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by Elmo Rodrigopulle

The Australians who failed to stuff the Kiwis in the Three Test series, cropped the Proteas 3-0 to maintain their standing as the best Test playing nation.

Surprisingly it was the rain that thwarted the Aussies against the Kiwis.

But against the Proteas they fired all cylinders and at the end it was one way traffic with the Aussies winning without having to raise much of a sweat.

The man who stood out was the tall left hander Mathew Hayden who had a dream series. Runs cascaded from his bat with monotonous regularity and the South African bowlers had no answer to counter him.

In another left hander Justin Langer, Hayden found an able partner and together they gave their side solid starts which other batsmen consolidated on.

The Aussies really found form against the South Africans. They excelled in every department and with the South Africans unsettled with selection problems with their big man of the Cricket Board demanding his selections, the visitors were thoroughly shaken and could not give of their best.

It is time that the players and their Cricket Board talked it over and settled down to picking players on merit, otherwise we are afraid their cricket and all other sport will not progress.

In the Final Test in Sydney the Aussie leg spinners Shane Warne and Stuart MacGill put on show some of the finest leg spin bowling seen for a long time.

Leg spin is the most difficult in the art of bowling. It is doubly difficult when one has, to in addition to the leg break, bowl the googly and the flipper. It requires constant practice and at times it could be heartbreaking.

Having been a bowler of this type I can vouch for this fact.

Warner and MacGill bowled every conceivable delivery in their armoury and completely baffled the Protea batsmen.

MacGill rarely gets a chance to show his class because of the presence of champion leg spinner Shane Warne. But whenever he is allowed the opportunity he has grabbed it and proved the saying that you cannot keep a good man down in this instance a leg spinner.

While the Aussies had it easy in the series against South Africa, they seem to be struggling in the triangular series with defeats in their first two games against the Kiwis and Proteans. Good move by selectors.

The new cricket selection committee of the BCCSL headed by former Sri Lanka captain Michael Tissera must be commended for contacting former master blasters Aravinda de Silva with a view to selecting him for the England tour.

The former selection committee with T. B. Kehelgamuwa at the helm it is reported had been in touch with De Silva, but what transpired is not known and nothing much was heard of De Silva.

But now the new move to bring back De Silva and we hope he will respond to the new selectors, get down to serious training and be on the plane to England.

On an arduous tour like England, Aravinda de Silva is a must. He had loads of experience playing there and his presence will be an added advantage to skipper Sanath Jayasuriya.

De Silva has performed marvellously for Sri Lanka and it came as a surprise to see this master batsman being ignored for so long. He had still a lot to offer the country.

De Silva has now shed his urge to blast the bowlers from the word go and settled down to playing according to the dictates of the situation. If he is fit then he is a must to England. 

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Copyright 2001 The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd.
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