I didn't mean to put down the Aussie attack one bit: three A1 players plus, in Kasprowicz, a very, very good if slightly less proven bowler who I admire greatly.. but whilst Vaas impresses me lots (I might have him in the RoW XI to play Australia in this "world series" thing.. Zoysa, surely, still has a lot to prove (a credible 3rd or 4th seamer more than a genuine strike partner for Vaas).. and the other Sri Lankan bowlers are, Internationally speaking, lacking a bit of credibility.

The comment about Chandana's 10-for being "Gift wrapped" was not mine: that was a direct quote from a cricinfo match report.. which did nothing to dispel the impression that the current Sri Lankan attack is weaker than England's was when Gus Fraser was the lone competent member.

Credit must go to Australia for managing to get somewhere close to a win on a pitch that had "draw" written all over it.. and against a very reasonable Sri Lankan top / middle order (a batting line up that's far stronger than the bowling line-up)... but the fact that a really top line Aussie attack couldn't get the Sri Lankan side out for under 450 1st time around (India would have still been batting in the first innings on day 4) certainly suggests that even a line up of Trueman, Statham, Bedser and Laker / Lock would have struggled to put the Aussies under real pressure on that pitch.

Strikes me that whilst some interest might have arisen along the way... a truly great team facing the Aussie on that pitch would have needed 10-12 days to force a win: not ideal. It also strikes me that England, New Zealand, South Africa, India and Pakistan would all have been pretty well un-defeatable in Sri Lanka's place.

There's been talk of late from Ponting that Aussie batsmen have been spoiled of late by batsmen friendly tracks... and that the balance needs to be restored to keep the cricket interesting. Strikes me that this pitch was exactly the sort of thing he was talking about. That's not me carping from the outside.. that's the captain of the dominant side on the planet on the pitches in his own back yard. I applaud him for having the nerve to say it.