SriLanka in Australia 2012

[Swing_n_Speed]

Ponting just retired and 3-4 of their bowlers are out with injury. Now their captain is out' date=' yet they keep coming with these players. They have a massive pool.[/quote'] Just one . Khawja will not do much.

[Chalks]

Bird, Bird, Bird is the word. :--D 2WNrx2jq184

[Iconoclast]

Usman should come play for Pakistan ... then we will have at least one guy who can bat in Australia:finger:

[Zero_Unit]

Dose ball tempering atualy help the bowler? Maybe it never worked for me cause i play in those stupid mats as pitches instead of a real pitch ... SMH

[Cevno]

SriLanka in Australia 2012 Chris broad the match referee. Who expected any action ?

[Feed]

Watson in doubt for Sydney Test Shane Watson is in doubt for the Sydney Test after suffering yet another injury while bowling. More...

[Feed]

Sangakkara hurts index finger Kumar Sangakkara will undergo scans to assess the extent of damage to his left index finger, after he was hit by a Mitchell Johnson bouncer in Sri Lanka's second innings on day three More...

[rkt.india]

Watson out, Maxwell likely to debut at Sydney

Shane Watson, who suffered a calf-injury, is not part of the Australia squad for the third and final Test against Sri Lanka in Sydney on January 3. All-rounder Glenn Maxwell, who was named in the 13-man squad, is likely to make his debut at Sydney, as a replacement for Watson. Usman Khawaja is also part of the squad and will remain on stand-by in case Michael Clarke is not fit for the game. Australia captain Clarke suffered a hamstring in the opening Test at Hobart and was in doubt for the Melbourne game as well. Australia won the second Test on Friday to seal the series 2-0. Clarke, who made the squad announcement, said: "Shane's out of the Sydney test match and Glenn Maxwell comes in the squad as a replacement for Watto as the all-rounder." "The other player is Usman Khawaja on standby for me again. Obviously, I have a bit more extra time now winning this game in three days to give myself every chance of being right for Sydney and I'm really confident I'll be fit for Sydney, but Usman's on standby just in case." Clarke said seamer Mitchell Johnson, who was named man-of-the-match after taking six wickets and making an unbeaten 92 with the bat, would also be considered as an all-rounder for the dead rubber test, depending on the Sydney wicket. "I think the other all-rounder sits besides me right here as he showed with the bat in this game," Clarke said, gesturing at 31-year-old left-armer Johnson sitting next to him at the media conference. "So we've got options if we think the wicket's going to spin we have the option of Maxwell, if you think there will be enough in there to play four fast bowlers and a spinner, you have Johnson." Team: Michael Clarke (captain), David Warner, Ed Cowan, Phil Hughes, Glenn Maxwell, Mike Hussey, Matthew Wade, Peter Siddle, Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Johnson, Nathan Lyon, Jackson Bird, Usman Khawaja.

http://www.cricbuzz.com/cricket-news/53922/watson-out-maxwell-likely-to-debut-at-sydney/?utm_source=ig&utm_medium=news&utm_campaign=gadget

[Clarke]

Good time to try out players, SL will be at their weakest without Sanga & others.

[Lord]

Maxwell in Test cricket.thats worse than Jaddu

[Robelinda]

Yeah this is complete fail by Australia. Michael Beer should be the 2nd spinner, very tight left arm orthodox. Maxwell will get raped beyond raped in India, you guys will love his pies.

[Lord]

Yeah this is complete fail by Australia. Michael Beer should be the 2nd spinner' date=' very tight left arm orthodox. Maxwell will get raped beyond raped in India, you guys will love his pies.[/quote'] what happened to Hauritz,even Krejza?thougt they were good

[diga]

Yeah this is complete fail by Australia. Michael Beer should be the 2nd spinner' date=' very tight left arm orthodox. Maxwell will get raped beyond raped in India, you guys will love his pies.[/quote'] If they are replacing Watson with another allrounder, then the spot has to go to D.Hussey or M.Henriques...but if they are looking at spin options, then m.beer/hauritz are surely the options to look at.

[Robelinda]

Agree. D Hussey has zero idea against spin though, terrible pick for any sub continent tour.

[Feed]

Aussies seal Sri Lanka series win Australia crush Sri Lanka by an innings and 201 runs in the second Test to wrap up the series with a game to spare. More...

[rkt.india]

Johnson, the scene-stealer

Mitchell Johnson was the most successful of the Australia bowlers, with four wickets, Australia v Sri Lanka, 2nd Test, Melbourne, 1st day, December 26, 2012 Mitchell Johnson has returned to the Australian team with better self-belief Ž© Getty Images Enlarge Related Links News : Dropped catches cost us - Jayawardene Features : Sri Lanka flee from credibility Players/Officials: Jackson Bird | Michael Clarke | Mitchell Johnson Matches: Australia v Sri Lanka at Melbourne Series/Tournaments: Sri Lanka tour of Australia Teams: Australia | Sri Lanka Need to be consistent with bat to become an allrounder - Mitchell Johnson Mitchell Johnson is the supporting actor who walks away with the movie. As he basked in the afterglow of a ripping performance with bat and ball in the Boxing Day Test, Johnson reflected on how his current walk-on part in the national team is working better for him than the role of senior spearhead, which he carried like a millstone for much of the two years that followed a pair of arresting series against South Africa in 2008-09. He is no certainty to play for Australia in the third Test in Sydney, and that suits him just fine. Last summer when Johnson lost his place due to a foot injury at a time when he would probably have been dropped anyway, he was as close as an Australian cricketer can get to being thoroughly sick of the game and all that came with it. His increasingly erratic performances reflected a lack of enjoyment and the fact he had let the voices of doubt - both within and without - control his thinking. Given a year away, Johnson rebuilt his confidence, made a few subtle changes to his bowling method, and has returned not as a put-upon lead character but as a formidable reserve. While they cradle their assortment of broken bones, Sri Lanka's batsmen will marvel at the fact that Johnson is only playing against them because as many as seven other bowlers ahead of him in the queue are injured. For Johnson, this competition for places means he is unlikely to play long sequences of matches in a row, and he is quite happy to get away in order to be rested and refreshed at the next time of Test match asking. "It just comes down to belief and trusting my ability," Johnson said. "In the time I've had off I've been able to reflect on a lot of things. [Previously] I had probably got to the stage where I listened to a lot of outside influences, that doesn't affect me anymore. I'm just happy with how I've come back, and making the most of the opportunities I get. "It's not every day you get to play for your country and I'm pretty proud of the fact I've played 49 Tests now. You've just got to look to the future and, if you get picked, go out there and make the most of it. That's what I'm doing and playing with a smile on my face. "I've always been happy playing for Australia, it just got to the point where I was feeling the pressure. It happens in professional sports, you can feel the pressure and start to believe in things that are said or outside influences, and it just got to that point for me. I've moved past that. I'm 31, I've been around the game for a long time now and I think I've matured in that I have belief in myself and just go out there and play my game and do the best job I can." That job in Melbourne was to put the wind up Sri Lanka's batsmen with a series of withering short balls that wrecked their chances of doing decently in the first innings and all but ended the match in the second. The first ball he whirred down at Tillakaratne Dilshan clipped the glove and resulted in a catch to short leg, and after lunch another lifting delivery broke Kumar Sangakkara's hand. These were intimidatory blows, pure and simple. "It's not every day you get to play for your country and I'm pretty proud of the fact I've played 49 Tests now. You've just got to look to the future and, if you get picked, go out there and make the most of it. That's what I'm doing and playing with a smile on my face." Mitchell Johnson "The last couple of days in Hobart the boys went pretty hard at their batters with the short ball and they didn't like it," Johnson said. "So that was another plan through this Test match, to get up their batters. Unfortunately for them they got a few injuries out of it. I've done it in the past and it definitely helps, you don't have to get those last couple of wickets. "I think that intimidation factor definitely worked out there today, and we bowled really well as a team through this whole Test match and beat them very well. To be able to have a good game out there was nice, but we've got to look forward to this next Test and hopefully keep driving it into them and win 3-0." The other major factor in Johnson's star-turn at the MCG was the man bowling so fastidiously at the other end. Jackson Bird made the most compelling seamer's debut this side of Stuart Clark, who claimed 9 for 89 against South Africa on a seaming Cape Town surface in 2006. While Bird's figures were not quite as spectacular, his combination with the faster, less predictable Johnson was irresistible, leaving the Sri Lankan batsmen uncertain of their off stump at one end, and fearing for their safety at the other. "His control with the new ball is an area that I think we've been looking for," Michael Clarke said of Bird. "He probably filled the role of Ben Hilfenhaus. To be able to swing the ball away from the right-hander with the new ball and then take it across the left-hander off the wicket is a great strength. The one thing I really like about Jackson is you know what you're going to get. "He bowled into the breeze the whole game and did a fantastic job for us. On any given day you take your own wickets or score your own runs, but what gets forgotten is the work the guy does up the other end, and I think Birdy played a huge part in Mitch's success in the first innings, and it allows a bowler like Mitch to be able to attack." Johnson took this licence to attack with rare fervour, and could do the same in Sydney. That's if he gets the part, of course.

http://www.espncricinfo.com/australia-v-sri-lanka-2012/content/current/story/598843.html

[Square Drive]

Anyway, what has happened is happened. Hopefully those inauspicious evil spirit influences (caused by BCCI funded Indian mantra-acharyas during 2011 WC) on our team should be gone by now. And the lions will be back with a ban in the new year. It's gonna be a new begging. :cheer: :om: :om: :om:

[Lord]

Anyway, what has happened is happened. Hopefully those inauspicious evil spirit influences (caused by BCCI funded Indian mantra-acharyas during 2011 WC) on our team should be gone by now. And the lions will be back with a ban in the new year. It's gonna be a new begging. :cheer: :om: :om: :om:

Freudin slip:hysterical:

[Clarke]

Anyway, what has happened is happened. Hopefully those inauspicious evil spirit influences (caused by BCCI funded Indian mantra-acharyas during 2011 WC) on our team should be gone by now. And the lions will be back with a ban in the new year. It's gonna be a new begging. :cheer: :om: :om: :om:

You betcha :hysterical:

[rkt.india]

Series decided, but emotional finale awaits

Clarke confirms four-man pace attack January 3-7, SCG Start time 1030 (2330 GMT) Big Picture The series is decided and the best Sri Lanka can hope for now is a competitive showing in the final Test in Sydney. They will have to do so without Kumar Sangakkara, who is comfortably Sri Lanka's best batsman of all time away from home. They will also have to do so without Chanaka Welegedara, who has been their leading wicket taker in this series. They may also need to do so without their first-choice gloveman Prasanna Jayawardene, who remains in doubt due to a hairline fracture of his thumb. And they'll probably have to do it without Nuwan Kulasekara, who missed the Melbourne Test with a rib injury. The odds are long, but Sri Lanka can take some comfort from the fact that dead rubbers such as this can throw up surprising results. On paper, it is difficult to see Sri Lanka posing much of a threat, despite the fact that Australia have shortened their batting line-up by naming Matthew Wade at No.6 and Mitchell Johnson at No.7. Against a strong bowling attack it would be a far riskier move, but against a Sri Lankan bowling outfit missing Welegedara and Kulasekara it may be of little consequence. It also means Australia have four fast men to rotate and keep fresh during Sri Lanka's innings, along with the offspinner Nathan Lyon. By leaving out the uncapped allrounder Glenn Maxwell, the Australians have also ignored the chance to assess how Maxwell would handle the challenge of bowling in Test cricket, ahead of the tour of India in February-March. But despite the fact the series has been decided already, there will be plenty of emotion at the SCG over the next five days. Both teams will wear black armbands in honour of the late Tony Greig, who was not only a fixture of Australian cricket commentary for 33 years but was also a much-loved figure in Sri Lanka. And the Australians will also farewell Michael Hussey, who surprisingly announced his retirement after the Melbourne Test. Hussey, the leader of Australia's team song, would love to have one last reason to sing it at the SCG. Form guide (Most recent first) Australia WWLDD Sri Lanka LLLWD In the spotlight Ricky Ponting was farewelled with defeat at the WACA last month; Michael Hussey has a much better chance of ending his Test career on a high. Hussey will leave a gaping hole in the middle order over the next year and Australia's fans will enjoy seeing him in the baggy green one last time over the coming days. Hussey enters the Test with 19 Test centuries to his name and given the kind of form he has displayed this summer, it would be a brave person to bet against him reaching No.20 before he bows out. Only 11 Australians have reached that milestone. Dinesh Chandimal is a batsman of immense talent whose opportunities at Test level have been limited by the settled nature of Sri Lanka's middle order. Now he has a chance to make his mark. Chandimal has played four Tests and scored three half-centuries and if he can perform impressively at the SCG he may force a rethink from the national selectors. There is every chance Chandimal will also be asked to keep wicket. All in all, it shapes as a big week for him. Team news Glenn Maxwell has been left out of Australia's line-up and instead they will use Mitchell Johnson as an allrounder at No.7. Michael Clarke has been passed fit to play, which means Usman Khawaja will be released from the squad. Australia 1 Ed Cowan, 2 David Warner, 3 Phillip Hughes, 4 Michael Clarke (capt), 5 Michael Hussey, 6 Matthew Wade (wk), 7 Mitchell Johnson, 8 Peter Siddle, 9 Mitchell Starc, 10 Nathan Lyon, 11 Jackson Bird. Sri Lanka will make at least two forced changes to their side from Melbourne, with Kumar Sangakkara out due to his hand injury and Chanaka Welegedara to miss out due to a hamstring problem. Dinesh Chandimal is expected to come in for Sangakkara, while Nuwan Pradeep is the likely inclusion for Welegedara. The Sri Lankans are also waiting on news of Prasanna Jayawardene, who suffered a hairline fracture to his thumb at the MCG. If he is ruled out, Lahiru Thirimanne would likely take his place in the line-up and Chandimal would keep wicket. Sri Lanka (possible) 1 Tillakaratne Dilshan, 2 Dimuth Karunaratne, 3 Dinesh Chandimal, 4 Mahela Jayawardene (capt), 5 Thilan Samaraweera, 6 Angelo Mathews, 7 Prasanna Jayawardene / Lahiru Thirimanne, 8 Dhammika Prasad, 9 Rangana Herath, 10 Shaminda Eranga, 11 Nuwan Pradeep. Pitch and conditions The SCG is not the spin haven it once was, as evidenced by Australia's decision to choose one four fast men and one spinner instead of two slow-bowling options. In his column on the day before the Test Clarke wrote that there was "a surprising amount of grass on the SCG pitch". The weather for most of the Test is expected to be good, although there could be occasional showers on days four and five. Stats and trivia Michael Clarke needs 87 runs to go past Don Bradman's career tally of 6996 Test runs Mitchell Johnson will play his 50th Test and will become the 11th Australian fast bowler to reach the milestone Michael Hussey's final Test will also be his 79th consecutive Test since his debut. The only players currently enjoying longer streaks are AB de Villiers (80), Alastair Cook (85) and Mahela Jayawardene, who in Sydney will play his 93rd consecutive Test Test cricket's leading run scorer and wicket taker for 2012 will be playing in Sydney. Clarke topped the run tally with 1595 at 106.33 and Herath took the most wickets, 60 at 23.61 Quotes "It's going to be a huge 12 months of cricket and it starts tomorrow against Sri Lanka at the SCG." Michael Clarke

http://www.espncricinfo.com/australia-v-sri-lanka-2012/content/current/story/599340.html