Australia vs Sri Lanka 2019: 5 things we learnt from the Test series
Australia went into the home Test series against Sri Lanka with nothing to gain and everything to lose. The travails of the Sri Lankan side in the last couple of years made them massive underdogs in this series.
Having suffered a whitewash at home against a non-subcontinental team (England) was a reflection of how far the stocks of the team has fallen in recent times.
Aussies were fully aware that a victory over Sri Lanka wouldn’t make their fans more optimistic about the state of their Test side but a defeat or a drawn series would plummet Australian cricket to unimaginable depths of despair.
Now that the series is over and the result has been completely on expected lines, let’s look at the inferences that we can draw from this contest.
Though, it’s hard to judge whether Australia have made any progress since they were up against a weak opposition, that too in home conditions where the visitors have always struggled, we can deduce certain things about the near future of both teams.
Let’s then review the series and see what are the new things we learnt:
#1 Travis Head emerges as Australia’s most dependable batsman
Australian batting was in shambles against India. The fact that the highest individual score in that entire series from their side was Marcus Harris’ 79, speaks volumes about their struggles.
The one batsman in the middle order who somewhat kept his reputation intact was Travis Head. Though, he didn’t get a big score against the Indians, a couple of half-centuries from him suggested potential.
Head’s stature rose even more in the series against Sri Lanka thanks to his efforts with the bat in both Tests. Of course, getting runs against the current Lankan side, that too at home, isn’t going to make him a superstar, but seen along with his efforts against India, as well as a fifty in UAE against Pakistan, it does indicate that he could well be a batsman that Australia rely on in the future to strengthen their middle order.
With a decent technique against both pace and spin bowling, he could be a vital part of the Australian team in the future.