SL v AUS, 1st Test, Day 1 Review: Rains halts play after Sri Lanka tumble

The strip laid out for the 1^st test between hosts Sri Lanka and Australia at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium seems to be a batsmen’s nightmare. Batting seems to be very difficult on this pitch which has been enduring moist and humidity for past couple of weeks.

Sri Lanka, who chose to bat after winning the toss were bowled out in just 34.2 overs for a measly 117. Subsequently, Australia too had a similar start in the 2nd innings after they lost both their openers for single digit scores before Steven Smith and Usman Khawaja steadied the ship.

The Australian bowlers took full advantage of the tacky nature of the wicket and shared the spoils between them equally. All four of the bowling attack – Mitchel Starc (2/51), Josh Hazlewood (3/21), Nathan Lyon (3/12) and Steve O’Keefe (2/32) – enjoyed great success with the ball.

It was Starc who started the wicket taking procession, snaring Dimuth Karunaratne in the 5th over of the game. Hazlewood then gave two quick blows to the hosts by snapping Kaushal Silva and Kusal Mendis.

The hopes now rested on two of the most experienced batsmen in the team – Angelo Mathews and Dinesh Chandimal. Unfortunately, both could help their team escape from the misery and were dismissed after a short time in the middle. Left-arm spinner Steven ’O’Keefe earned his first Test wicket on the Lankan soil in the form of Angelo Mathews who was just getting settled. Shortly, Hazlewood struck against and removed Chandimal to deny all hopes of a revival.

Offie Nathan Lyon took care of the middle order. Dhanajaya de Silva, Dilruwan Perera and Kusal Perera had no idea about how to tackle the sharp off-breaks from the Lyon and fell one after another in just a matter of two overs. Debutant Lakshan Sandakan helped the sad looking scoreboard with a handy contribution of 19 runs before O’Keefe brought The Sri Lankan inning to a permanent halt with the last wicket of Nuwan Pradeep.

However, the match did not go out of the hands for the host straightaway despite getting bowled out so cheaply as the Australian opening pair Joe Burns and David Warner inside the first four overs of the 2nd innings. Pradeep was the first to strike with the wicket of the dangerous Warner in the 3rd over. Left-arm spinner Herath, who was brought into the attack with the new ball with an attacking field setting of three close-in fielders, delivered immediate results as he snapped Burns in the following overs.

Suddenly the Sri Lankan were back in the reckoning. But, fortunately for the visitors Usman Khawaja and Steven Smith stuck in the middle with and forged 59 runs stand for the 4th wicket to bring back the stability before rains came pouring in and eventually forced the day to be called off.

Brief Scores:

Sri Lanka: 117 all out (Dhanajaya de Silva 24; Nathan Lyon 3/12)

Australia: 66/2 in 20.0 overs (Steve Smith 28; Nuwan Pradeep 1/3)