Khawaja, Smith put Sri Lanka to the sword on first day
After Head's whirlwind start and Smith's milestone moment, the Aussies dominated the hosts' spin onslaught
Usman Khawaja's first Test century in almost two years and Steve Smith joining a prestigious group of all-time greats were the individual high points, but Australia's batting dominance on return to Asian conditions provided the story of day one against Sri Lanka at Galle.
If not for some nakedly negative tactics by the home team in a final session played amid gathering gloom in the coastal city, Australia might have recorded their most productive first day of a Test match on the subcontinent where they last played in 2023.
As it was, a stumps score of 2-330 was not far removed from the benchmark which remains 7-362 against India at Nagpur in 2004, an innings that effectively set up Australia's only series triumph in that country in more than 50 years.
But with Khawaja (who finished the day 147no) and Smith (104no) forging an unbroken third-wicket stand of 195, and Australia rattling along at 2-223 midway through the day the visitors were at one stage of looking at a stumps score around 400.
Their previous best day one effort in Sri Lanka of 5-330 at Colombo in 2002 (albeit in a Test against Pakistan) would have been bettered if not for rain that curtailed play 40 minutes before the scheduled time for stumps.
It was the ploy of Prabath Jayasuriya – who sent down an extraordinary 33 overs, which accounted for 40 per cent of his team's daily total – pitching repeatedly outside leg stump with catchers around the bat to quell his rivals' strokeplay that slowed Australia to a crawl.
At one stage after tea, Smith played out two complete overs by kicking all six deliveries away without needing to deploy his bat lest he provide a catch having earlier posted the fastest half-century of his 15-year Test career (off 57 balls).
However, Australia's batting effort – built on a belligerent half-century from freshly installed opener Travis Head – grants them a significant advantage with the Galle pitch which offered sluggish turn for the finger spinners today expected to become tougher to bat upon.
Smith took just one ball today to post the single he needed to reach 10,000 Test runs, and looked a little self-conscious when – surely for the first time in his storied Test tenure – he raised his bat with his personal tally on one.
He unfurled a more emphatic celebration three hours later when he posted his 35th Test century, placing him within one ton of the game's top-five hundred-makers.
But it was Khawaja's 16th Test ton, and his first since the opening match of the 2023 Ashes campaign in the UK, that was emblematic if largely for the manner in which it was constructed.
The 38-year-old explained to cricket.com.au earlier this week how it was his 2016 visit to Sri Lanka that led him to develop a reverse sweep to his batting armoury, and it was that stroke that brought him both runs and confidence in conditions he once dreaded.
The way Khawaja was able to swat the release shot into gaps to not only diffuse close fielders around the bat but also find gaps in the outfield and pocket boundaries set the tone for Australia's show of strength and Sri Lanka searching fruitlessly for answers.
It also underscored the value of Australia's pre-tour training camp in Dubai which enabled batters to formulate plans of attack and defence in extreme spinning conditions, in the expectation the going might not quite so tough in Galle.
That proved the case on day one, as the regular rain in Sri Lanka over recent weeks meant the pitch had spent countless hours under cover and was tacky when play began and offered little assistance to the three-pronged spin attack across the day.
The home team's cause was significantly harmed by fielding lapses that saw at least four genuine chances missed, and poor use of DRS that meant they let slip crucial reviews that would have brought them the wickets of Head and Khawaja.
The main discomfort for Australia on a day when all but seven of the 81.1 overs were bowled by spinners was the humidity that peaked around 90 per cent and saw Khawaja several times stretch out his right calf which appeared to be cramping.
Smith had maintained on match eve his focus had shifted from the 10,000-run milestone that had come to dominate his thinking against India at the SCG, but the prospect of batting was front of mind the moment this morning's coin toss landed in his favour.
The pre-game questions as to what the Galle pitch would bring were answered when both teams confirmed their starting line-ups, with each opting for three spinners and a single specialist quick.
Sri Lanka might have soon thought they had played one seamer too many after Head, vindicating the move to replace Sam Konstas at the top of the order, launched himself at Asitha Fernando whose first three overs cost 28 runs.
The right-armer should have won that ultimately lopsided battle after he trapped Head on the crease with the penultimate ball of his spell that skidded through from the barren surface and was convinced he'd dismissed the Australia vice-captain for 23.
However, in what would become a recurring theme alongside Sri Lanka's fielding blemishes, Asitha's vehemence to review was ignored by captain Dhananjaya de Silva only for subsequent ball-tracking replays it would have crashed into the stumps.
Seizing his reprieve, Head – who had plundered three boundaries from the luckless Asitha's opening over – donned his Baggy Green Cap as the hosts adopted an all-spin attack from the day's sixth over.
It might have been Sri Lanka's fielders calling for hard hats as Head blasted spinner-turned-opening-bowler Nishan Peiris for six over mid-wicket then slapped four more boundaries all around the ground before reaching 50 from just 35 deliveries.
Just as cricket badgers began burrowing for details of the most recent Test batter to score a century before lunch on day of a match in Asia, Head's rampage ended when he took on the breeze gusting off the Laccadive Sea and failed to clear long-on.
As he trudged from the field in the cloying humidity, Head indicated his lofted drive had hit lower-than-expected on the bat but he and Khawaja had built the best launching pad in Sri Lanka since Greg Blewett and Micheal Slater produced consecutive century stands in 1999.
The ease Australia's new opening pair had found in posting 92 from less than 15 overs was placed in sharp relief by Marnus Labuschagne's arrival at the crease, which showed that starting an innings against spin would be no easy task on the Galle surface.
Facing Jayasuriya whose record at the venue showed a remarkable 71 wickets at 21.78 from eight matches before today, Labuschagne narrowly avoided an inside-edge to short-leg from the first ball he faced and a confident (but unsuccessful) lbw shout from the next.
Having reached three, Labuschagne could have been run out when he knocked Jayasuriya to leg and took a step or two out of his crease but Oshada Fernando's reflex throw from bat-pad narrowly missed the stumps.
Australia's first drop faced another scare on 11 when he aimed a sweep at a full ball from Peiris that passed beneath the bat and was adjudged not out even though it hit low on Labuschagne's front pad.
But Sri Lanka's review was struck down as 'umpire's call' despite the ball clipping leg, and Labuschagne began to ease into his innings until leg spinner Jeffrey Vandersay took the ball for the 22nd over.
He might have played his only previous Test against Australia at Galle three years ago, but Vandersay's opening delivery on return to the format evoked memories of Shane Warne's 'ball of the century' at Old Trafford 32 years earlier.
His initial offering drifted towards Labuschagne's left foot before it pitched and gripped on the already scuffed surface and spun sharply past the right-hander's bat and fizzed past the off bail.
From there it seemed only a matter of time before the leg spinner snared his third Test scalp, which came in his fifth over as Labuschagne pushed hesitantly at another ball that turned and followed it with his bat to guide a low catch to slip.
But that was Sri Lanka's last moment of joy for the day as Khawaja and Smith turned the screws over the next two sessions, aided by some lacklustre fielding and uninspired bowling plans and execution from the home team.
Having reached his rare milestone from ball one which prompted a fleeting pat on the shoulder from the bowler, Smith was bequeathed a far more valuable gift three balls later when Jayasuriya failed to clutch a low return catch as the Australia skipper danced down the pitch.
The difficulty Sri Lanka found in building any pressure on a pitch offering only slow spin was exemplified by their failure to bowl a maiden across 32 overs in the Test's first session.
With the score a rollicking 2-145 at lunch, Smith donned the cloth cap after the break and signalled his intentions in the first over of the afternoon session by again advancing at Jayasuriya and clubbing him down the ground for six.
If Sri Lanka had used the 40-minute adjournment to sharpen their DRS protocols or focus on their fielding shortcomings, they clearly left that wisdom in the lunchroom.
Khawaja had reached 74 when he survived a big shout for caught behind having played inside a ball from Jayasuriya that hurried on, but once more Dhananjaya opted against a review which would have revealed a fine edge.
Shortly after, Smith (on 19) again used his feet against the leg spinner and lofted a firm drive to cover where Kamindu Mendis leapt off the ground and despite getting his hands to the chance, was unable to prevent another boundary.
Khawaja was spared again on 90, although the bottom edge that ballooned off his pad sailed safely over the head of keeper Kusal Mendis and bounced before Dhananjaya could claim it from slip, so it technically did not constitute a chance.
But given Dhananjaya had turfed a tough, low chance when the Australia opener was on 54 the Sri Lankans were understandably frustrated when he celebrated his long-awaited and much-deserved Test century soon after.
When Smith completed his own landmark shortly before the rain set in, it completed a lustrous day for the visitors that contrasted starkly with the heavy cloud that hovered increasingly low with similar conditions forecast tomorrow.
SOURCE:
https://www.cricket.com.au/news/420...y-day-one-report-video-highlights-head-inglis
