Butterfingered fielding let’s Australia off the hook as Sri Lanka’s grip on Galle loosens.
– BY TREVINE RODRIGO IN MELBOURNE.
(eLanka Sports Editor)
Butterfingered Sri Lanka squandered any possibility of maintaining their dominance in Galle by letting Australia off the hook and are now staring down the barrel of an embarrassing thrashing after day one.
Substandard catching saw Usman Kawaja and Steve Smith race to unbeaten centuries leaving a tattered home team praying for divine intervention to save the first Test.
Things went wrong from the vital toss when Steve Smith won it and jubilantly declared he would have a bat. It was the start of a dramatic first day Sri Lanka would rather forget.
Australia’s ploy to push Travis Head up the order and omit young gun Sam Konstas delivered immediate dividends when he led a spirited attack on Sri Lanka’s bowlers, as he and Kawaja went about on a mission of unsettling the home team’s best laid plans.
They raced to a 92 run opening partnership in 13.2 overs helped by a poor choice of not reviewing an appeal by fast bowler Asitha Fernando for LBW against Head on 35, which on replay proved to be plumb in front. Head reached his half century in cavalier fashion off 35 balls.
Riding their luck and capatilising on missed opportunities, Australia raced to 330 for 2 in 81.2 overs by the close as rain curtailed the day’s play and are on track to shake the foundations of a once impregnable fortress which recently completed a 2-0 sweep against New Zealand.
Both Kawaja 147 not out off 210 balls and Smith unbeaten on 104, thrived on lives as Sri Lanka’s sloppy work in the field saw them lose any chance of grabbing the initiative and giving their batters a chance of making it competitive.
Steve Smith was relieved to finally get to the elusive 10,000-run mark off the first ball he faced. His jubilation should have been short lived when he offered Prabath Jayasuriya a straight forward caught and bowled opportunity the very next ball, which would have put Australia in a different situation at lunch with 3 wickets down. A visibly of distraught Jayasuriya grassed the chance.
Steve Smith joined Ricky Ponting, Steve Waugh and Allan Border as the only Australians to achieve 10,000 runs in Tests.
Sri Lanka were forced to go into disaster saving mode when paceman Asitha Fernando was hammered out of the attack from his first over conceding 13 runs to a belligerent Head in what appeared as an unresponsive track at the outset.
Turning to spin with the new ball to quell the well orchestrated Australian ploy for all out attack, Sri Lanka managed this to a degree with Prabath Jayasuriya and Jeffrey Vandersay stemming the tide while grabbing two wickets. On a day of limited opportunities Jayasuriya claimed Head on 57 off 40 balls to and outfield catch by Dinesh Chandimal and Vandersay got rid of Manus Labuschagne to a low effort by Skipper Dhananjaya de Silva ar first slip.
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But Kawaja and Smith soon accelerated the scoring rate at will with some breathtaking strokeplay that has certainly put Australia in the box seat and definitely holding the cards for a comprehensive victory.
Kawaja notched up his 16th Test century and for now appears to have solidified his place at the top of Australia’s batting after a torrid row of failures against India’s Jasprit Bumrah who gave him nightmares in the recently concluded series in Australia.
Sri Lanka for their part, will be desperately hoping that the true nature of the pitch will persist when they bat, and that their rollercoaster batters will be able to find form and make it a match.
As it stands, the history of Galle suggests the pitch will crumble from day three, if it delivers true to form.
An Australian total exceeding 400 should be sufficient for a quick finish to this Test if Sri Lanka’s experienced batters don’t deliver in their hour of need.
Australia proved they
have done their homework exceptionally well.
