7.2.2008
The Preview by Brydon Coverdale at the SCG
Weather
still the one to beat
The
last time Australia and Sri Lanka met in a one-day international
the game's conclusion was ruined when the umpires forced
play to continue as darkness fell on the World Cup final
in Barbados. Weather looms as the only thing that could
spoil their rematch at the SCG on Friday, with a cracking
contest likely if the rain stays away. Unfortunately,
that "if" should be bold and underlined.
Sydney
spectators have witnessed some superb cricket from Sri
Lanka over the years, although they have never played
a Test there. They like the ground so much they have won
four of their last five ODIs at the venue. "Maybe
that's why they don't let us play Test cricket here,"
Mahela Jayawardene, Sri Lanka's captain, said jokingly
ahead of the third CB Series game.
There
have been some brutal individual efforts in those victories,
especially by Sanath Jayasuriya, whose past five ODI innings
at the SCG have brought 65, 122, 106, 114 and a duck in
their most recent loss there. His aim of scoring a fourth
century at the ground might be hampered by the weather,
however, with the showers that drifted through Sydney
on Thursday likely to continue on Friday.
Both
teams hope the conditions are fine enough to cobble together
a result, having each opened their CB Series campaigns
with a wash-out against India in Brisbane. "It's
probably been frustrating for all three teams I suppose,"
Australia's captain Ricky Ponting said. "Brisbane,
the weather up there last week was horrendous and it hasn't
been much better this week. Our preparation has been a
little bit different this week than we probably would
have liked."
Australia's
abbreviated match against India at the Gabba allowed Ponting
a little extra time to rest after suffering back soreness
in the Adelaide Test against India late last month. Ponting
conceded he should have retired hurt rather than batting
on in the Test, although he is now confident of making
it through the whole CB Series.
"I
must admit I battled through [Sunday's] game in Brisbane,"
he said. "I had a lot of work over the last few days
here but today I purposely had a really long hit-out in
the nets out the back just to get a bit more confidence
in my movements and try and iron out a bit of the stiffness
that I've got."
Ponting's
soreness has not helped his fielding and he was one of
the culprits in the first ODI when two catches went down
in the slips. There were several uncharacteristic misses
from Ponting's team-mates in the field during the Test
series and he said the trend was starting to worry him.
"The
catching is a concern," Ponting said. "We've
had guys moving all over the place in the cordon, [Andrew]
Symonds coming in, Michael Clarke moving around first
and second slip. It seems like if there's a half-chance
or a hard chance we're putting them down but the more
hard work we do they're going to start to stick pretty
soon."
Matthew
Hayden's return - Ponting said he was a definite starter
after missing the opening game with a hamstring problem
- should help as he slots back into his customary position
at first slip. The news might not be so good for Australia's
other notable absentee from the Brisbane match, Stuart
Clark, who remains on the fringes of the limited-overs
team.
"The
current make-up have done a pretty good job," Ponting
said of the attack led by Brett Lee. "We'll wait
and see what the weather does but I guess he's probably
going to find it hard to leapfrog over one of the other
guys in the side."
Brad
Hogg, who was overlooked in Brisbane, should earn a call-up,
although the final side will depend on the conditions
on Friday. Between rain periods on Thursday Jayawardene
glimpsed a dry-looking pitch and he was hopeful of some
reverse-swing for Lasith Malinga, however he would not
commit to any particular starting line-up. As long as
Jayasuriya turns up to open the innings, the Sydney fans
will be happy.
Australia
(probable) 1 Adam Gilchrist (wk), 2 Matthew Hayden, 3
Ricky Ponting (capt), 4 Michael Clarke, 5 Andrew Symonds,
6 Michael Hussey, 7 James Hopes, 8 Brad Hogg, 9 Brett
Lee, 10 Mitchell Johnson, 11 Nathan Bracken.
Sri
Lanka (probable) 1 Upul Tharanga, 2 Sanath Jayasuriya,
3 Kumar Sangakkara (wk), 4 Mahela Jayawardene (capt),
5 Tillakaratne Dilshan, 6 Chamara Silva, 7 Chamara Kapugedera,
8 Chaminda Vaas, 9 Lasith Malinga, 10 Ishara Amerasinghe,
11 Muttiah Muralitharan.
Brydon
Coverdale is a staff writer at Cricinfo