SL vs AUS: Alert David Warner takes one-handed stunner to dismiss Dimuth Karunaratne

The ongoing first Test match between Australia and Sri Lanka kicked off on June 29, Wednesday, in Galle, and the hosts opted to bat first after winning the toss. While the day belonged to Aussie bowlers, one of their fielders also bagged limelight. In the 30th over, Australia’s David Warner showcased remarkable awareness by taking a spectacular catch, dismissing Sri Lanka captain Dimuth Karunaratne, while the rest of the Aussies were appealing for a leg-before wicket (LBW). 

Aussie off-spinner Nathan Lyon bowled one in the leg-stump line and Karunaratne inside-edged it to the pad. While the ball popped up into the air off the front pad, three close-in fielders around the batter went up straight away to appeal for LBW. But Warner kept his eyes on the ball and eventually grabbed it as the ball almost dropped all the way to the ground.

The dismissal was confirmed after it was taken upstairs to the third umpire to check if the catch was taken cleanly. Karunaratne had to depart after scoring a gritty 28 off 84 balls. The clip of Warner’s sensational fielding effort went viral in no time and soon became a talking point”. 

Niroshan Dickwella steadies the ship for Sri Lanka

Meanwhile, the going has been tough for the batters in Galle so far but not so much for the spinners. The wicket has been offering a good amount of turn and the Aussie spinners Lyon and Mitchell Swepson capitalised on it by picking eight wickets between them, including a five-wicket haul for the senior off-spinner. Pacers Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins bagged one wicket each.

For the hosts, there was no significant contribution from the top three. Angelo Mathews, at number four, scored a valuable 39 runs, and their wicketkeeper-batter arrived at number seven to hit a counter-attacking 58 runs off 59 balls. Interestingly, nine catches were recorded in the innings, of which seven were between Alex Carey and Warner. 

Sri Lankans were bowled out for 212 in 59 overs. Lyon brought up his 20th five-wicket haul in Tests and took his wicket-tally to 432 wickets, going past New Zealand great, Sir Richard Hadlee. He is now only two wickets away from Kapil Dev’s wicket-tally and entering the top-10 highest wicket-takers list in Test cricket.