Sri Lanka v Australia 2nd Test, Day 2 – 5 Moments of the day

The second day for play between Sri Lanka and Australia will be one of the most memorable days in test cricket’s history. A total of 21 wickets fell in the day. Rangana Herath, Dilruwan Perera for the hosts and Mitchell Starc for the visitors looked unstoppable with the ball. Australia resumed batting at their overnight score and were rattled out in the morning session by the spin duo of Herath and Perera. Later Mitchell Starc completed another five-wicket haul and ended up with six wickets to wrap off Sri Lanka with 10 overs still remaining for the day to finish. The flurry of wickets continued after the Australians came out to bat for the second time in the match and lost three quick wickets.

1. 21 wickets fall in a single day:

The day two saw an astounding 21 wickets fall. It was wicket taking fest going around. Batting in reply to Sri Lanka’s 281, Australia faced a huge slump on day two after they were bundled out just 106. Left-arm spinner Rangana Herath and off-spinner Dilruwan Perera shared 8 wickets between them. 11 wicket were lost in the morning session for just 83 runs scored. This was only the fifth instances where 11 or more wickets falling in a session in Tests since 2010. Later, the Australian took all ten wickets and came out bat again only to lose three more wickets while chasing. This was also the second highest in a day’s play of Tests in Asia. The most wickets is 22 wickets on day 3 during the Sri Lanka v England match at Colombo in 2000-01.

2. Rangana Herath claims his first hattrick:

The highlight of the day was Rangana Herath’s hat-trick in the 2nd innings. the 25th over of the 2nd innings saw the most memorable moment of the day. The Australians plunged into further misery as Rangana Herath grabbed the first hat-trick of his career claiming Adam Voges, Peter Nevil and Mitchell Starc off consecutive deliveries. It was a remarkable achievement for him as the only other instance of a left-arm orthodox bowler taking a hat-trick in Tests before Rangana Herath, by Johnny Briggs against Australia in Sydney in 1892. Also, before him, only Nuwan Zoysa had taken a hat-trick in Tests, against ZIM in 1999-00.

3. Best bowling performances against Sri Lanka by an Australian:

Mitchell Starc had yet another wonderful day with the ball. The left-arm fast bowler, who took five wickets yesterday snapped six wickets today to end the match with a stupendous figure of 11/94. This was the figures in a Test match by an Australian in Sri Lanka. This was also the best bowling figures by any fast bowler. The previous best was by Dale Steyn who took 9/99 in 2014.

4. The flurry of wickets continues:

Sri Lankan spinners continued their wicket-taking party after snapping three-wicket before the end of the day’s play could arrive. It was sort of a blessing in disguise that they got bowled out just a few over before stumps which the Lankans an opportunity to have a go at the top order. Herath and Perera continued his brilliant work. Herath pocketed opener Burns to give the first jolt to the visitors. Perera then added night watchman, Nathan Lyon and Usman Khawaja off back to back deliveries to derail the chase to a great extent.

5. A mountain to climb:

Australia has a mountain to climb on day three and given the way the spinners are attacking survival seems impossible. Australia has a huge target of 413 runs to chase after conceding a first inning lead. The task has become really tough after they continued batting in the same competitive manner in the second innings.