Gaji
Australia captain Michael Clarke has back Peter Siddle to justify his enclosure and help the tourists secure a series win in Sri Lanka.
Siddle was given the nod from the selectors ahead of James Pattinson to replace the wounded Ryan Harris for the clash in Colombo.
Victorian Siddle is mostly regarded as a 'short of a length' bowler but Clarke knows a different move toward will be needed on a slower pitch at the Sinhalese Sports Club.
"All of our bowlers have been working on their length since they've been here," Clarke said.
"That's something that (Australia's bowling coach) Craig McDermott has definitely made very clear - with the new ball we needed to be bowling fuller, we wanted to be giving ourselves a chance, and Sidds has done that.
"I've watched him bowl at every net session he's had and he's absolutely better his length.
"He's had two weeks to train with (fitness coach) Stuart Karppinen, who has made it very clear he wanted him fitter and stronger, and to bowl a lot more in the nets to work on his length.
"Harris has got the ball to come back in and he's bowled blokes through the gate, got lbws. Sidds can swing the new ball away, but one of his greatest strengths and what he does naturally is bring the ball back in off the pitch to the right-handers or take it away from the left-handers."
The other change to the side from the earlier Test sees former captain Ricky Ponting come in for Usman Khawaja.
Ponting was always likely to return after flying home for the birth of his child and Khawaja was the man to miss out rather than Shaun Marsh, who hit 141 on his Test debut in Kandy while deputising at number three.
"It's good to have Ricky back, he's an amazing player," said Clarke.
"I haven't even consideration about the batting line-up but Shaun can slide back down to six."
Kumar Sangakkara will make his 100th Test appearance for the home side and Clarke admits he and his side are full of approbation for the 33-year-old.
"I hope he gets a pair in this game," joked Clarke, before adding: "His record is incredible but he is a nice guy as well.
"We are going to have to take 20 wickets to win the game and we need to get Kumar and (Mahela) Jayawardene early as if they get in they are rough to stop."
Australia is currently 1-0 up in the three-match series and Clarke believes that places more pressure on the home side.
He said: "There is more pressure on Sri Lanka as they have to win this game to level this series so they will have to bat a bit more positively than they have so far to get a result.
"We have no goal to go home 1-0 winners. We want to go home 2-0 winners."
Home skipper Tillakaratne Dilshan has called for a positive manner as they seek to level the series.
"We told the players to believe in themselves and in their own game. If we were in a negative frame of mind, with three failed innings, we're not going to do any better. We just have to give them the confidence," he said.
"It's really unsatisfactory that we cannot win the Test series but we still have a chance to draw it. As players, we must grab that possibility in both hands and if we can do that, it's really good."
0 comments:
Post a Comment