In his summary of the 1974-75 Ashes series, Wisden's correspondent John
Thicknesse wrote of the havoc wrought by Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson
that "England's batsmen must have experienced the same sort of emotion
as they waited for the next ball as early Christians felt as they waited
in the Colosseum for the lions."
Sri Lanka's batsmen were wracked by that same feeling of helplessness
and inevitability as Australia completed a fearful mauling of the
tourists in the Boxing Day Test, as the incisiveness of the home bowling
attack combined with a dreadful glut of injuries to have the match over
by 2.10pm on the third afternoon. The fall of Sri Lanka's seventh
wicket, fittingly to a short-pitched ball, meant the end of the contest,
as none of Prasanna Jayawardene, Chanaka Welegedara or Kumar Sangakkara
were fit to bat.
Sangakkara had suffered a suspected finger fracture at the hands of the
man of the match Mitchell Johnson, who began the day by guiding
Australia's tail to a lead of 304 and ended it as the chief inflictor of
pain on a Sri Lankan team that was overwhelmed even more
comprehensively than India had been last year.
Australia's victory was a reward for a consistently diligent and
aggressive pursuit of victory, though it was hard to define how well
they had played given the collective weakness of their opponents, who
had clearly thrown their best and only punch in Hobart. Nonetheless it
was a triumphant way for Michael Clarke's team to conclude the year,
even if they had their own injury worry in the shape of Shane Watson's
problematic calf.
The destruction of Sri Lanka's innings began in the first over. Dimuth
Karunaratne was farcically run out after taking his team's first run,
and next ball Tillakaratne Dilshan squeezed a Johnson short ball to
short leg. Jackson Bird again made a striking impression, deceiving
Mahela Jayawardene and Thilan Samaraweera with his immaculate line and a
little movement in either direction.
Bird and Nathan Lyon had failed to keep Johnson company for long enough
to allow the left-hander his second Test hundred after a rasping effort
in Cape Town in 2009, but this was to seem of little consequence once
the Sri Lankans began batting.
Lyon's intention when play resumed had to be to hang around while
Johnson pushed towards his second Test century. However his actions did
not match the goal, as after taking a single to get off a duck he was
late on a pull shot at Angelo Mathews and lobbed the simplest of catches
to midwicket.
That left Johnson with the company of only the last man Bird, who with a
first-class batting average of 8.22 was certainly entitled to his
station beneath Lyon in the order. Needing another 17 runs when Bird
walked tot he middle, Johnson set about the task with good sense,
pinching singles here and there while also driving Mathews sweetly down
the ground.
He had made it as far as 92 when Bird faced up to Shaminda Eranga, who
delivered a ball that was fast, full and more or less wasted on the
batsman, who was comically late as the ball crashed into middle and off
stumps. Johnson accepted a gesture of consolation from Bird before
jogging off the field, assuming his next task of taking the new ball in
the second innings.
Johnson did not have long to wait for a celebration, Karaunaratne
pushing into the offside third ball of the innings and setting off
fatally for a second run as David Warner fielded and threw sharply back
to the bowler, whose dive to break the stumps beat Karunaratne
comfortably. Dilshan's first ball was short, fast and at the batsman's
armpit, forcing a self-preervative stroke that lopped off glove and
thigh for Ed Cowan to run back and catch - 2 for 1.
Jayawardene's decline as an international batsman on foreign shores has
been dispiriting for those who have witnessed his best, and here he was
defeated by Bird's line, unsure whether to play or leave and withdrawing
his bat too late to avoid a wretched inside edge onto the stumps.
Samaraweera played Bird uncertainly from the crease, and when the bowler
seamed one back at him was pinned in front for a clear LBW, the
batsman's DRS referral made more out of desperation than calculation.
Replays duly showed the ball striking leg stump, leaving Sangakkara and
Angelo Mathews to limp to the interval.
Not long after lunch, Sangakkara winced when fending a Johnson delivery
off the glove and shook his head forlornly when the team physio examined
the damage. He left the field to become the third Sri Lankan sent to
hospital during the match, and the remainder of the innings was not to
be long in returning to the dressing room.
Mathews dragged an attempted pull shot onto the stumps, Dhammika Prasad
followed two consecutive sixes off the bowling of Lyon by skying a vain
attempt at a third, and Eranga was cornered by a short-pitcher from
Peter Siddle and plopped a catch to Ed Cowan at short leg. The innings
had felt as much blood sport as Test match, and like the 1974-75
Englishmen, Sri Lanka were much the bloodier.
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