Sri Lanka v. Australia - 3rd Test

[Donny]

100 up for Boofa !!

A beautiful cover drive brings up his 5th. century in his last 9 Tests.
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Stumps and it's 6/314. Lehmann on 104 n.o. and Warne, 7 n.o.

[JLC]

Who were the others against ??

jlc

[Donny]

Lehmann: ' I was a little bit bored at times'

Wisden Cricinfo staff


Since he cemented his place in the Australian middle-order, Darren Lehmann has scored five centuries in nine games. After today's unbeaten effort, he spoke to the press.

On the conditions
It was hard work out there, pretty much all day, because of the field settings. The pitch spun a fair bit and it's quite slow which made it hard to get into any rhythm.


On his prolific run of form
I'm not sure that there is a secret – it's just that I am playing well at the moment and it's good to get some runs to make up for lost time. The pleasing thing is that I am quite relaxed at the crease these days and I suppose that comes with experience and confidence in your game. That seems to be the trick at the moment. I am playing the game for what it is – a game.

On countering the threat from Sri Lanka's spinners
You have got to have a plan [in Sri Lanka] and my plan seems to be working at the moment. I am quite confident coming down the wicket, which you have to back yourself to do over here. In the past teams have come here and let the spinners dictate, but we have certainly gone about it in a different way and had some success doing so.


On the Sri Lankan defensive tactics
The wicket had enough to bowl attacking lines, but they did not back their bowlers enough. I was a little bit bored for a while but it is Test cricket and you focus pretty quickly back onto the job. It is just one of the things they do over here, they like to bowl to those kind of fields and you have to learn to cope with it. You have to come up with a plan to counteract their tactics, whether it is batting slightly outside leg or running up the wicket to work singles.

[JLC]

So were the viewers....lol

jlc

[Donny]

JLC (and others) keep trotting this old chestnut out for an airing and here it is again - just like clockwork.

"Who were the others against ??" Let's examine that, shall we ?

Darren Lehmann started his Test career with a 52 against India in India. His next innings was 98 against Pakistan in Pakistan.

You are probably alluding to his 110 and 177 against Bangladesh. May I remind you of the scores of our two highest rated batsmen in that series ?

Matt Hayden scored 11 & 50. Ricky Ponting, 10 & 59. What does that make them ?

Lehmann scored a big ton (160) in the West Indies series. Shall we look at the scores of the world's #1 batsman ? Hayden scored 10, 19, 30, 27, 2 n.o. and 14.

While Lehmann was top scoring (63 & 129) in both innings in the first Test against Sri Lanka, Ponting scored 21 & 28.

He can only play against our scheduled opponents, mate. What would you have him do - decide not to play against Bangladesh because people like you will rubbish him if he scores a century ?

One Sports Bar contributor recently wrote - commentating on Australia's success - "But who have they played in the last 5 years ??" Every other country, actually.

I rest my case.

[Ev5Magpies]

Well done Boof, thoroughly deserved! Great to see such a true aussie "athlete" succeeding in his chosen sport...

I nearly choaked when I saw a few of my mates in the crowd when boof scored his ton. They were wearing our Ormond football club jumpers...

[JLC]

I don't even think runs against Bangladesh should be counted when working out a players average. The only thing Hayden and Lehman have in common is that they are both left handed. After that no comparison should be made.

Simarlarly the wickets Murali has taken against that country should not count either.

jlc

[Canberra]

Warnie out for a well made 32. Boof,cementing his well deserved place,on 132. 7/376

[JLC]

Now Donny both Warne and Murali have going into this test about 20 wickets each.

Just looking at that you would say both have been equally as good?? We both know thats not the case though.

Interesting how stats can not pain the entire picture

jlc

[Donny]

JLC, There's an old saying: to ignore the facts does not change the facts.

You read in my post Hayden got 102 runs from 6 innings against the Windies, a team that would be hard pressed to beat Bangladesh at the moment, and Lehmann got 160 in one innings in the same series and all you can say is the only comparison is they're left handed ?
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Lehmann moves to 137 n.o. as Warney and Dizzy both fall to Murali (4/107) 8/385.

[JLC]

What other comparisons would you like me to make?? Hayden has pretty much proven himself against all the standard test playing countries and has been one of the most dominating batsman and the best opening batsman in world cricket for ther last few years. Now after a couple hundreds against Banglawho and two centuries against Sri Lanka for Lehmann you want me to compare him to Hayden?? I think not.

jlc

[Donny]

All out for 401. Lehmann (153) became Murali's 5th. wicket.

[JLC]

It actually reminds me a little of Scott Hodges and how everyone used to think he was a champion as he was dominating the SANFL for the Port Magpies. However it was hard to prove either way. That is until he entered the AFL and was proven to be a bit of a flop when the opposition were of a higher class.

jlc

[Donny]

Nothing like Hodges at all. For a start, not EVERYONE thought he was a champion. Maybe a few thou Sth. Aussies did.

You say he was proven to be a flop in the big time. How does that compare to Lehmann ??

What's Boof gotta do to rate in your estimation, mate, average 80 ?
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Oh, by the way, Sri Lanka is 1/138. Jayasuriya scored 71 and Atapattu is 61 n.o.

Who took the wicket ? I think it was that fat old bald bloke.

[JLC]

Hodges had huge wraps on him as he was an out and out gun in Sth Australian Football.

Lehmann has played well on this tour against mainly his strength which is spin bowling. Thats why what Martyn has achieved was something that i did not expect as he played well against his weakness which was spin bowling. Now all Martyn needs is to be consistent and build on the starts which he gets.

Anyway back to Lehmann, he is lucky in some regards as there are not too many good fast bowlers going around or maybe the pitches are not as friendly to fast bowling as they used to be. It will be a good test for Lehmann when he faces the likes of Pollock and Ntini. His weakness is quality fast bowling or his in law in White....lol

The players i rate have are players that have proven themselves against the normal test playing nations both home and away and over a long period of time.

jlc