Opening swashbucklers experience change of pace

Two of the batsmen the SCG crowd was desperate to see put in unusual performances as they faced off for one of the last times. The left-handed gunfight between Adam Gilchrist and Sanath Jayasuriya did not explode as the conditions were not ideal for the flashy strokeplay that has been a feature of the stunning openers' careers.

Jayasuriya's only chance of returning to Sydney as a player is if Sri Lanka make the final and he was unable to find another jewel at a ground he adores in front of people who feel the same way about him. This time he was easily out-pointed by Gilchrist, who scored a 61 which was subdued by his exceptional standards.

The previous time Jayasuriya toured here, having been reinstated to the team immediately after arriving late to the tour, he lashed a brutal 114, his third hundred in a row at the stadium. His 7 tonight included one striking boundary, a flay to third man off Brett Lee after he had joined Gilchrist in struggling to start in the usual tempo.

Heavy rain forced the pitch to spend days undercover in the lead-up to the game and one of the results was slow and sometimes very low bounce. Something extra special was required for free scoring, which was achieved only by Matthew Hayden and Kumar Sangakkara in Australia's 128-run win, and the surface upset the rhythm of the two top-of-the-order belters.

Facing Lee a ball after hitting his boundary, Jayasuriya was not sure whether he wanted to leave outside off stump, but the bat drifted towards the ball, found the bottom edge and cannoned on to the stumps. A younger version of Jayasuriya would not have had the interference between mind and body, but he is 38 and the ticking grows louder by the tour.

Gilchrist, 36, heard the retirement noise during the India Test series and his cross-country farewell is taking on the itinerary of a rock band. He is desperate to give his fans some final memories to lock away, but the conditions were not conducive to blasting entertainment and he was cautious for most of the innings.

When Hayden was 33, Gilchrist was 4, but things soon looked like changing when he pulled a fierce six in front of square off Lasith Malinga's speed and crunched boundaries through and over cover off Ishara Amerasinghe. However, a couple of legside miscues that narrowly avoided fielders showed the difficulty in gauging the bounce and the sensible option was taken.

Often Gilchrist half-centuries have come before the 15-over mark, but his 54th fifty arrived in the 27th over from 67 balls. It is a measure of the way Gilchrist has altered expectations that it felt like he was crawling. Until Jayasuriya gained confidence as a one-day opener in the 1990s that rate of scoring was considered healthy. Both men rejected such thoughts and sprinted at a speed that was breathtaking and bowler breaking.

Gilchrist was trying to lift his pace when he tried to sweep Chamara Kapugedera, who is significantly faster than medium, and missed. The ball was going on to the stumps until it hit Gilchrist's pad and Tony Hill, the umpire, almost pointed at him to signal the dismissal.

He headed for the dressing room to more moving applause, having taken 81 balls to register three fours and the six. A similar reception came when Jayasuriya trod back through the members' area, ending one of the final head-to-head battles of a couple of game-changing swashbucklers.