This year’s Commonwealth Series is off to a great start. With two of the five matches played, the score is tied at 1-1 between Australia and Sri Lanka. But that’s not the only amazing part.
There was some controversy this year when the selection committee left out some of Australia’s best cricketer including Michael Clarke, Mike Hussey and Ricky Ponting (although the last two have retired from international tests, they are still available for one days). Clarke is supposedly nursing an injury, so people forgive them for that omission, but there is no excuse for the others.
Which is why it was amazing when Australia dominated the first match… and why it stung so much when they were obliterated during the next.
Twenty-four year old Phil Hughes made his debut and became the first Australian to score a century (100 runs) during a one day test on their debut. History was made people. See? How would he ever have made history if the other guys had been included in the team? There were some problems – the other deb, Aaron Finch, scored only 16, for instance. But the match ended with Australia beating Sri Lanka 305-198. Not a close game. People started to think the selection committee made the right choice, and then match two rolled around.
Not only did Hughes only make less than 10 runs which resulted in a mere 170 runs for Australia, but Sri Lanka dominated by eight wickets and one team mate, Lahiru Thirimanne scored his first ever century along with the winning runs. This gave Sri Lanka a 172-170 victory over Australia. People were angry at the selection committee once again. Those poor guys just can’t win, can they?
The next three matches will be played in Brisbane, Sydney and Hobart, respectively, and Australia needs everyone – not only the newbies – to step up. Their performance during the first match was lucky, from where I’m sitting, and their second was just embarrassing. Blame the selection committee all you want, but the bottom line is: the boys have to play. And they have to win. Hopefully we’ll be looking at a few good matches… but not too close in score.
