Twitter Reactions: Australia in a commanding position in the first innings even as Sri Lanka chip away with wickets

After Australia sealed the T20I series, Sri Lanka staged a remarkable comeback in the One Day Internationals that followed as the action now boils down to the final leg of this bilateral series with the first Test currently underway at the Galle International Stadium. While the first day’s play saw some great action including paying tribute to the late spin legend Shane Warne who passed away in March this year, the second day saw rain play spoilsport.

Even though there was some amount of play on the second day, the rain made its presence to such an extent that cricketing action played a second fiddle as players, especially from the Australian camp were seen peeping out desperately hoping for the downpour to stop so that the action got underway at the earliest.

Australia dominate on the second day

Despite winning the toss and batting first, the hosts totally squandered the opportunity of putting early pressure on the Aussies. They put up a disappointing batting performance with only wicketkeeper-batter Niroshan Dickwella top-scoring with 58 runs. The rest of the batting line-up failed to showcase impactful performances as the Lankans were bundled out for just 212 courtesy of senior offie’s Nathan Lyon’s fifer.

When it was Australia’s turn to bat, they showed a great intent despite losing their top-order for just 100 runs on the board with opener Usman Khawaja leading from the front with the bat and showing why he is arguably their most reliable batter in Asian conditions in recent times. The southpaw scored 71 before being dismissed.

Nonetheless, when Khawaja was dismissed, the middle-order duo of Cameron Green and wicketkeeper-batter Alex Carey showed great resistance as they stitched a vital partnership adding 84 runs for the sixth wicket. While Cameron scored 77, Carey contributed with 45 runs from 47 balls.

After the duo was sent back, bowling all-rounder Pat Cummins made things even more difficult for the hosts with his counter-attacking innings, and just when he was going berserk, rain played spoilsport yet again and the play was forced to be ended due to bad light. Cummins remained unbeaten on 26 runs from 16 deliveries and Nathan Lyon was not out on eight as the Australian scorecard read 313/8. The visitors enjoy a massive first-innings lead of 101 runs and they will be keen on adding as many runs as possible on the third morning.

Here’s how Twitter reacted:

Just a reminder about Alex Carey.

Test batting average before falling in the pool in Karachi: 20.20

Since falling in the pool in Karachi: 101.50#SLvAUS

— Lachlan McKirdy (@LMcKirdy7) June 30, 2022

Next time a coach tells you to 'play straight', show them Alex Carey's wagon wheel #SLvAUS pic.twitter.com/mSKBZsZEPH

— Louis Cameron (@LouisDBCameron) June 30, 2022

At close of 2nd day's play at Galle Australia in good position against Sri Lanka in the first test match.
Australia 313/8.
Usman Khawaja & Cameron Green scored 71, & 77 respectively.
Now Australia lead is now 101 crucial runs. #SLvAUS

— Surinder (@navsurani) June 30, 2022

Who’s going to find the ball Pat Cummins just hit out of Galle? 😆
Massive 😳😳😳😳
#SLvAUS pic.twitter.com/eiLQbblykn

— ༒𝐵𝑒𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑆𝒉𝑜𝑎𝑖𝑏 ✭✰(𝑲𝒌𝒓 𝑳𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓 💜) (@drewmaccynt2) June 30, 2022

Sri lanka will need a 176 from Mendis or a 162 from Chandimal kind of a knock tomorrow to have hopes about this match

I would send Dickwella probably at 5 to target spinners and his left handness will help in a middleorder with 5 RHB #SLvAUS

— Kaveen Wijerathna (@CricCrazyKaveen) June 30, 2022

People blaming Steve Smith for that run out need to get a life. They need to look how silly Khawaja's call was instead of seeing how much Smith committed to that run.#SLvAUS

— Aayushmaan Vishwanathan (@AayushmaanVish3) June 30, 2022

We are screwed, Aren't we? 🙄😒 #SLvAUS

— 🇱🇰✊🏽 The Lucky One ✊🏽🇱🇰 (@lakshithadasan3) June 30, 2022

How good were these two? 🤩

Our lead stands at 101 after two days of play and we've still got a couple of wickets in hand. Massive day today and an even bigger one coming up tomorrow. C'mon Aussies! #SLvAUS pic.twitter.com/Gd8AGBus73

— Cricket Australia (@CricketAus) June 30, 2022