Sri Lanka vs Australia Test Series Stats Preview: Players records and approaching milestones

After winning the ODI series against Australia for the first time since 1992 on home soil, the confident Sri Lankans will now rub shoulders with the Aussies in a two-match Test series, starting from June 29, 2022. The second game will begin on July 8 and both the encounters will be hosted by the Galle International Stadium. Dimuth Karunaratne and Pat Cummins will be skippering their respective sides and compete for the Warne-Muralitharan trophy.

The Australians won the T20 series 2-1, whereas the hosts clinched the ODIs 3-2. After winning the first One-Day International, the visitors faded away as Dasun Shanuka and his men won three clashes on the trot to seal a memorable and historic series victory. Though Aaron Finch’s side came back and won the final game to avoid a 4-1 drubbing. The team from down under missed the services of their spearhead Mitchell Starc, who missed the entire series due to injury. Steven Smith, who played the first two matches, also got a quad injury as he sat out the remaining fixtures.

Smith confirmed that he will be fine for the opening fixture with Australia in need of his experience and quality batting in spin-friendly conditions. With 496 runs against Pakistan away from home earlier this year, the Aussies will also bank on the opening batter Usman Khawaja. Both Smith and Khawaja would look to tackle the spin well, which proved to be an area of concern for the Australians in the ODIs. For the hosts, veteran Angelo Mathews is back in the middle order and the spin department will be led by the impressive Lasith Embuldeniya.

Meanwhile, here are some of the important stats and numbers ahead of the Test series between Sri Lanka and Australia:

Head-to-Head: Sri Lanka and Australia have met each other in 31 Test matches so far with Sri Lanka just on four occasions and Australia on 19. Eight games between the two sides ended up in a draw. In Sri Lanka, both have clashed against each other in 16 matches, with the hosts winning four times and Australia six. Remaining six encounters ended up in a draw.

 3 – Pat Cummins (197) needs three scalps to reach the landmark of 200 wickets in the Tests.

1 – Alex Carey (99) is one game away from appearing in 100 matches in international cricket.

1 – Angelo Mathews (699) requires just one four to get to 700 fours in Test cricket.

20 – Steven Smith (8010) needs just 20 runs to surpass Mark Waugh (8029) and become the sixth highest run-getter for Australia in the Tests.

2 – If Josh Hazlewood (148) plays both the Tests, he will complete playing 150 matches across formats.

1 – Usman Khawaja (49) is one match away from featuring in 50 Tests.

4 – Nathan Lyon (196) needs four scalps to complete 200 wickets in away Tests.

54 – Dinesh Chandimal (4446) requires 54 runs to get to 4500 runs in the Tests.

2 – Khawaja (98) can complete playing 100 games across formats if he appears in both matches.

67 – Khawaja (5433) needs 67 runs to complete 5500 runs across formats.

4 – Mitchell Starc (96) requires four scalps to get to 100 wickets in away Tests.

9 – Kusal Mendis (391) is nine fours away from completing 400 fours in the Tests.

4 – Pathum Nissanka (46) needs four fours to get to 50 fours in the Tests.

1 – Dhanajaya de Silva (49) is just one grab away from reaching 50 catches in Test cricket.

1 – Oshada Fernando (99) needs just one four to get to 100 fours in the longest format of the game.

112 – Mitchell Marsh (3888) needs 112 runs to get to 4000 runs in international cricket.

7 – Vishwa Fernando (43) is seven scalps away from completing 50 wickets in the Tests.

5 – Kusal (695) also requires five fours to get to 700 fours in international cricket.

1 – Niroshan Dickwella (49) is one game away from appearing in 50 Test matches.

12 – Khawaja (388) also requires 12 fours to reach 500 fours in test cricket.

3 – Mathews (147) needs three catches to get to 150 catches in international cricket.

1 – Steven Smith (249) is just one grab away from completing 250 catches across formats.

82 – Kusal (6418) requires 82 runs to get to 6500 runs across formats.

10 – Starc (540) needs ten scalps to reach the milestone of 550 wickets in international cricket.