Sri Lanka's adrenaline surges, again

Upon touching down in Sri Lanka, Australia had received quite the reception. There were no cultural dances, as anyone was aware. No fruit drinks at the airport, nor the privilege of being daubed in the glorious palm sweat of one of the nation's politicians.

The welcome, instead, was sweetened by news of the ever-growing delegation of injured Sri Lanka seamers. Dushmantha Chameera would not rush Australia with his pace. Dhammika Prasad's eyebrows would not haunt their nightmares. Having been unavailable for so many recent Tests, Suranga Lakmal also gallantly re-twinged his dodgy hamstring, like a musician obliging a swaying crowd with his greatest hit. Not long after, Nuwan Pradeep felt the peer pressure and followed suit.

On the spin front, Jeffrey Vandersay had also busted a finger, but more importantly, Sri Lanka's greatest player grinned himself over to the opposite camp, and cocked that Aussie-bashed elbow in the direction of his own team. One thing, comfortingly, did stay the same. Six years after Test retirement, Muttiah Muralitharan was still finding ways to get himself blamed for the spin-friendly nature of a Sri Lankan pitch.

In addition, for Australia, there was a welcome banquet at their High Commission, kind words from the opposition captain, and a self-insertion and capitulation from Sri Lanka to set the series off. Short of having groundstaff fan their fielders with banana fronds, Australia had had the best possible welcome on a foreign tour.

Sri Lanka, meanwhile, arrived with tattered recent records, an under-pressure captain, and arguably a better attack in triage than the one they have been forced to field. "An Aussie whitewash", went many predictions. Others looked into the crystal ball of the island's cricket and saw, oh dear, the West Indies.

Where then, six days into the series, did Angelo Mathews find the gall to run at Nathan Lyon and club him into the distance, second ball? Who signed off on a run rate north of four in the first 45 overs today? Who suggested a No. 3 batsman be made of Kusal Perera - who is only a recently reintegrated agent of lower-order slash and burn?

It seems to be a solitary Test win that has made the difference. One great Pallekele innings and some quality spin bowling that has been the shot in the arm that has set adrenaline surging again.

And it is in Mathews' day one doings that this restored confidence was most apparent. In Pallekele he had plodded morosely to 15 and 9. In Galle, he hit two reverse sweeps in his first 19 balls, and loped to 35 at a strike rate over 100. In England, only restaurants that are fronts for criminal operations would have been caught up in so many terrible reviews. But in Galle, he had his highest scorer overturn an lbw decision, and late in the day, declined to refer speculative shouts from his bowlers.

"We have always wanted to bat reasonably positively, but the problem we have faced is that we hadn't got off to good starts and that has led to a defensive mindset," coach Graham Ford said after stumps. "But we always want to play positively. Angelo is capable of playing spin bowling well. He tries and score off them and disrupt them. When I first started with Sri Lanka that was the general approach followed by Mahela Jayawardene, and no surprise Angelo has continued that."

At times in England, Mathews had captained with all the zest and creativity of a tube light, but suddenly in Galle, his bowling changes began to seem inspired. Offpsinner Dilruwan Perera had been the worst of the frontline spinners in the first Test, but Mathews had him bowl at a charging David Warner, and eventually, drew the left-hander's outside edge. Lunging forward, low to his left, Mathews held a very tough chance himself.

With so much inexperience in this squad, which features two Kusals, two Pereras, two Fernandos, a Silva and a de Silva, it was easy to think the selectors had been so short of options they'd been forced to thumb through the phone book picking out clumps of names. But contributions came from all over this XI, which suggests a little belief has built. The openers glove-punched their way to the crease and made the customary head-shaking retreat to the pavilion soon after, but in Kusal Mendis' and Perera's 108-run recovery, there was evidence of both grit and ability. In Dhananjaya de Silva's breezy strokes from No. 7, there were healthy signs of another decent player emerging.

Sri Lanka will know they have hardly made a dent in Australia's batting yet, but with Lakshan Sandakan as yet unloosed on a devious surface, and a half-decent score accrued, they will begin day two with optimism. A series victory seems far off, but for now at least they have competed. At the beginning of this tour, it is more than they were expected to do.