Kritik und Anregungen » ork, will be sitting out the U.S. Open fo

A year ago, almost to the day, Australia played a dead Test against England at The Oval. The touring team had been through the darkest of midlands valleys in Birmingham and Nottingham, losing the Ashes in a pair of humiliating defeats that exposed the XI as wholly unsuited to the conditions.But with the urn gone and critics sharpening their caustic prose, the team responded with a far better display in that final Test. They were helped in part by the conditions - it is harder to green up the Oval wicket than those of Edgbaston or Trent Bridge - and also by the reduced intensity of a less consequential Test match.Nevertheless, an innings victory was nothing to be sniffed at, and a fitting farewell for the dual retirees Michael Clarke and Chris Rogers, who were soon to be joined on the sidelines by Shane Watson, Brad Haddin and Mitchell Johnson in addition to the already retired Ryan Harris. A key member of the win was Peter Siddle, an older head ideally suited to English seamers yet somehow ignored until too late to make a difference to the series result.Twelve months on and Colombo seems about to bear witness to a similar sequence. The first two Tests have gone conclusively Sri Lankas way, and the pitch at the SSC is the series fairest if also its driest. Meanwhile, the inclusion of Shaun Marsh has added belated solidity to a batting line-up that could have done with his brand of batting when the destination of the Warne-Muralitharan Trophy was still up for debate.Many a cricket follower likes to poke fun at Marsh, he of the near binary home series against India a few years back, then a series-shaping hundred in South Africa followed immediately by a pair in the next Test and omission from the decider. Then there was the day he was run out for 99 chasing a first Test hundred in Australia - moments that have ensured few cricketers can polarise like him now that Watson in particular has retired from the national team.But at the same time, Marsh is the only member of this squad to have in his possession a Test hundred in Sri Lanka, on debut in Pallekele nearly five years ago. The next Test was played at the SSC, and it was Marshs ever-so-patient 81 that anchored an otherwise wobbly top order. Bizarrely, that match was Marshs last Test match in Asia until this week.The horrors of 2011-12 at home banished him from the Test team for quite some time, meaning he did not figure in the squads to go to India in 2013. He was set to go to the UAE in 2014, before an elbow injury sustained in the IPL necessitated surgery and a delayed start to the 2014-15 season. In both cases, Australian results on tour suggested they could have and indeed did do worse by not having Marsh available to use his mercurial talents in conditions where he was less likely to fall prey to bounce and seam.Marshs height and reach allow him a decent stretch forward. His power and timing allow him the ability to generate bat speed and scoring zones when he has little pace to work with. Equally, his vast experience in the IPL has given him a level of accomplishment in numerous attacking strokes to spin, and a courage to use them regardless of whether the ball is turning or not. In short, Marsh has a game that can work in this part of the world, a rare gift among contemporary Australian batsmen.One of the key findings of the Australian tour party on this trip is the fact that top six success at home is no sort of indicator for how batsmen will fare in Asia. Before this match, the coach Darren Lehmann contended that changing last summers combination pre-emptively would likely have met with a cold public response. If you have a look at our summer and the way our batters played, he asked, if we didnt take any of those batters, how would we be viewed in the press?Yet it should be among the first lessons learned by any selector that their job is not to curry public favour but to choose winning teams. Earlier in the same press conference, Lehmann had spoken of the importance of batsmen being proactive, not reactive when spinners have conditions in their favour, a maxim he lived by with great success. Selection for Colombo, also including Moises Henriques as a specialist batsman, was nothing if not reactive.As Marsh accumulated calmly on the second afternoon, looking so secure where Joe Burns had been skittish and Usman Khawaja stranded, it was hard to escape the sense that much like Siddle he had been ignored for too long on this tour. Whether or not Australia have other batsmen at home who may also be able to aid the next Asian assignment in India next year remains to be seen, but certainly Peter Handscomb will have his claims.Either way, Lehmann, Rod Marsh and the rest of the selection panel must start to show their proactive side as a matter of urgency. As former Test cricketers, all are conscious of the gravity of their roles, and of a responsibility not to be flippant. But to badly misquote Oscar Wilde: selecting one player too late may be regarded as a misfortune; to do it again starts to look like carelessness. Willie Keeler Jersey . After a lengthy wait, persistent rain finally forced the postponement of the Nationals game against the Miami Marlins on Saturday night. The teams, and a few thousand fans, waited nearly four hours from the 7:05 scheduled start time before an announcement was made shortly before 11 p. Angel Pagan Jersey . 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Despite everything that Serena Williams has won and done, her sense of self can still fluctuate based on the outcome of a particular match.Doesnt always seem to matter that she owns a record-tying 22 major singles titles heading into the U.S. Open, which begins Monday with a retractable roof at Arthur Ashe Stadium for the first time.Not necessarily a big deal to her that shes spent the past 3+ years entrenched at No. 1 and is the oldest woman ever to top the WTA rankings.And there are times when the 34-year-old American basically forgets that she transcends her sport and has become a cultural icon away from the tennis court.Williams is devastated when she is dealt a setback, such as last years Did that really happen?! loss to Roberta Vinci in the U.S. Open semifinals, ending an attention-grabbing, pressure-piling bid for the first calendar-year Grand Slam by anyone in more than a quarter-century. Williams acknowledges she measures herself constantly.Unfortunately, I definitely do, which I dont think is normal. I definitely feel like when I lose, I dont feel as good about myself, she said.But then I have to, like, remind myself that: `You are Serena Williams! You know? Like, `Are you kidding me? Williams continued, laughing and leaning forward. And its those moments that I have to just, like, come off and be like, `Serena, do you know what youve done? Who you are? What you continue to do, not only in tennis, (but also) off the court? Like, youre awesome. That really just shows the human side of me. Im not a robot.She is at the stage of her career where history is in the offing nearly every time a racket is in her right hand. So while the stakes are different from what they were at Flushing Meadows in 2015, Williams does have something significant to play for yet again.After equaling Steffi Graf for the most Grand Slam titles in the professional era (which dates to 1968) by winning Wimbledon last month, Williams now can break that tie by earning No. 23 in New York. Only Margaret Court owns more major singles trophies, with 24, but more than half of that total came against amateur competition.Not that Williams was immediately ready to think about topping Graf after pulling even with her at the All England Club.One thing I learned about last year is to enjoy the moment, Williams said. Im definiteely going to enjoy this.ddddddddddddGood thing, too, because not everything has gone smoothly since that most recent triumph. Slowed by a bothersome right shoulder, Williams lost in the third round of singles and first round of doubles at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics -- she was a 2012 gold medalist in both events -- and then pulled out of a hard-court tuneup event in Ohio.Williams is assured of remaining at No. 1 until the end of the U.S. Open, which will bring her current streak to 186 weeks in a row, tying another mark held by Graf. Depending on what happens in the tournament, Williams could be overtaken in the rankings by No. 2 Angelique Kerber (who beat Williams in the Australian Open final in January), No. 3 Garbine Muguruza (who beat Williams in the French Open final in June) or No. 4 Agnieszka Radwanska.Its definitely intriguing, Roger Federer said about tracking the women vying for No. 1. Its nice to see this race.Federer, who won five of his mens record 17 Grand Slam titles in New York, will be sitting out the U.S. Open for the first time since 1999 as he takes the rest of the season off to let his left knee heal. A year ago, Federer lost in the final at Flushing Meadows to Novak Djokovic. In Federers mind, the top-ranked Djokovic is the favorite this time, even though No. 2 Andy Murrays summer has been phenomenal.One reason: Federer thinks the installation of the new $150 million roof at the main arena will limit the wind even when its open, which will help Djokovic.Not too long ago, Djokovic appeared to be close to unbeatable no matter the surface or conditions, and a buzz was building about whether he could chase a true Grand Slam. But he exited Wimbledon in the third round, then the Olympics in the first round, while Murray won both of those titles.Novak, obviously, the last two years, really, has played amazing tennis. His consistency -- what Ive done for, like, the last four months, hes been doing for, like, the whole year, Murray said. So I need to try and keep that going, and the U.S. Open is always the next big goal.---AP Sports Writer Rachel Cohen contributed to this report.---Follow Howard Fendrich on Twitter at http://twitter.com/HowardFendrich ' ' '