Australia vs Sri Lanka, 3rd Test, Day 4: Notes from the Boundary

• Dan Brettig's article on Cricinfo sums it up better than I had, but despite getting a hundred, the way Mathews batted in the first session and the last hour of yesterday was decidedly poor. I hate to describe it as selfish and obviously anyone approaching their maiden Test century and especially someone who has come close multiple times before will be somewhat self-conscious. However, the way Mathews batted today can only be described as showing a severe lack of match awareness as he deadbatted his way to a hundred with a decidedly unproductive tail (on past performance, and they didn't disabuse anyone of the notion today), restricted himself to scoring off one ball an over and generally whittled away Sri Lanka's initiative and their chance to win the match.
• On the other hand, Michael Clarke couldn't have been more pleased with the morning. By the end of the first session after Hughes and Watson had gotten started, the effective net gain for the session for SL was a mere 29 runs, four wickets lost and an entire session wasted. Often the drop-the-field tactic comes in for criticism and rightly so, but in this case, Clarke, having the match situation in mind and seeing the negativity of Mathews in particular, read it perfectly, and his bowlers backed it up with tight, probing lines that didn't bleed cheap runs to over-aggression as often occurs against the tail
• Phil Hughes's technical shortcomings are well documented and well trumpeted, but it cannot be denied that he has considerably improved his technique and especially his footwork in the time since the Ashes. To do so at FC and Test level exclusively is an impressive feat and speaks volumes of his determination. For that matter, he played a fine innings today - controlled aggression without undue risk, taking the initiative from the Sri Lankans through intelligent batting. Not to mention the fact that he actually made quite a lot of his runs on the onside.
• I make no bones about the fact that before this series I was deeply skeptical of Herath's claims as a top flight spinner, and even after his effort in Galle I was still a doubter. However he was extremely impressive today. He bowled clever lines and plans, exploiting the rough outside the right handers off stump, varying his flight and turn whilst maintaining very good accuracy. He's the man who could win Sri Lanka the Test.
• My instincts tell me they won't, though. This pitch is far too good for that.