1st Test: Australia look to move on from SA

Hosts take on Sri Lanka in first Test from today; Captain Clarke vows not to take opposition lightly.

HOBART:

Michael Clarke has vowed there will be no complacency in the Test series with Sri Lanka, insisting Australia will improve on their recent performances against South Africa.

Sri Lanka are ranked sixth in the world, have not won in 10 Tests in Australia over 25 years and are rated outsiders to upset Clarke’s team in the three-Test series that starts in Hobart today.

“The opposition is irrelevant to how you judge yourself as players,” said Clarke. “Our goal is not to come out and play the same way against Sri Lanka as we did against South Africa. We have to learn from that series, take the positives and work on the areas where we need to get better. I’m sure that if we improve on the series against South Africa, we’ll continue to have success.”

Mitchell Johnson has been left out of the squad for the first Test with Australia opting for the pace attack of Ben Hilfenhaus, Peter Siddle and left-armer Mitchell Starc, supplemented by swing bowler Shane Watson and spinner Nathan Lyon.

Recalled Phil Hughes will bat at number three with Watson at four while Clarke and veteran Mike Hussey stay at five and six in the Australian lineup now missing Ricky Ponting.

“The strength and advantage we now have in our top four is that all four have opened the batting for Australia.”

Jayawardene confident about pacers

Meanwhile, skipper Mahela Jayawardene said injuries and retirements had forced Sri Lanka to overhaul their new-ball attack, but he was confident his pace brigade could do the job against the third-ranked Australians.

Nuwan Kulasekara, Shaminda Eranga and Chanaka Welegedara lead the pace attack supported by left-arm spinner Rangana Herath and the swing bowling of Angelo Mathews.

“Teams have to start somewhere,” said Jayawardene. “We don’t probably have the pace that is required to win Test matches in Australia, but we’ve got guys who will bowl good line and length and create opportunities and if we keep to that I think we stand a good chance.”

Jayawardene added that it was up to Sri Lanka’s experienced batting core of Tillakaratne Dilshan, Kumar Sangakkara, Thilan Samaraweera and himself to get the runs to give the team’s bowlers a chance to take wickets.

“We’ll bank on our experience with our batting. To win a Test match it’s important to put runs on the board, we just need to score runs and give our bowlers a chance to get 20 wickets.”

Jayawardene to give up captaincy

Jayawardene will give up the captaincy after Sri Lanka’s current Test and one-day tour of Australia, with Mathews seen as his likely replacement.

Jayawardene’s second stint as captain began in January, when he was called in to replace Dilshan and he committed to a 12-month tenure, which expires at the end of the current tour.

“I took over the captaincy for 12 months and that ends after this series,” said Jayawardene. “We need to move on and give responsibility to a younger leader. The selectors are quite happy in going in that direction.”

Published in The Express Tribune, December 14^th, 2012.