The Aussies will be the team to beat (7 July 1999)

7 July 1999

The Aussies will be the team to beat

Elmo Rodrigopulle

Australia on top of the world in Test and one-day cricket is the team that every other country wants to beat.

The kangaroos will be making their first tour after winning the World Cup, to Sri Lanka for a triangular which also includes India and later a three Test series against this country.

On field the Aussies and the Sri Lankans have not been on the best of terms. Since ace off spinner Muthiah Muralitharan was called by umpire Darrel Hair in the 1996 series, both teams have known to fiercely compete out in the middle with no quarter asked or given.

Then early this year in Australia, Ross Emerson called Muralitharan again and that incident which was uncalled for, nearly went to sever cricket connections between the two countries.

Skipper Arjuna Ranatunga stood up for Muralitharan on that day in Adelaide. That generated a lot of heat and held up the game which hung in the balance for a while.

Hurried discussions between the officials in Australia and the local Cricket Board defused the tension and the game resumed much to the delight of the spectators, players, and the two Cricket Boards. For, the games the thing.

Then during the World Cup Shane Warne who always seems to like to hug the headlines by saying something controversial needled Ranatunga, saying that Sri Lanka cricket and the game would be better off without him.

Ranatunga made an apt reply.

When the Aussies tour here, indications are the series will be hotly and keenly contested with the Aussies wanting to guard their hard won titles and Sri Lanka wanting to regain their superiority and resurrect their game and fortunes after the poor showing in the recent World Cup.

Three members connected with Aussie cricket were here checking on the facilities and the security that will be provided to Aussies and at a press conference revealed that they are satisfied with the arrangements and promised that the Australians will tour.

Now what is interesting is to see what the composition of the Aussie team will be. One man all Sri Lanka will want to see, is that 'sheik of tweak', Shane Warne.

It was Warne the spinning genius who took a wobbly looking Aussie team to the semi-finals and finals of the World Cup and then won it for them with intelligent, clever and penetrative leg spin, googly bowling.

At the time of writing, Warne has still not decided on his cricketing future. It is hoped that Warne will not give it up. Cricket needs entertainers such as Shane Warne, especially his leg spinning magic which is a rare aspect in cricket today.

It was in Sri Lanka that Shane Warne launched his phenomenal rise to fame and fortune and it is everyone's hope that Warne will be on the plane to Sri Lanka come August. Possibly he can help our leg spinners improve.

Sri Lanka's top spinner Muthiah Muralitharan who has once and for all been cleared of a suspect action, is mesmerising English county batsmen with his amazing spinning prowess.

From the time he moved into the Lancashire team, he has been brushing aside opposing batsmen and capturing 10 wickets and over everytime he comes on to bowl.

With these efforts, Muralitharan has done what no other Sri Lanka cricketer playing or having played in the English county circuit has done. Batsmen facing him are apparently not using their feet to get to him, and this probably has led to their undoing.

Muralitharan's rise has been through sheer guts. When he was being called it looked as though it would be end of the road for him. But he put the traumatic times behind him, raised his game allround and can be classed with the best of his tribe in the game today.

Batsmen even in the Test arena fear Muralitharan and the Aussies when they are here will surely be teased and lured to their destruction.

All Sri Lanka are agog waiting to see who the new Sri Lankan captain will be. Will the selectors appoint a captain, tour by tour or will the blood someone for the future?

These are the questions that cricketers, cricket fans are seeking answers to.

The selectors with Sidat Wettimuny at the helm, and having T. B. Kehelgamuwa, Asantha de Mel and Brendon Kuruppu with him can be relied on to do a job to the best of their ability and the betterment of the game at large and this week will see them announcing the new captain.

Source :: The Daily News (https://www.lanka.net/lakehouse/)