On a day that rained water, wickets and runs, Australia muscled themselves into a strong position in the second Test at Cairns
Christian Ryan11-Jul-2004 Australia 517 and 2 for 194 (Hayden 68*, Martyn 52*) lead Sri Lanka 455 (Samaraweera 70) by 256 runs
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Damien Martyn: thrilled with his audacious strokeplay© Getty Images
Today, a day that rained water, wickets and runs, Australia muscledthemselves into a position whereby they might yet win a game that had lookedto be going nowhere. First they knocked over Sri Lanka’s lower order, thenthey knocked up a 256-run lead that should enable them to declare sometimein the morning. Little of it was pretty, all of it was pretty effective. Andso the stage is set for a fairytale.Tomorrow, an out-of-form legspin bowler will attempt to take five wickets towin a Test match and set a new world record. He must do so against a deepbatting line-up on a featherbed pitch with rain in the offing. For anyoneelse, it might seem impossible. For Shane Warne, the impossible is merely achallenge. Fairytales, grim and golden, are what happen when he wakes upmost mornings.It would be some kind of ending to what has been a funny kind of Test. Sixeshave been slugged and spectacular catches pouched. Three glorious hundredshave been struck. And yet somehow this game – this series for that matter -has failed to light up the imagination. It’s been fun to watch, hard tocare.Perhaps it’s because, no matter what Cricket Australia tell us, our bodiesstill tell us it’s the footy season. Perhaps it’s to do with the crowds, notmuch bigger – though several thousand decibels more enthusiastic – than youmight find on a Pura Cup Sunday. Or maybe it’s because we have spent most ofthe past fortnight talking about a bloke who, for all his wickets and wilesand gruff swagger, hasn’t bowled particularly well.Warne’s ball that got rid of Upul Chandana was actually one of hisbetter ones. The batsman, seeking to swing him over the leg side, wasdeceived by the flight and nearly lost his footing. Adam Gilchrist snappedup the stumping and No. 523 was in the bag, four more than Courtney Walsh,four fewer than Muttiah Muralitharan, one elusive five-wicket haul away fromimmortality.
All eyes will be on Shane Warne tomorrow as the world record beckons© Getty Images
Moments earlier, drift and bite and guile had looked non-existent; any spinwas so slow as to be almost incidental. Chandana, as if to emphasise thepoint, leant forward on one knee and slog-swept the greatest legspinner theworld has ever seen over mid-on for six. Still, adversity and Warne are oldsparring partners. You’d be a fool not to keep at least one eye on the tellytomorrow afternoon.Apart from anything, record or no record, a titanic finish might yet be onthe cards. A late flurry in fading light, with Matthew Hayden and DamienMartyn crashing 67 runs in the last nine overs, has afforded Ricky Pontingthe luxury of a possible declaration within an hour or so of tomorrow’sresumption. A couple of hours earlier things hadn’t looked nearly so cosy.The Australians began their second innings, 62 runs ahead, with an unfamiliarnote of caution. After Justin Langer departed early, nibbling at NuwanZoysa, only eight runs were added in six overs after tea. Chaminda Vaas andThilan Samaraweera, the part-time spinner, kept a stifling line and length.Ponting, in particular, found himself bogged down for long periods on hisway to 45.It fell to Martyn, in pristine touch, to unfurl his second masterpiece oftiming and placement for the match, skating to his half-century in only 51balls. Hayden eventually leapt into stride too. Not out on 68, he is ontrack for his second hundred of the match, a feat he has previously achievedagainst England in 2002-03 and which only seven men in Test history havedone twice. By the end, when Hayden and Martyn accepted the offer of badlight with nine overs still up their sleeves, talk had turned to victory.Victory seemed a purely hypothetical proposition this morning when heavyshowers delayed the start by more than two hours. Lunch was taken and playreduced to two extended sessions of almost three hours each. The only earlymoment of misadventure came when Romesh Kaluwitharana attempted to cut too close to his body, Warne juggling a high catch at slip off Glenn McGrath’s bowling.Otherwise the Sri Lankans meandered along at less than two runs an over, theirbatting as grey as the sky overhead. Gradually the sun broke through and theAustralians followed suit, courtesy of some probing bowling and predatoryfielding. Ponting led by example at second slip, plucking Samaraweera (7 for445) with a sharp diving catch to his left, then mirroring that effort withan awkward catch to his right off Vaas (8 for 455). Samaraweera fell for 70,the victim of a mean-fisted spell from Jason Gillespie, who had shaken himup in the previous over with a steepling bouncer that followed his head andalmost grazed his gloves.Chandana followed soon afterwards and Sri Lanka, resuming on 5 for 411, hadlost their last four for 10 when Lasith Malinga was run out for his thirdduck in three Test innings. Slow to set off for an easy single, he succumbedto an electric fielding cameo from Darren Lehmann. Not known for hisoutfield agility, Lehmann picked up the ball at deepish mid-on and hurleddown the stumps at the faraway non-striker’s end.With the forecast uncertain and the pitch unyielding, a draw still looms asthe likeliest outcome. But if Lehmann is capable of doing that, the SriLankans might well be thinking, anything is surely possible.Tomorrow, Shane Warne may just prove it.Christian Ryan is the editor of Wisden Cricinfo in Australia.
