Published: Aug 17, 2016, 11:01 PM (IST)
Edited: Aug 18, 2016, 12:23 AM (IST)
The Rio Olympics are coming to an end. The Sri Lankan contingent is participating in it too (though most of them have been eliminated). They have not any medals so far. If Sri Lankan sport remembers August 2016 it will be for crushing of the Australian team by Angelo Mathews and his men. It will not be because of the dry run in Rio, but because of the 3-0 whitewash of Australia. On Day Five of the third Test at SSC, as Rangana Herath came on to bowl what would be the last ball of the Test series, Lyon tried to sweep, but eventually Sri Lanka clean sweeped. The World’s No. 1 Test side had just given in to Sri Lanka’s #squadgoals. FULL CRICKET SCORECARD: Sri Lanka vs Australia, 3rd Test at Colombo
It all started at Headingley in mid-May. After two shambolic batting displays, Sri Lanka were handed out a defeat by an innings and 88 runs at the hands of England in the first of 3 Tests. 0-1 soon became 0-2. In the second Test at Chester-le-Street, Alastair Cook won the toss and his side declared on 498 for 9. The Lankans crumbled again, this time for 101 in the first innings. England enforced a follow-on. And then started their renascence.
A side that was expected to lose by an innings, surrender to the fiery pace attack consisting of James Anderson, Stuart Broad, Chris Woakes, and Steven Finn, stretched to 475 runs on the board. Dinesh Chandimal’s resolute fightback along with fifties from Mathews, Kaushal Silva and Herath had kept England longer in the field than they wanted to.
Of course, Sri Lanka were bowled out. England needed just 79 to win, and Cook and Nick Compton rushed England to a 9-wicket win. But the spark had been ignited amidst criticism that the team was young, inexperienced and was going through a transformation.
The third Test ended in a draw after Sri Lanka put in fine performances with the bat and ball both. The seamers had put in a good performance. Shaminda Eranga, Suranga Lakmal and Nuwan Pradeep had done reasonably well in the final Test. The series was lost but it was a huge learning curve for Mathews’ men. The ODI series then ended in a 0-3 beating. The lone T20I was lost too.
The focus then shifted to a three-Test home series against Steven Smith’s Australians, the top-ranked Test side that almost everyone had picked as favourites. Sri Lanka underwent changes based on the conditions. They brought in several debutants, hungry for success. They would shine as the series would unfold. And once again, a 38-year old Herath would play Mathews’ trump card.
With conditions expected to be spin-friendly, spin-bowling allrounder Dilruwan Perera was picked, and so was left-arm chinaman Lakshan Sandakan. A young left-hander Dhananjaya de Silva to found a place in. Dhammika Prasad’s absence was still expected to hurt Sri Lanka, but as the series progressed, he was missed less and less. The spinners ruled the series.
In the first Test at Pallekele, Mathews’ men were bowled out up for 117. Nobody expected Australia to lose from there, but Sri Lanka fought back, restricting Australia to an 86-run lead. Herath and Sandakan were too hot for the tourists to handle: the duo shared 8 wickets between them. READ: Australia’s horror run in subcontinent next to only West Indies’
But Mitchell Starc was spitting fire. In Sri Lanka’s second innings, the hosts’ hopes of putting up a good score was punctured as they were reduced to 6 for 2, then 45 for 3. Then Kusal Mendis rose to the task, reaching his maiden century with a six, oozing of confidence, he carried on. Starc did put a halt to his brilliance, but it was too late in the day. Australia were left to chase 268 in their second innings.
Left and right, back and forth, to defend or attack, Australia were puzzled as ‘spin demons’ again made their presence felt. Herath bagged 5, and Australia were bowled out for 160. For the first time, Sri Lanka had won a Test against them since 1999.
Then the teams reached Galle, where Sri Lanka would take yet another giant leap towards success, breaking a 17-year-jinx with spin and spirit. If the Australian batting was abysmal at Pallekele, it was even worse at Galle, their spin ordeals exposed to the very core. Herath’s hat-trick and Dilruwan’s all-round show held them to a first-innings score of 106. The hosts then set a 413-run target. Mathews and co. did the inevitable, winning the second Test by 229 runs.
The Lankans braced themselves for SSC with an eye on the whitewash. They knew the Australians would come hard at them. They were left reeling at 26 for 5 in the first session. Again, as was seen in the series throughout, someone stepped up and led a recovery: both Dhananjaya de Silva and Chandimal both scored hundreds, and the hapless Australians, who had thought of a consolation win had more reasons to fret about. A first-innings score of 355 was felt to be enough for an Australian batting side already low on confidence.
But this time Australia showed spine. Shaun Marsh brought into the team delivered with a hundred, so did captain Smith. Though Herath took 6 wickets, Australia scored 379, securing a 24-run lead.
When Sri Lanka came out to bat, they had to put up a big target if they wished to seal it 3-0. Kaushal Silva, not in the best of forms, now stepped up and slammed a hundred. It went from bad to worse for Australia. De Silva too scored an unbeaten half-century. Sri Lanka set 324. Australia had a Test crown to retain.
Marsh and David Warner sent out a strong message, adding a brisk 77 for the opening stand, but once Sri Lanka got a breakthrough, it was the same script all over again. From 100 for 1, Australia were bowled out for 160. The fact that Sandakan did not have to bowl was enough to explain the ascendancy Sri Lanka had enjoyed. At the centre of it all was Herath, with 7 for 64 in the second innings, taking his series tally to 28 wickets. Sri Lanka won by 163 runs, wrapped up the series with a whitewash.
But the reason it was a #squadgoal achieved, was the fact that the team had stuck together and played as one. Some of them did not have the best of series, but they made their presence felt in some way or the other. From Kusal Perera’s excellent work behind the stumps in the third Test to Mathews’ knack of getting DRS decisions correct, from Chandimal’s continuous encouragement while keeping wickets to Lakmal’s only wicket of a well-settled Marsh in the final Test, every element in Sri Lanka’s unit chipped in. #SquadGoal was thus achieved.
(Karan Dewan, a reporter with CricketCountry, loves following and playing sports. He is a Team India fan and loves winning. Follow him on his twitter handle @karan13dewan)
