A week ago, Matthew Kuhnemann did not even know whether he would get a ticket to board the flight to Sri Lanka. His thumb injury, albeit on his non-bowling hand, required immediate surgery just two weeks before the first Test. The fact that he had not played any international game in the past year did not help his case either. But when Steve Smith announced the lineup, the legspinner’s name was there. It would be false to say no one expected Kuhnemann to do what he did, the way he did in Galle. Similar to how Smith puts it, the length he frequently tends to hit, often gets the better of right-handers in sub-continent conditions.
Australia’s head coach, Andrew McDonald, agrees that Australia would have faced more than one problem if Kuhnemann was not fit to be selected.
“I thought he was gone, but as it progressed and got closer to the test match, he was pretty much a lock three days out. Not sure where we would have ended up, but there were plenty of conversations around potentials, and possibilities in terms of selecting spinners. There was a leg spin versus finger spin debate, and we discussed two off-spinners, which we played in Nagpur before.” McDonald said.
“But Matt solved a lot of those dilemmas, and produced an outstanding performance.”
Kuhnemann flew to Sri Lanka days after his teammates. So, he was also not part of Australia’s lay-over training camp in the UAE. The visitors practiced for an entire week at the ICC Academy and McDonald thinks it was one of the reasons behind the historic win in the opening Test.
“I think the strength of this group was the preparation in the UAE. We had some time and space to get our heads around the challenges, different scenarios and the ICC facilities allowed us to do that. And to see the guys go to work, the conversations they had amongst each other, plus with the coaches – that gave us the best opportunity.”
Galle is a venue notorious for the spin it offers. But that usually happens after the grass dries out and the pitch deteriorates. Before the wearing-out process, the surface provides a decent amount of help to the batters. As a visiting team playing a Test game in Sri Lanka after three years, Australia had to be prepared for everything Galle had in store. And they did just that.
The Aussie head coach was full of praise for the spin coach and ex-New Zealand player, Daniel Vettori as well as the ground staff for preparing the pitch which provided equal contest between bat and ball.
“I think the spinners getting to work on the shape and the pace of deliveries with spin coach Dan Vettori was important, as was the batting unit working through flat surface versus extreme surface. The ground staff there did an amazing job in recreating what we would potentially get here across the game. So we were just working through all of those scenarios, conversations, and it was a hectic time.”
“I think we trained sort of five days there straight, put a lot of work in, and then we backed off when we got here. So it was to do the grunt work, get the conversations landed around how we wanted to play, and make sure we had great clarity when we landed here, which I think we did. I think that showed in the performance.” McDonald listed the things that led to his side’s victory.
Coming into this series, there were plenty of debates surrounding Usman Khawaja, who hadn’t been in the best of himself lately. However, his double century in the first innings on a transitioning surface showed, what McDonald also admitted, that he still has ‘plenty of cricket left in him’.
“Usman is an important part of the way that we play (in subcontinent conditions). He’s got options – that reverse sweep that he’s added over the journey.
“He’s been through the wringer here before, and it’s great that he’s been able to come through that, to have a method that is successful. The unquantifiable benefit is the conversations that he’s having with the next generation to get them prepared. We still think he’s got plenty of cricket left in him. And I think he’s been clear on that also.”
Australia will face Sri Lanka for the second Test game at the same venue on February 6. This will be their last red-ball game before the WTC final in June.
