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5th over: Sri Lanka 11-0 (Nissanka 10, Karunaratne 3) Starc is up at 145 clicks – 90MPH in old money. A decent effort in what looks a very hot and humid Galle. The cameraman throws a few drone shots of the coast and fort into my tv footage, I’m completely fine with it as the London chill seeps through my front room window. Completely fine, I’m probably getting loads of Vitmanin D off this draught.
Nissanka stands tall and punches into the off side for two runs, nice looking stroke, he rode the bounce well.
4th over: Sri Lanka 11-0 (Nissanka 8, Karunaratne 2) Kuhnemann to Dimuth Karunaratne, the batter leans on a full ball and takes the single down the ground. There isn’t huge turn for Kuhnemann but he is getting the ball to shoot and skid, he’s making the batters play every ball and it doesn’t look comfortable out there.
3rd over: Sri Lanka 10-0 (Nissanka 8, Karunaratne 1) Streaky from Nissanka as a thick outside edge sees him get four just wide of the slip cordon. Starc is on the money the entire over, there’s some decent carry through to Alex Carey behind the stumps and Nissanka does well to jam down on a toe breaking yorker. Australia looking threatening from both ends so far.
2nd over: Sri Lanka 5-0 (Nissanka 4, Karunaratne 1) Matt Kuhnemann from the other end. He serves up a full bunger to Karunaratne as a final Test gift to get off the mark. The batter swats away to the sweeper on the leg side boundary and will be glad to get down the non-striker’s end by the looks of it.
Kuhnemann looks dangerous right away! The new ball skids along the surface and pins Nissanka on the pad. Big appeal but it was missing leg… Even bigger appeal! This looks closer – struck on the back pad this time! Australia review but Nissanka survives – just – the ball was hitting leg stump but it was umpires call so the on field decision of not out stands.
Don’t go anywhere.
1st over: Sri Lanka 4-0 (Nissanka 4, Karunaratne 0) Starc goes full in search of some early movement with the new nut. If there’s any it won’t be in existence for long. Nissanka is forward and defending off the front foot, there is a hint of movement back in. Shot! Starc is pummelled through the covers by Nissanka for four! What away to start the Test match for him. Starc pull his line back and scude a couple past the outside edge, just to let him know he won’t have it all his own way. Eventful first over!
Righto, time for play. Mitchell Starc has the ball in hand. The pitch is baked hard and white but scattered with cracks. Pathum Nissanka will be on strike for the first ball.
Lovely scenes in a sun soaked but breezy Galle as Sri Lanka’s players, a bunch of local school children and fellow players from Dimuth Karunaratne’s side – Sinhalese Sports Club – make a guard of honour for him as he takes the field and heads to the crease in his hundredth and final Test match. The Aussies get involved too.
Sri Lanka leaving out Jeffrey Vandersay seems a harsh call after he made a plucky maiden fifty and bowled well in the last Test. Ramesh Mendis has been in fine fettle in Sri Lankan domestic cricket with bat and ball, he has 69 Test wickets from his fifteen Test matches so far, he might offer a bit more penetration with his off breaks on this surface. He’ll be hoping he has a day or two before he even has to turn his arm over.
Confirmed Teams:
Sri Lanka Dimuth Karunaratne, Pathum Nissanka, Dinesh Chandimal, Angelo Mathews, Kamindu Mendis, Dhanajaya de Silva (capt), Kusal Mendis (wk), Ramesh Mendis, Prabath Jayasuriya, Nishan Peiris, Lahiru Kumara
Australia Usman Khawaja, Travis Head, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith (capt), Josh Inglis, Alex Carey (wk), Beau Webster, Cooper Connolly, Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Matthew Kuhnemann
The first ball is about 15 minutes away, are we going to see some raging turn from the off? Get your spinning loins girded I reckon.
Sri Lanka win the toss and will bat first
Sri Lanka skipper Dhanajaya de Silva doesn’t hesitate to lock in batting first in Galle after Australia put on 654/6 in the first innings in the first Test.
Steve Smith is confident that Australia can still win in a different way as he confirms Cooper Connolly’s debut in place of Todd Murphy.
Cooper Connolly will make his Test debut and has been handed his first baggy green cap by Simon Katich as Australia select a fifth red-ball debutant of the summer. Todd Murphy is the player to make way from the XI that was so dominant in the opening Test.
Connolly is an exciting middle-order batter and was the third leading run-scorer in the recent BBL season, but it is his left-arm spin that was likely key to the selection in Galle. The 21-year-old is yet to take a wicket in four first-class matches or as many white-ball internationals, but will be out to change all of that in the second Test.
Geoff Lemon has prepared a scene setter for your delectation:
So the second Test depends on Sri Lanka showing up this time and it also depends on what the ground staff deliver. At a guess that is more likely to be a pitch that spins from day one, given the new track already looked ready to play on four days out from the start. It’s not that Sri Lanka showed any aptitude against Australia’s spin, but at least a severely turning track would level out any advantage from the toss. Australia have prepared for those conditions too and, with the run-fest banked, it would be much more entertaining and instructive to see how they combat difficulty.
Preamble
James Wallace
Hello and welcome to the first day of the second Test match between Sri Lanka and Australia from Galle*.
Australia pummelled the home side in the first game, running out winners by an innings and 242 runs to inflict Sri Lanka’s heaviest defeat in their Test history. What to do in response to such a shellacking? The home side seem to be turning to spin to help them get something out of this two match series – by all accounts the surface for this game is drier than the bottom of a parrot’s cage.
The conditions could well see 21-year-old left-arm spinner Cooper Connolly make his Test debut for Australia and we’ll definitely witness the 100th and final Test of Sri Lanka’s 36-year-old opening batter who goes by the full name of Frank Dimuth Madushanka Karunaratne.
Play begins at 10am local time, 3.30pm AEDT. I’ll be back shortly with news of the teams and toss. As ever, do get in touch on the email linked at the left hand side of this page if you are tuning in. Your company and comments are always appreciated.
* By way of a sofa in south London. You can’t have it all.
