Rain came to Sri Lanka’s rescue a second time on Monday, with the side tottering at 317 for 6 on the final day of the second test against Australia, just 80 runs ahead. With light fading away in the post-tea session every day, a draw seems the only possible result of this match.
Sri Lankan batsmen seemed to bank more on the weather than their own skills. Almost all batsmen fell trying to go for their strokes. There was nothing significant in the pitch, nor did any batsman receive any special, unplayable delivery. Anjelo Mathews (11 not out) and Suraj Randiv (4 n.o.) were in the middle when rain forced a second break.
In the morning too, rain kept its date with Pallekele as Sri Lanka lost both the overnight batsmen in the first hour of play.
Thilan Samaraweera (43), who had very little success in the series, and Prasanna Jayawardene (21), who has had eminently forgettable series in which he also bagged a pair in the first test, were at the crease, when bad light and rain forced the players back to their dressing room. Jayawardene was caught behind off Harris after lunch, while Samaraweera too departed in a similar fashion, after gifting his wicket to Watson.
The day unfolded with Kumar Sangakkara departing; not adding to his overnight score of 69. He edged Harris to second slip where Michael Clarke held on to a straightforward chance. Sri Lanka would have been badly off if Clarke had held on to the next chance – Samaraweera steered Harris straight to Clarke and Clarke could not latch on.
But Clarke, in the thick of action for once, brought off a spectacular, low, left-handed blinder of a catch to send back Mahela Jayawardene (51), off a Copeland delivery that moved out after pitching a shade outside off stump. Jayawardene had doubts about the catch – especially going by Clarke’s earlier record – and he asked the Aussie Captain if he had taken it clean. There appeared to be an exchange of words in the middle, with the Aussie captain taking the lead in the verbal volley. Jayawardene asked the umpires to check if it was clean. It, indeed, was a clean catch, a few inches off the ground. As Jayawardene walked away too, the infamous Aussie verbal assault followed him. This time though, Jayawardene, one of calmest cricketers of this generation, too retaliated.
