Gideon Haigh in Weekend Australian, 24 January 2020, where the title runs
In December 2011, Rahul Dravid delivered a justly celebrated speech at the Australian War Memorial, the Bradman Oration, lyrically evoking the plurality and diversity of cricket in the subcontinent. “The Indian cricket team is in fact, India itself, in microcosm,” he said, describing a dressing room drawn from every corner of the country that spoke 15 different languages and stood “not just for sport, but possibility, hope, opportunities”.
4:51pm And that is all from us! Thank you for sticking with us through this slow burner, and we hope it was worth it with this exciting finish. We’ll see you for the next Test. Have a good evening.
Dimuth Karunaratne: In the start there was nothing for the bowlers. After that it became slow and low and we knew we had that advantage. I think we bowled really well. We bowled lots of maidens overs, that’s what we want, build the pressure and then we can capitalise on it. Embuldeniya was really good in the first innings and in the second innings the seamers did a good job as well. It’s a good start but Angie is the only one who converted into a big score, so the other batters have to convert after they get a start. It was a tough game here, we have a three day break, we will try to relax before moving to the next Test.
Angelo Mathews: Firstly I thank the almighty for blessing me. I’ve worked a lot on my fitness in the past few months. Looking a bit slimmer, lost a few Ks and feeling good. [A hundred] it has been a while, I haven’t got one in 4-5 games. So once I made the start, I had to make it count. Credit must go to Zimbabwe, they gave nothing away. They kept pegging away with the umbrella field. We had a target – the plan was to try and get to 160. We didn’t want to bat in the second innings because there was variable bounce and turn. I’d been told as well, so I had to make sure we get to that target first.
Angelo Mathews is the Man of the Match.
Sean Williams: The guys have tried their hardest. There’s going to be hurdles we’re going to have to cross as a team, but it’s [captaincy’s] been enjoyable. 350 I would have taken any day, but 450 would have taken time out of the game and given us a lead. The wicket got difficult today, you couldn’t trust the bounce. Chakabva, the way he batted today was incredible and the seamers did well for us. Spinners – we need more discipline in that area. The seamers put in a hell of a lot of overs. The young guys coming into this side put their hands up. There are a lot other positives – the workload the guys took on, Brian’s innings. All in all, very proud of them.
4:37pm So in the end, we get a result. 24 hours ago, the pace of the game would have had many doubting, particularly as Zimbabwe’s openers took them solidly to the end of the day. But a fifth-day collapse, however small, is enough to change the game rapidly. Unfortunately for Zimbabwe, they had two such collapses. And they both came at the start of the first two sessions. That seriously impeded their chances of taking a respectable lead. Taylor and Williams batted beautifully before they fell in back-to-back overs. Suranga Lakmal the chief architect for Sri Lanka in that half of the day. In the second half, they were made to toil by Regis Chakabva and the lower order, but the pace and fire of Lahiru Kumara was a little too much for them. They were bowled out with just under an hour left in the game. Sri Lanka’s patient approach, particularly that of Angelo Mathews, all worked out to perfection. Bright performances from ZImbabwe’s four debutants, particularly Kevin Kasuza and Victor Nyauchi, who were among the top performers in the first two innings of this game. But Embuldeniya’s five-for and Mathews’ maiden double-ton and partnerships with the other seasoned cricketers in Mendis, Dickwella, and Dhananjaya de Silva proved to be the difference.