Under pressure ... Chanaka Welagedara and the rest of the Sri Lankan attack have come in for plenty of criticism. Photo: Getty Images
SRI LANKA'S fast bowling attack is the worst to come to Australia and will not give the home team any clarity about its top order by the summer's end, says former Test paceman Rodney Hogg.
The sixth-ranked visitors will enter Friday's first Test in Hobart with the world's leading spinner, Rangana Herath, and run-scoring maestros Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene in their line-up, but their seaming stocks are unquestionably their Achilles heel.
The three Sri Lankan fast bowlers most likely to feature at Bellerive Oval - Nuwan Kulasekara, Shaminda Eranga and Chanaka Welegedara - have only 38 Tests and fewer than 100 wickets among them approaching the three-Test Warne-Muralitharan Trophy series. None of Sri Lanka's five quicks on tour - the others are Dhammika Prasad and Nuwan Pradeep - have played 20 Tests and none average less than 30.
Hogg tweeted on Wednesday: ''Sri Lanka have the worst new-ball attack that has landed on our shores ever.''
Contacted later in the day, the 61-year-old veteran of 38 Tests said he believed this Sri Lankan pace contingent to be of even lower quality than the touring Zimbabwe side of 2003-04, who were collateral damage as Matthew Hayden broke the world runs-scoring record with a triple century in Perth. New Zealand director of cricket John Buchanan, whose side beat Sri Lanka by 167 runs in Colombo a fortnight ago, also believes the limitations of the visitors' attack make them highly vulnerable.
Hogg said the questions Australia had in the immediate post-Ponting era batting order leading up to the Ashes tour next winter, would not be answered because of the less than thorough examination he expected from Sri Lanka, who have never won a Test here.
''I had a look at the stats. No [fast] bowler has got 50 Test wickets,'' Hogg said. ''Kulasekara looks like he'd be a good third bowler, and I've gone through all their other fast and fast-medium bowlers, and they're all terrible. It's got to be pretty close to the worst attack doesn't it?
''Zimbabwe had Heath Streak, and he had over 150 Test wickets. They at least had a frontline fast bowler. This mob hasn't got a No.1 bowler, they haven't got a No.2 …
''Obviously these blokes have bowled on subcontinent wickets, so I'm being a bit harsh. But their stats don't stack up. We're trying to sort out what our top order is - well, this attack is not going to sort out our top order.''
Conversely, the Australian hierarchy sees this series as the ideal opportunity to reintegrate - to borrow some England cricket terminology - Phillip Hughes into the Test team. National selector John Inverarity said last week that Hughes had been spared from a return against the fearsome South Africans Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel and Vernon Philander, and it was clear he saw Sri Lanka as a soft landing for the 24-year-old.
On past Test sorties here, Sri Lanka have at least had more experience and class in their fast-bowling arsenal, with the champion left-armer Chaminda Vaas and the dangerous slinger Lasith Malinga in the touring parties. Welegedara, 31, has been Sri Lanka's best fast bowler of the past two years, and did well against Australia on the small island nation in September last year, but he averages only 40.18 and is returning from injury.
As with Australia, fitness issues have constantly unsettled the Sri Lankan attack, and Hogg thinks they will struggle in Hobart, and then in further Tests at the MCG and in Sydney. ''If you don't post big scores and you've got [only] spinners then you're in trouble, aren't you?'' he said.
Buchanan, the former Australia coach who now oversees the Black Caps, said in a text message: ''Sri Lanka still rely heavily on Sangakkara, Jayawardene and Dilshan for runs. Their bowling attack has minimal experience in Australia. I see Sri Lanka as vulnerable in Australia, especially if Sri Lankan top order underperform as they did against the Black Caps. This will then expose limitations of Sri Lankan bowling attack.''
While Hogg rates their fast bowlers worse than Streak's Zimbabwe, he is leaving out Bangladesh, who toured Australia's top end, losing 2-0, in 2003. He quipped: ''I didn't know Bangladesh was in Test cricket.''
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