No More Doubts

Clint McKay too 5-28

Australia have finally banished the remaining doubters. After nearly two years of indifferent form before last summer's crushing defeat at the hands of England and the biggest internal overhaul of any Australian sport, Michael Clarke's mixed bag of aging superstars and energetic youngsters banged the final nail in the coffin of the past with a stunning performance in Adelaide last night.

In defeating Sri Lanka, they became the first side since one day series began in Australia in 1971 to win a final series after winning and then losing, in that order, the first two matches but there was so much more to it than that. Gone during the preliminaries was a legend. Gone for the final match was their inspirational skipper, so gallant in defeat in the second final. Gone after thirty two overs were the batsmen and only 151 on the board. Now, the next morning, gone are the demons.

It was the bowling staff who won this victory, principally Clint McKay and Brett Lee but with able support from Shane Watson, standing in again for the injured Michael Clarke. He made two decisive strikes and gave the Sri Lankan batsmen nothing when they were blazing in that audacious way they do. The fieldsmen played their part with the sharpest display of the CBA Series. Not called on to take anything but safe catches, nothing was dropped and nothing given away free to batsmen intent on dominating.

Australia had made a good start, with Dave Warner and Matthew Wade putting on 75 in just 14 overs for the first wicket but they lost their way to a combination of spin (Dilshan and Herath) and the swing (Maharoof) and looked gone when David Hussey fell at 151 and Dan Christian at 177. With three wickets and twelve overs left and not a batsman in sight, it was one of those times which define a team by dropping a thermometer in the patient's mouth to test wellness. The same thing happened in South Africa last November after the humbling first Test defeat at Newlands. Bowling South Africa out for 96 and having a lead of nearly 200, Australia came and went like tissue paper left out in a summer storm, knocked over in just 18 overs. South Africa made 2-236 to win by 8 wickets but eight days later, Australia chased down a record 310 in the fourth innings at The Wanderers after their batting again crumbled in the first innings. thecricketragics said at the time, it was the stuff of legend upon which Australia would build a new future.

So it was at Adelaide last night, as the old warrior, Brett Lee and the rising star, Clint McKay, refused to budge and added 40 to restore hope. Runs on the board are always the most valuable.

Winners are grinners

Watson opened the bowling with Lee and Xavier Doherty but the young spinner was smacked for four boundaries in his first two overs and was replaced by McKay. Dropping short to the likes of Dilshan and Sangakkara will always write you cheques you can't cover. By the tenth over, it didn't matter, as despite the blazing attack from the daunting Sri Lankan top four, Lee and Mckay had sent them all back. Sri Lanka never recovered despite the best efforts of Upal Tharanga and Lahiru Thirimanne who added sixty before Watson closed Thirimanne down and he meekly hit the ball to Warner at point. If Lee and McKay had made the vital breakthroughs, Watson claimed the two turning points of the match. One was at this point, where he bowled a five over spell for 1-8 and the other came at the death, coming on when Tharanga had put himself in a position to win the game for Sri Lanka. Watson removed him, edging a ball tight on the off stump line to Wade. His two over spell - the 46th and 47th of the innings - took 1-5. Clarke's concerns about bowling at the death may have finally been allayed.

McKay finished with 5-28 from ten overs and Lee 3-59, his wickets expensive but vital never the less.

It was a fine win in the context of matches against Sri Lanka in this series, Australia having won only three of the seven. With West Indies still to go in this summer that never ends, Michael Clarke can look back with a great level of pride and satisfaction. Since becoming Australia's full time captain following the sub continental World Cup which finished for Australia on 24/3/11, Clarke has not lost a Test or ODI series against opposition which has included Sri Lanka, South Africa and India, all of them rated comfortably above Clarke and his men. He has showcased a string of new talent, coped with constant injuires and handled the relationship with the former skipper with great tact. Some say he is overly humble but then the same complained of his vanity. There is iron in his tactical acumen but diplomacy which always finds the right time for a velvet glove. Like the best of leaders, he has used his own talent lavishly, scoring vital, incisive hundreds at crucial points of time in the fledgling development of his team. Beyond all of this, he is still a young man and one who looks to the past for its best lessons, applies them to his present and presses on to a better future.

All of this in twelve months.

Find me someone who believed this could happen and I'll buy him a new jester's hat but then, as William Cowper said, "A fool must now and then be right, by chance."