The hosts have been bundled out for 113 of their second innings permitting the Australians to seal a 10-wicket victory of their first over again on the crease in Galle.
Australia’s gamers have a good time after the dismissal of Sri Lanka’s Oshada Piyumal Fernando (not pictured) through the third day of first cricket Test match between Sri Lanka and Australia on the Galle International Cricket Stadium in Galle on 1 July 2022. Picture: ISHARA S. KODIKARA / AFP
GALLE – Spinner Nathan Lyon starred with a match haul of 9 wickets as Australia wrapped up the opening Test on Friday with a crushing victory over Sri Lanka earlier than lunch on the third day.
The hosts have been bundled out for 113 of their second innings permitting the Australians to seal a 10-wicket victory of their first over again on the crease in Galle.
Lyon, whose five-for helped bowl out Sri Lanka for 212 within the first innings, and fellow spinner Travis Head took 4 wickets every to ship the hosts packing earlier than the morning was over.
It was an enormous victory for Australia, who suffered a 3-0 whitewash in Sri Lanka on their final tour in 2016.
“Amazing win. Turning up this morning I didn’t think it was going to happen that fast,” skipper Pat Cummins mentioned.
“Really proud of the squad. It’s really foreign conditions for us.”
Opener Usman Khawaja (71) and Cameron Green (77) stood out in Australia’s first innings effort of 321 that made them take management in excessive spin circumstances.
Green placed on essential partnerships with Khawaja after which wicketkeeper-batsman Alex Carey, who made 45, to deal with the spinners with aplomb.
“Players go through their whole careers looking for a method in these conditions, and in his first knock he’s found it,” Cummins mentioned of the 23-year-old Green who was named man of the match.
“Really happy for him, he was the difference.”
Sri Lanka suffered a blow earlier than play started when Angelo Mathews was dominated out as a consequence of COVID-19, with Oshada Fernando named his substitute.
Skipper Dimuth Karunaratne began sturdy, smashing 4 boundaries within the 17-run first over of the innings off Mitchell Starc.
HEAD JOINS SPIN PARTY
But the tables quickly turned when Lyon and fellow spinner Mitchell Swepson took cost.
Lyon acquired skipper Karunaratne caught behind for 23 after simply 20 balls whereas Swepson trapped Pathum Nissanka lbw for 14.
The leg-spinner then acquired Oshada caught out within the twelfth over as Sri Lanka slipped to 63-4.
Wickets stored tumbling with Sri Lanka’s batsmen desperately making an attempt to hit their manner out of bother.
Head, a left-handed batsman and an occasional spinner, struck twice in his first over to say Dinesh Chandimal – his first Test scalp – and Dhananjaya de Silva.
Swashbuckling opener David Warner introduced a simple end to formalities, hitting a 4 and a six off Ramesh Mendis to deliver up the win in 4 balls.
Earlier within the day, quick bowler Asitha Fernando took Australia’s final two first-innings wickets with the vacationers including eight to their in a single day 313, for a commanding lead of 109.
Ramesh Mendis took 4 wickets whereas debutant Jeffrey Vandersay took two.
“We bowled well in patches. I think Ramesh bowled really well but the others couldn’t support him,” mentioned Karunaratne.
The skipper mentioned it was tough to bat towards Lyon, who managed to show the ball closely.
“We just wanted to put pressure on him, and play a couple of shots,” he mentioned.
“The approach was really good, the intention was really good, but I think sometimes we took bad decisions.”
The third day began early after abysmal climate shortened play on Thursday, with sturdy winds collapsing a spectator stand.
The second and closing Test begins 8 July on the similar venue.
