Warne-Muralidaran Trophy (Australia in Sri Lanka) Aug-Sep 2011

[angryangy]

Australia will finally find out where Sri Lanka is with their first tour in seven (and a quarter) years. Only Katich and Ponting bring Test experience in Sri Lanka, while the familiar faces they could expect are Dilshan, Herath, Jayawardene, Samaraweera and Sangakkara, which I suppose is half a team. Back then, Michael Clarke was just a pup in the ODI team, now he is the Test captain. In fact, most of the games on the tour will be played at cricket grounds that did not exist.

Players will jostle for a place through the current Sri Lankan tour of the UK and Australia A's trip to Africa. The 2 T20Is, 5 ODIs and 3 Tests promise to be a contest and may provide some insight as to the directions they will take over the ensuing 7 years.

Injury news:
Cricket Australia > Latest News > News
Sri Lanka in England 2011: Nuwan Pradeep set to fly home | Cricket News | England v Sri Lanka 2011 | ESPN Cricinfo

Floodlit T20Is
Sat Aug 6           	[b]1st T20I[/b] at the Murali Stadium, Pallekele
	
Mon Aug 8           	[b]2nd T20I[/b] at the Murali Stadium, Pallekele	


Floodlit ODIs - start 900 GMT
Wed Aug 10		[b]1st ODI[/b] at the Murali Stadium, Pallekele
	
Sun Aug 14		[b]2nd ODI[/b] at RPS, Colombo
	
Tue Aug 16		[b]3rd ODI[/b] at RPS, Colombo
	
Sat Aug 20		[b]4th ODI[/b] at MRICS, Hambantota

Mon Aug 22		[b]5th ODI[/b] at MRICS, Hambantota

	
Thu Aug 25 - Sat 27	TBC v Australians at MRICS, Hambantota


Tests - start 430 GMT
Wed Aug 31 - Sun Sep 4	[b]1st Test[/b] at Galle
	
Thu Sep 8 - Mon 12	[b]2nd Test[/b] at the Murali Stadium, Pallekele

Fri Sep 16 - Tue 20	[b]3rd Test[/b] at SSC, Colombo

 

[aussie1st]

That is the sort of fixture the SA series should have. Should be a good series the first for our Test side since the Ashes loss and we may have a look to the future with the ODIs.

 

[angryangy]

But of course by the end of that SA series, Australia will have played 11 Tests in South Africa and 20 Tests overall in the past decade. It's a far cry from the 10 Tests that will be played against Sri Lanka in that time. On its own, it's a welcome event, but all things being equal, 3 Tests at this belated juncture is still in some way disappointing.

Really, what it shows is that South Africa vs Australia could be a longer, but less frequent event. The Ashes is consistently five Tests. Border-Gavaskar Trophies have usually been four in recent times, while the last time England played South Africa in a bilateral 3 match series was 1907. The only reason they haven't worked to extend the series is because they haven't worked out how to share summer. When Australia can let go of a little marketing value in the name of cricket, we might see it happen.

 

[cricket_icon]

I see Australia losing the ODI series but they could definitely put together a decent performance in the Tests, but SL have got to be favourites at home.

 

[0601731]

If Sri Lanka loses its due to the IPL and BCCI.

 

[aussie1st]

ODIs is probably our best format atm, really comes down to the usual story of can we score quickly against the spinners. There are question marks over our batting and bowling in Test, we have struggled to make a good score on the flat pitches at times and our bowlers have struggled.

 

[Params7]

If Sri Lanka loses its due to the IPL and BCCI.

You heard it here first folks.

 

[War]

Australia news: Ryan Harris on alert for Sri Lanka | Australia Cricket News | ESPN Cricinfo

We can only hope desperately that he stays fit enough for test going forward in the next 2-3 years. The test attack needs him & Bollinger to form the consistently penetrative new-ball attack that i & all AUS fans know they can.

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But of course by the end of that SA series, Australia will have played 11 Tests in South Africa and 20 Tests overall in the past decade. It's a far cry from the 10 Tests that will be played against Sri Lanka in that time. On its own, it's a welcome event, but all things being equal, 3 Tests at this belated juncture is still in some way disappointing.

Really, what it shows is that South Africa vs Australia could be a longer, but less frequent event. The Ashes is consistently five Tests. Border-Gavaskar Trophies have usually been four in recent times, while the last time England played South Africa in a bilateral 3 match series was 1907. The only reason they haven't worked to extend the series is because they haven't worked out how to share summer. When Australia can let go of a little marketing value in the name of cricket, we might see it happen.

Well as we both know, SA starting from the upcoming series have said they wont be touring AUS during the christmas season anymore, since they dont want to lose their december home season crowds, which is understandable.

Which i think is a bit rude from CSA. Given the obviously Oct-January is the only time of the year AUS can host cricket for an extended period in the big 5 cities, given AFL takes over after February. S Africa can host homes series twice a year.

So in the future what i think might happen when SA tours AUS. Is maybe a 3 tests between mid October - late Nov/early Dec. Then they come back in late January for the ODIs/T20, depending of if a next touring team is in AUS or if its a world-cup year. But its gonna be very confusing.

 

[angryangy]

Australia news: Ryan Harris on alert for Sri Lanka | Australia Cricket News | ESPN Cricinfo

We can only hope desperately that he stays fit enough for test going forward in the next 2-3 years. The test attack needs him & Bollinger to form the consistently penetrative new-ball attack that i & all AUS fans know they can.

----------



Well as we both know, SA starting from the upcoming series have said they wont be touring AUS during the christmas season anymore, since they dont want to lose their december home season crowds, which is understandable.

Which i think is a bit rude from CSA. Given the obviously Oct-January is the only time of the year AUS can host cricket for an extended period in the big 5 cities, given AFL takes over after February. S Africa can host homes series twice a year.

So in the future what i think might happen when SA tours AUS. Is maybe a 3 tests between mid October - late Nov/early Dec. Then they come back in late January for the ODIs/T20, depending of if a next touring team is in AUS or if its a world-cup year. But its gonna be very confusing.

If CSA and CA jointly decide not to have any bilateral engagements during November-January, then as much as they may still be able to squeeze tours in, there won't be any long series between them and ultimately, neither will be able to create the Ashes/BG Trophy style blockbuster that they both, deep down, really want. The capacity to compromise on one in four summers is there.

 

[mattfb]

Long overdue tour. Last time we were in Sri Lanka, Lehmann hit his last test ton, Martyn was still scoring well and Warne only just took his 500th. Looking forward to it.

 

[Rehan_24]

Nice Looking forward to the series

 

[War]

Australia in Sri Lanka 2011: Cameron White dropped from ODI squad | Cricket News | Sri Lanka v Australia | ESPN Cricinfo

Where is Ryan Harris in these squads?. He was fit during the IPL, selectors need to give us some clear reasons why he has been left out.

O'Keefe is waste of time in the T20-squad. Ridiculous that Nannes the best T20 bowler in AUS has again been overlooked. Surely they are building towards the T20 WC in SRI next year withouth Nannes in their palns??? ..i tell ya its mindbogging how the selectors have treated him in his career...they just dont know when they have something good.

Looking forward to continuation of dumb selectors when the test squad is eventually picked.

 

[sifter132]

Did you also note that Nannes isn't even getting a Victoria contract this summer? He might only play Big Bash...

Agree with you about O'Keefe. Neither he or Smith should be bowling flat, fast T20 crap, when they need to be learning their craft in first class cricket. Maybe get them county contracts instead. I'd have chosen Doherty and Krejza if I wanted 2 spin options.

And somehow White's form isn't good enough for ODIs, but it's good enough for T20s?? He should have been dropped from that too, and Watson given the reins, since as long as the selectors are stupid enough to pick Watson for T20s, he might as well get some captaincy experience. Why let our most important player add to his workload with worthless matches?

And left field thought of the day, I wouldn't mind seeing Ricky Ponting given the reins of the T20 squad, and specifically give him a group of kids, basically an 'A' team and give him free rein as captain and coach. I think he'd enjoy it. Ditch guys like Johnson, Haddin and Watson, they shouldn't be in a T20 squad.

 

[aussie1st]

Too bad the selectors won't pick O'Keefe in the other format he is good at, they better not have pigeonholed him as a T20 specialist. Don't know why Ferguson isn't in there, the ODI side only has one young batsmen in Marsh and it's not like we would be picking a newbie, in Ferguson we have a guy that has proven he is up to this level and continues to prove it in the A tour.

 

[teamindia]

White out of ODI squad.