{"id":95478,"date":"2022-07-12T18:23:26","date_gmt":"2022-07-12T18:23:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/websitedesigns.com.au\/elankanew\/?p=95478"},"modified":"2022-07-12T18:23:26","modified_gmt":"2022-07-12T18:23:26","slug":"sri-lanka-trounce-australia-at-galle-a-reality-check-by-michael-roberts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/websitedesigns.com.au\/elankanew\/sri-lanka-trounce-australia-at-galle-a-reality-check-by-michael-roberts\/","title":{"rendered":"Sri Lanka Trounce Australia at Galle: A Reality Check-by Michael Roberts"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sri Lanka Trounce Australia at Galle: A Reality Check-by Michael Roberts<\/span><\/h1>\n

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Source:<\/span><\/strong>Thuppahis<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Alex Malcolm,\u00a0in\u00a0ESPNcricinfo<\/a>, with this title\u00a0\u201cProgress made, but subcontinent cracks still present for Australia\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

A reality check, indeed.\u00a0Pat Cummins<\/a>\u2018 first defeat as Australia Test captain in Galle, by an innings inside four days, was more than just a blip on the radar.<\/span><\/div>\n
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It doesn\u2019t quite warrant\u00a0the vitriolic email<\/a>\u00a0former Cricket Australia head of high-performance Pat Howard sent from a Dhaka cafe the day after their first-ever Test loss to Bangladesh in 2017.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Nor does it warrant the\u00a0resignation of the chair of selectors<\/a>\u00a0and wholesale team changes, as happened after Australia\u2019s last Test match innings defeat in Hobart in 2016. It is the first defeat in 10 Tests for the new captain and the first defeat in five under new coach Andrew McDonald. Winning teams can have bad games and there are a lot of credits in the bank. If you had offered Cummins and McDonald a score line of two wins, two draws, and a loss from five consecutive subcontinental Tests prior to leaving for Pakistan in late February, especially in the wake of the messy departure of former coach Justin Langer, they would have gleefully accepted it.<\/span><\/div>\n
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However, if you\u2019d offered the same at 329 for 5 on the second morning of the second Test in Galle would they have taken it?\u00a0\u00a0\u201cIt\u2019s a good reality check,\u201c<\/strong>\u00a0Cummins said post-match.<\/strong>\u00a0\u201cFor people touring over here, it\u2019s really hard. I think there\u2019s so many positives out of last week that we did find methods that work. One small hiccup doesn\u2019t mean you\u2019ve got to change everything about your game.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n
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This is true. Reacting to one loss emotionally, no matter how large, would go entirely against the grain of this team\u2019s new philosophy of being cool, calm and composed at all times.<\/span><\/div>\n
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But this was a little more than a hiccup. This capitulation had a very familiar feel to it for Australian teams on the subcontinent.<\/strong>\u00a0For all the good work of Pakistan and the first Test in Galle, this would have felt like two steps forward and one decent step back.<\/span><\/div>\n