularly in the field,” Hogg said on Saturday.
”I think where we’ve dominated the last few years is our fielding and I think they’ve picked up in their standard,” he added.
But the jubilant Sri Lankans are on the threshold of a momentous series victory at the SCG which plays into their hands with spin to suit the beguiling Muttiah Muralitharan.
”Sri Lanka has had success there and Sanath Jayasuriya has had a lot of personal success there. Obviously it doesn’t guarantee success on Sunday but he is in good form and I’m sure he’s looking forward to seeing the Sydney wicket again,” Moody said.
”The guys enjoy Sydney, it’s a great cricket ground. It’s obviously a big match for both teams because Australia have got to bounce back and I am sure they will do — they’re a class outfit.” – AFP
