NEWS » field, an underwhelming performance all around.I t

Bat big. Make it count. Bat once in the Test match. Be prepared to be boring. Rotate the strike. Be patient. Respect the conditions. Attack and defend at the right moments.All these phrases were uttered by Australias batsmen entering into this series, and they have been heard on other occasions too. None of that was in Steven Smiths head when Rangana Herath looped up his first ball of the day to the Australian captain.Instead, Smith appeared to be working off the mantra he offered before the Test, about making sure he has a plan from ball one. Todays ball one plan seemed to be to hit Herath as far as possible, out of Pallekele International Stadium and even out of the country. Those fevered thoughts drew a presumptuous charge down the wicket, a wild, head-in-the-air swing, and a stumping by yards. As Smith sat to ponder his choice of shot, it also precipitated the loss of Australias last eight wickets for a meagre 134. Adam Voges, who chose a more circumspect method, sought to explain his captains motivations.We talk about taking risks early to try and spread the field and then getting ones, so he tried to take that risk early. If it comes off, it looks great; it didnt come off today, Voges said. If he hits that over the top, then, all of a sudden, the field spreads a bit and he can knock ones around, thats how he wanted to get into his innings.Day two in Pallekele will be kept in the memory banks of the Sri Lankans, the Indians and everyone else due to face an Australian touring team in the future. As epitomised by Smith and a few of his comrades, Australian batsmen are still susceptible to being alternately lured out or boxed in by spin bowling on a helpful pitch. Unlike Dominica last year, Voges was unable to complete a full rescue operation, hard as he tried.It was reasonably similar, he said of the two surfaces. Weve had a bigger spin threat this game in terms of facing more spin than what we did in Dominica. The wicket was pretty similar, maybe this one skids on a little bit more on occasions than what Dominica did, but not too dissimilar.That match in the West Indies, doubtless, entered the thinking of Herath this week. An exceptionally shrewd operator, Herath would be aware of how Devendra Bishoo spun through the Australians without a whole lot of bowling support at the other end, and how he successfully coaxed Smith into charging heedlessly at the wrong ball. While Smiths talents are clear, and his record over the past two years more or less matchless, his death-or-glory approach to spin is allowing opponents to think he can be countered. As Bishoo had put it: A lot of previous balls, he was coming. I knew exactly that he was coming. I just had to get it in the right place at the right time.This, in turn, exposes others with games not so suited to these climes. Certainly, Joe Burns, Usman Khawaja and Mitchell Marsh allowed their limitations to be seen in the first innings of the series. Burns was not precise enough in covering up to Herath; Khawaja pinned on the crease from around the wicket; Marsh fighting hard but unable to make head or tail of the excellent debutant Lakshan Sandakans left-arm wrist spin. Voges fared better in another example of how his composed, simple technique and experienced head has reaped such handsome returns thus far, but wicketkeeper Peter Nevills attempt to shovel Herath over mid-on was almost as unsightly as Smiths charge down the pitch.Perhaps, the most unsettling element of Australias display was that it showed the extra weeks practice in Sri Lanka did not make a great deal of difference to thinking and execution when the Test match began. Even Voges conceded that despite training for and discussing exactly how Herath was going to try to attack a new batsman - namely sliding one down the line of the steps while looking to hit the front pad - he was unable to stop it from happening.I know that was probably the plan - to try to hit my pad first ball. Thats what weve been training for the last two weeks - to try to avoid that situation, he said. A little bit of heart in mouth, you sort of look up towards the change rooms to see, Mitch Marsh sat down again pretty quickly when the review came, so I felt a little bit better after that.He doesnt miss his areas, does he? Hes canny, mixes his pace. There hasnt been a great deal of spin there for him, but hes been very economical, hes taken four wickets and we always knew going into this series that hed be their main threat. So I think we can play him better than what we did today, and well be looking to do that moving forward.In the back of each players mind will be the fact that todays misstep need not be terminal to Australias chances in this match. They still scraped a lead of 86, and a wicket for Mitchell Starc put further space between the sides before afternoon rain returned once more. But against better teams on other days, it may well be far more damaging - India 2013, UAE 2014 and England 2015 all stand as prime examples.With the benefit of time, the plans that came unstuck at Pallekele may yet prove valuable against others, provided they are leavened with a stronger dose of common sense. This team was never going to overcome an Asian blindspot in the space of a single innings. Many more hard lessons and experiences remain to be had.Its about having plans against each bowler and just sticking to and trusting those plans, Voges said. We spoke a bit about that tonight, that some guys it didnt quite work for them today, but theyve got to trust those plans that thats going to work for them. For me, its going to be different from the other guys, but it will be, the more experience we get over here, the more we can fine tune those plans and feel more confident about them.In the words of Brad Pitt, channeling Billy Beane, in Moneyball: Its a process, its a process, its a process… Yeezy Boost Cheap Real . Third-seeded Murray had the easiest path to victory on New Years Eve, barely breaking a sweat during his 6-0, 6-0 win over 2,129th-ranked Qatari wildcard recipient Mousa Shanan Zayed. Yeezy 700 V2 Vanta Australia . Gather a group of friends, or find a league to join online, draft your team, set your lineup and compete in a number of different formats. http://www.yeezyshoesaustralia.com/yeezy-boost-550-for-sale.html . Clarke was injured while practicing on the Doha Golf Club range after the pro-am on Tuesday. The Northern Irishman arrived at the course on Wednesday hoping to start, but after hitting a few balls on the practice putting green Clarke advised officials he was not fit to play. Yeezy Shoes Australia Release . What general manager Dave Nonis called "short and productive" negotiations ended with Kessel signing a US$64-million, eight-year contract on Tuesday. Yeezy Boost 350 Authentic For Sale . But the quarterback hopes to stay involved in football after officially calling it quits Tuesday. "Id love to look at those opportunities as they arise," Pierce said in an interview from his Winnipeg eatery. MINNEAPOLIS -- Tracy Claeys was a defensive coordinator for 15 years at four different schools before taking over as head coach at Minnesota, so he knows a thing or two about making adjustments to the game plan on the fly.Seeing three key members of a unit that is expected to lead the Golden Gophers to new heights be ejected for illegal hits? That was a new one even for him.Minnesota overcame the loss of linebackers Cody Poock and Jonathan Celestin and defensive end Taiyon Devers for targeting to beat Oregon State 30-23 on Thursday night.Im all for that rule, Claeys said. We just have to go back and look at the film and everyones got to lower their target down.Poock was flagged for a helmet-to-helmet hit on a receiver after a pass fell incomplete. Celestin launched himself head-first into sliding quarterback Darell Garretsons helmet and the freshman Devers came in high on Garretson on a late hit in search of his third sack of the game.It was kind of crazy and kind of nerve-racking seeing all of our starters go out like that, Minnesota defensive back Damarius Travis said.Rodney Smith rushed for 125 yards and two touchdowns, the last coming in the fourth quarter to put the Gophers in front 24-23, and the short-handed defense held the Beavers scoreless over the final 15 minutes to hang on for a tense victory in a game they were favored to win by 13 points.You try to educate and get the young men where they need to be to handle the scenarios, Oregon State coach Gary Andersen said of the targeting penalties. Its hard. The quarterback now, he starts sliding, hes protected, which we want to protect the players. Youve got to show the game tape. Theres not a lot of game tape on that.Mitch Leidner was erratic as ever in going 13 for 26 for 130 yards. But he rushed for 76 yard and two scores, the last a 1-yard run with 1:27 left to give the Gophers a seven-point cushion.Garretson threw for 228 yards and three touchdowns for Oregon State. The junior transfer lost two fumbles on crunching sacks by Devers in the first half, but Garretson bounced back to throw TDs to Noah Togiai, Victor Bolden and Tim Cook.They were sttrong.dddddddddddd They were physical. They flew around, Garretson said. They knew what they were doing. They were comfortable. You could see. We put up a pretty good fight.THE TAKEAWAYOREGON STATE: After going 2-10 in Andersens first season last year, the Beavers were hoping Garretsons arrival would help speed the rebuilding process. The early returns are promising. He completed 25 of 40 passes and hung in there while being sacked four times.Youre not going to find a tougher kid than that, Andersen said. Hell stay in there and hell fight like crazy. He didnt just get hit. He got drilled numerous times.MINNESOTA: If the Gophers are truly going to contend in the wide-open Big Ten West, they will have to be much more disciplined and precise going forward. They had eight penalties for 70 yards. Center Tyler Moore snapped the ball over Leidners head twice, one resulting in a safety, and Leidner missed several open receivers down the field, an underwhelming performance all around.I think its a mixture of both being a little too amped and a little nervous, Leidner said. Unfortunately you dont get preseason games like the NFL does to get adjusted to things like that. But to be able to win a game and have some of that sloppiness, that will definitely help us moving forward.GOING FOR 2When the Gophers scored in the last 90 seconds to take a seven-point lead, Claeys elected to go for 2 to try to make it a two-score game. An extra point would have made it impossible for the Beavers to win the game in regulation.My opinion is 95 percent of the time those teams go down and score late, theyre going to kick the extra point and go to overtime, Claeys said. So I would rather take the chance on getting three yards and ending the game.UP NEXTOREGON STATE: The Beavers get next week off before hosting Idaho State for their home opener on Sept. 17.MINNESOTA: The Gophers host Indiana State on Sept. 10 for what should be an easy tune-up before they face Colorado State for a third straight home game. ' ' '