Sri Lanka wax and wane to be 9-229 on day one

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Earlier this summer, while trying to fill in a rain break on Channel 7, Simon Katich, James Brayshaw and I had an extended on-air conversation about the lack of young talent in the Sheffield Shield ranks and the question of where the next generation of players were.

The Great Australian Bat Off had been a bust forcing selectors to re-engineer Nathan McSweeney as replacement for David Warner/Steve Smith.

We looked at the Shield and saw a group of mostly mature men who’d been in and out of the Test side over the years. Beau Wester was making lots of runs but was already 31.

Dripping with sweat in the hottest makeshift television studio I’ve ever encountered, we cast back to a couple of youngsters who were showing promise, but some distance from the team. Or so we thought.

Little over a month later, I find myself watching on another steaming Sri Lankan morning as the fourth Australian in as many Tests was handed his Baggy Green - two of them with only limited first class experience and two who have earned their stripes at that level.