This was a typically overpowering Australian performance – lethal with the ball, razor sharp in the field and utterly professional with the bat. Only, the men that gave it were wearing the wrong kind of shirts - blue and yellow instead of gold and green, with a lion on the crest. The original articles chose today, of all days, to play like men who still imagined themselves to be on a beach in the Maldives, staring out at an azure sea. Adam Gilchrist had shushed the capacity crowd into almost-silence early on, as he swatted the quick bowlers away disdainfully. Most other teams would have caved in like a paper cup and allowed the Aussies to coast to 300 or more, but not these Lankans. The think-tank's response was decisive and oh so effective. Aravinda de Silva, a stranger to the bowling crease in two previous matches, came on, and Australia imploded in spectacular fashion. The way Matthew Hayden and Adam Gilchrist threw their wickets away, you've have thought they were chasing 500, instead of coasting along at eight an over.

There was a time, just over six years ago, when de Silva won Sri Lanka a World Cup final against Australia, with 3 for 42 and 107 not out. Since then, his star has waned and when he was dropped last year, total eclipse seemed imminent. But he has come back leaner and noticeably fitter and the spring in his step revived the Sri Lankans as much as the drift and turn he got with the hard white ball. Damien Martyn threatened a brief revival, albeit with an innings that saw more ugly edges than the gorgeous drives he's known for but once he and Bevan departed, the fat lady (who had draped her bra across one of the railings in the upper tier of the A stand) could start humming.

Everything about Australia's batting effort was sloppy, from the choice of shot to the awful running between the wickets. Darren Lehmann took the cake (he looks like he ate it too), being stranded mid-pitch and turning about as slowly as the QE2 in mid-Atlantic. And though Sri Lanka resorted to containment rather than aggression in the latter part of the innings, Muttiah Muralitharan was around to mop up the last vestiges of resistance.

Though Murali picked up three wickets, it was de Silva who was the leading light by a considerable distance. He and Kumar Dharmasena bowled quite beautifully in the first fifteen overs and the Indian spinners would have done well to watch and learn.

If they were woeful with the bat, Australia were little better in the field, only Shane Warne and Jason Gillespie bowling as they can. Warne was as good as any of the Lankan spinners and deserved far better than the 1 for 23 he finished with. It would have helped if Hayden hadn't dropped two clangers in succession. But the way his team played today, they didn't deserve any luck at all. If anything, the players can expect the odd thrown teacup and the hairdryer treatment from the captain. It really was that poor.

Dileep Premachandran is assistant editor of Wisden.com in India.

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