Australia's century drought could end in Canberra with former Test quick Geoff Lawson saying Australia's run-starved top-order could dine out on a traditionally batsman-friendly Manuka pitch.
Lawson also backed Australian coach Justin Langer's hopes of taking an unchanged XI into the second Test against Sri Lanka.
Can Australia’s top-oder end their century drought on the batsman-friendly Manuka pitch?Credit:AAP
Canberra will end a 142-year Test drought at Manuka Oval on Friday, with the potential of the first three days being sold out.
The Australian team comes in full of confidence after a rare win, beating Sri Lanka by an innings and 40 runs in Brisbane.
But an Australian batsmen was yet to score a century, with Travis Head's 84 against Sri Lanka in Brisbane the closest anyone has come.
That could be set to change with Lawson, who played 46 Tests for Australia, adamant the Manuka pitch offered them the chance to not only score plenty of runs, but stake their claims for the upcoming Ashes tour to England.
With David Warner and Steve Smith's 12-month bans for their involvement in Sandpapergate in South Africa set to end in two months, it's a chance for the incumbent top six to keep their spot.
"It's a massive chance. Sri Lanka are missing two of their best bowlers as well through injury, their quickest bowler is out so they're going to be facing some medium-to-medium-fast bowling on a pretty good batting wicket," Lawson said.
"This is the opportunity."
Langer has said he wants to keep the same XI for the final Test, but the Australian selectors have brought allrounder Marcus Stoinis into the squad because of concerns they might need an extra bowler on the Manuka deck.
But Lawson called for them to stick with what worked at the Gabba, saying an allrounder was a luxury rather than a necessity.
He felt it was better to pick six batsmen and four bowlers, just like they did for all of his 46 Tests.
Lawson said the obsession with having an allrounder was a relatively modern phenomenon.
He said off-spinner Nathan Lyon was bowling superbly and you could always get a few overs out of Head or Marnus Labuschagne if you were desperate.
NSW only picked four bowlers – three quicks and a spinner – when they played a Sheffield Shield game against Queensland at Manuka in November.
But Lawson did think there was scope to bring Stoinis into the side in the future.
"My No.1 preference is to keep a winning team. They've chopped and changed the team so much recently, they've been experimenting, they've had a pretty clear-cut winner … not sure why you'd make a change," he said.
"I played 46 Test matches without an allrounder. You just played four bowlers, basically three quicks and a spinner … you didn't actually pick an allrounder, that's a fairly modern thing in Australian cricket.
"Nathan Lyon's bowling superbly well, he's bowling so many quality overs – even early on in a Test match – you don't really need an allrounder, it's just nice if you've got one."
He expected Manuka to lend itself to reverse swing, something that could help the under-fire Mitchell Starc "answer a few doubters".
Starc hasn't been at his best this summer and he failed to get a wicket in Sri Lanka's second innings at the Gabba.
But Lawson felt the Canberra conditions could suit him and provide the chance to turn things around.
"It's a wicket that gets pretty flat there and it does reverse there. It will be a different cricket game to what they had in Brisbane, test some different skills," he said.
"Mitchell Starc, if he gets it going reverse, will be outstanding because he does go well when it does reverse.
"He gets his opportunity to answer a few doubters ."
Source: Read Full Article