From the moment protesters began marching past the ground on the second day, the hosts took control and never let goSo in the small city of Galle ended a momentous few days on the field and beyond. For Sri Lanka the nation, a popular revolt removed a tarnished president from power. For Sri Lanka the cricket team, a stunning turnaround swept away the visiting Australians to level a Test series. It would be naff to equate the two, but it would equally be naive to discount the broad as an influence on the narrow. Players are people too. For months, Sri Lankans en masse have sweltered through nightly power cuts, daily shortages of essentials and weekly price spikes. Transport paralysis...
The tourists face a daunting prospect on a dry pitch, even though they will feel more competent against the turning ball than on previous tripsTrial by spin. That was the likely scenario for the Australian men’s Test team, as posed by Sri Lankan captain Dimuth Karunaratne. Softly spoken and not inclined to swagger, the content of the message rather than the delivery held a challenge for Australia, with the likelihood that Sri Lanka will take four spin options into the first Test at Galle. “Last time we had two fast bowlers, we did not use one,” said Karunaratne, referring to last year’s Test against West Indies when his quicks Suranga Lakmal and Dushantha Chameera bowled 14 overs between them across...
Dom Bess and Jack Leach delivered under pressure to bowl out Sri Lanka, but will India’s batsmen be so accommodating?The Test was in the balance early on the fourth morning. Sri Lanka’s openers had rattled off 15 quick runs from the opening overs of their second innings, and their team’s lead was just up above 50. And all the time, in the back of the mind, there was the nagging flashback to all the ham-fisted collapses England have endured over the years, and their early struggles having been set 74 to win the first Test on this same ground in the fourth innings last week. The way Lasith Embuldeniya has been bowling so far this series, you wondered how many...
The spinner received limited appreciation at this stripped-back show but his performance handed the hosts the edgeEven when full, the ground at Galle has rarely been a raucous venue. There’s something about its openness, not to mention the scenery and the sea breeze surrounding it, that gives off a laidback air. Without an obscuring crowd, without an embassy of England fans tooting and swaying through Sweet Caroline, the fort is a particularly steadying sight, its grass-covered ramparts freshly green, its crenellations crisply outlined and overlooked by a benevolent watch tower.Welcome to the austerity games, the stripped-back show that is as far from the crazed excitement of pre-Covid IPL as Quavers are from baked camembert. Related: Majestic Joe Root run out...
England’s record wicket-taker shines on return in place of Stuart Broad but there is an argument Joe Root’s attack would be more effective with the pair bowling in tandemJimmy Anderson, bloody hell. Six for 40, in fierce heat, while everyone else managed four for 339. His best haul in Asia, 17 years after he first played there. The first five-for recorded in an Asian Test by a 38-year-old seamer. I could go on, but it is only 24 hours since this space was last devoted to Anderson’s excellence.Happily, there is another angle here that is just as interesting: the ramifications of rotation. On England’s Sri Lanka tour, Anderson and Stuart Broad are sharing a place in the starting XI. It...