Captain Steve Smith believes Australian batsmen will have to “reinvent” their game to avoid a whitewash in the third and final test against Sri Lanka beginning on Saturday.
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In almost 140 years of Test cricket, Australia have played 177 series of three or more matches and only four times have they been whitewashed: 0-3 to England in 1886; 0-4 to South Africa in 1969-70; 0-3 to Pakistan in 1982-83; and 0-4 to India in 2012-13.
Sri Lanka’s trio of spinners – Rangana Herath, Dilruwan Perera and Lakshan Sandakan – have been unplayable at times in the series and have taken 35 wickets between them.
The Sinhalese Sports Club (SSC) is traditionally a high-scoring venue but Mathews expected it to assist his spinners from the off as he made clear Sri Lanka were in no mood to go easy on their visitors.
In the batting department, Australia will again look to emulate Angelo Mathews’ team by attempting to rotate the strike – even if it requires taking a risk – to break the bowlers’ rhythm. “They’ve trained extremely hard in the last few days and we’re hopeful that we can once again go out there and beat the Aussies”.
The hosts have already clinched the series after back-to-back victories at Pallekele and Galle, with their spinners laying bare spin frailties of the tourists whose number one test ranking is at stake. Angelo Mathews could be on the verge of joining Sanath Jayasuriya and Mahela Jayawardene as the only Sri Lanka captains to lead such 3-0 sweeps. Everyone’s all geared up, and not taken the foot off the gas. “We had to work really hard to win those two games”, said Mathews.
“Hopefully we can have a good morning”.
Suranga Lakmal’s return from an ankle injury means Vishwa Fernando will make way in the hosts’ only change as they seek to maintain the winning formula.
“It’s another game for Australia, it’s another Test match for Australia, everyone is in the right spirits – we are ready to come out and we have got something to prove”.
Since 2008, Australia have played 17 Test matches in Asia and have only one win and have lost 12 games while drawing four matches.
“For us the series is gone, but there is plenty to play for in Colombo”. It went one better with yet another particularly stirring show in the second Test to seal the series with a 229-run win at Galle. So, this is another opportunity for us to play in the subcontinent, on what looks like another tough wicket.
“I dare say it will take a bit of spin like the last two ones”.
“Looking at this wicket it looks like it’s going to take a fair bit of spin from day one”, Smith said on the eve of the match. “There’s a double-edged knife for everything but I don’t think you can blame T20 cricket for anything at this stage”.
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“If you just sit there and try and defend all day, one will eventually have your name on it”.
