Selection will be the key for the Australian side doing battle against Sri Lanka in the Test series. The management and the selectors on tour will face at least two key questions before the start of the third Test match at the SSC in Colombo; whether Ryan Harris can be risked for the vital game and whom will Ricky Ponting replace in the playing 11 for the third game.
Australian Selectors Face Selection Headaches For Third Test
It will be interesting to see the Australian 11 that walks out on to the park for the third Test match against Sri Lanka at Colombo.
Harris suffered from a hamstring strain in the second Test match played at Pallekele and had to walk back to the pavilion on the fifth day of the game. It was later deemed that he had suffered from a hamstring injury.
If Harris does not regain sufficient fitness, he could be replaced by Peter Siddle. The other option that the selectors have is James Pattinson but with Trent Copeland and Nathan Lyon already as two of the inexperienced bowlers in the department, it could be risky to get in a third greenhorn in the bowling. Siddle’s experience should win him the spot.
The Ponting conundrum is more serious. Ponting had missed the second Test match to get back to Australia for the birth his child but has now flown back. Shaun Marsh had taken his spot at the number three position, in turn making his debut. Ideally, Ponting should replace Marsh but the latter scored a superb 141 in the previous game which makes it that much more difficult for the selectors to give him the boot.
The other option that the selectors have is to drop Usman Khawaja to make way for Marsh. However, before the start of the first Test match, when the selectors had an option to choose from between Khawaja and Marsh for the number six spot, they had pitched for Khawaja. Now, to go back and get in Marsh may give out the impression of being confused.
Interesting to watch where the selectors are headed on this one.
Sri Lanka v Australia third Test at Colombo starts September 16.
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