What Next for Sri Lanka?
Sri Lanka will be thrilled with a 3-0 result after the nightmare in England. The biggest positive is that they have found 2 talented young batsmen in Kusal Mendis and Dhananjaya De Silva who have shown they have the temperament for Test cricket.
Kaushal Silva delivered a ton in his last innings of the series, showing a lot of character. Mathews had a quiet series, but Chandimal scored a century, and Kusal Perera looked his Jayasuriya-like self while also keeping brilliantly in the last Test. Roshen Silva, a middle-order batsman averaging 50 in First Class cricket, waits in reserve.
The fast bowlers didn’t have much of a chance to impress, Sri Lanka just have to make sure all of them are fit! The spinners, were - as expected - the difference between the 2 sides. Herath was wily and accurate as he always is, and Dilruwan looks like he can take on the Herath role once the champion bowler retires. Sandakan looks exciting, and Sri Lanka have Vandersay and Tharindu Kaushal as spinning options as well.
However, the batsmen need to prove themselves all over again in overseas conditions – the upcoming away series in December-January against South Africa is going to be a huge challenge for the likes of Dhananjaya de Silva, Kusal Perera and Kusal Mendis. The openers have to score more runs. If they pass the South African test, this may be the start of a good era for Sri Lankan Test cricket after all the doom and gloom of the last year.
What Next for Australia:
Australia will be devastated with their performance in this series. They also play South Africa, in November, and also have Tests against Pakistan, and lots of limited overs games in a long home season.
Their issues against spin might be glossed over series on Australian pitches (though Yasir Shah may have something to say about that), so their big challenge is going to be next year’s series in India (dates yet to be announced).
Playing batsmen suited to spinning conditions is an important step, and Shaun Marsh looks like he definitely will play ahead of Burns on spinning pitches. Khawaja, Burns and Voges should find batting easier in Australia, while it remains to be seen if S. Marsh will find a place in the team.
Mitchell Marsh usually looks to be in control while batting, but then inexplicably gets out. He needs a few runs and wickets to justify his place in the team. Australia has a lot of young batsmen making a mark in Shield cricket - Peter Handscomb, Cameron Bancroft, and Travis Head among others, and we may see some of them in the Test team in the near future.
Mitchell Starc looks menacing and has able support from the likes of Hazlewood, Jackson Bird and Peter Siddle. Australia will also hope that the perennially injured James Pattinson can make it back to the national team at some stage. Lyon clearly has to improve in subcontinental conditions, even if he picked up 16 wickets in this series. Holland didn’t really make much of an impression in this series, so might go out of the squad.
The Aussies have lost their Number 1 ranking after this series, but will be marginal favourites against strong Pakistan and South Africa teams simply because of their home advantage!
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