Cricinfo - Lee spearheads a big Australia win Annotated
Brett Lee helped Australia beat not only Sri Lanka but also the unpredictable Brisbane weather as the hosts rattled out the last five wickets between rain breaks on the final day. Lee claimed 4 for 86 to confirm Australia's 1-0 lead ahead of the second Test in the two-match series, which starts in Hobart on Friday.
To me, secret of winning a test match is first innings lead and bowling that can dismiss the opponents twice. Well that is hell lot of a task but then we are talking about Test sides. They should be able to do it. Well Srilanka never looked to be doing any one of these at Gabba. Their batsman lacked that supreme touch and their bowling was let down by lack luster Dilhara and poor fielding.
Mallinga's exclusion over Dilhara was a blunder I guess. He would have enjoyed the conditions. Dilhara's performance was a disaster. He had no clue how to bowl and never settled in. Murali was let down by lack luster performances from other bowlers. Teams have to understand the importance of pressure from both the bowling ends. By the time, SL lost their openers in the second innings, it was all south from there.
Brett Lee was amazing and is now a standard on how to bowl fast but disciplined. This wicket was not super fast yet he bowled with aggression and immaculate line and length. Any bowler going down under should take some lesson from Lee's performance. You have to bowl long spells of tight line. Only that is what can trouble aussies. You have to choke the flow of runs. And don't fool your selves by bowling short balls at them. Just an occasional and well directed bouncer can do the trick. Waist height won't give you results.
SL's next game is in Bellerive Oval, which is a fantastic venue to watch a game of cricket. I hope they will not get disheartened too much and think of the fact that most teams meet the same result when they come to Australia. They should look forward to play aggressive cricket to win the match and level series. A 2 match series has a big advantage. Even a 2-0 result won't look too bad.
