That's his ultimate test. We all know what happened to Mark Waugh when he played on SL pitches and to Ponting whwn he played on Indian pitches.
Well it's like Ponting, it happens to the best of players.
Ponting has excavated new depths of misery on Indian dustbowls on 3 seperate tours. That's one more tour than Mark.
Only two of those tours he was in for all of the Tests, though. So in reality it's only two full tours just like Mark and I don't recall Ponting scoring 4 globes in a row against what was a far inferior bowling attack on both occasions too. Even if Ponting fails this time, he's still above Mark Waugh in SL.
I remember Waugh's first series against SL in SL. I think it was 91/92? Have not looked at that link yet, T_C. Incidentally the same series in which Murali made his debut, Warne made his first overseas tour (and Marvan finally scored a run - although even then it was, iirc, pad and not bat pad). He (Waugh) was awful in that series. I would say it was bad form but I have never seen anyone of his class look so much like they would never score a run in their lives, against a pretty poor SL attack too, and on wickets that werent dustbowls either in those days. Dont know what it was. It seems to have just been one of those things.
Yep, have never seen a Test-class batsman struggle as much as he did on that first tour especially. Just a mental block of some sort because as soon as he got back to Aus to face the WI, was back in the runs against Ambi, Bish, Benjamin, etc., including a great ton in Melbourne. It's tempting to say he didn't do so well against attacks he didn't rate but then, he did fairly regularly belt Zimbabwe around.
Piffle. It's a test because it's an important tour, but it's hardly THE test as you're saying.
I could be wrong, but I seem to remember Waugh's poor run in Sri Lanka was getting out to the seamers and not the spinners.
It was certainly more seamers than spinners. Vaas got him twice in 1999/2000, as Ramanayake had in 1992. He also fell to Duleep Liyange and Wickremasinghe once each, and the part-time seam of Chandika Hathurusinghe once too.
You said 27 months ago that that series wasn't televised.
Always been amazed at the fact that Warne and Murali (both utter novices) faced-off in that series, when I found-out. So wish there was some footage of it (which, as I say above, I've always been led to believe there was not).
Well, why did you bring up the point about Waugh being good against spin if he was getting out to seamers? Seems an irrelevant point to me.
Yep, I dont buy that does not belt attacks he does not rate, either. As you say, he slammed Zim around, but even so, one would expect him to score a cameo 30 odd and give away his wicket out of sheer boredom. His first series in SL really was inexplicable while his second was more understandable as Murali and Vaas were hitting their straps at that time (and Vaas especially has the ability to make a particular good batsman look like a hapless bunny against him). It really was, I think, one of those things.
Only Ponting, Hussey and Lee really, and even then its not do or die for them. Probably Stuart Clark too actually. Can't really see how Clarke, Hayden, Haddin, Katich or even Jaques will be categorically said to be 'good' or 'not' based on this series.
