Cricket News: Australia vs Sri Lanka 1st Test, Australia wins as spinners rip Sri Lanka's batters on day 3
The first test match between Australia and Sri Lanka ended on just the third day of the game. Travis Head and Nathan Lyon shredded Sri Lanka's batting order to reduce the home team to a minimal total in their second innings
Nathan Lyon scalped nine wickets in the TestMatch ended with Australia chasing down the five-run mark to grab a 1-0 lead in the two-match series.
The match became challenging for the hosts at the end of Australia's first inning when Cameron Green scored lead-fetching 77 runs to shift the momentum in favour of Australia.
The day resumed with Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon attempting to expand the lead from Day 2. Visitors grabbed a lead of 109 runs from their 1st inning before Asitha Fernando took the final two wickets.
A strong start by Sri Lanka in the 2nd inning
Sri Lanka got off to a strong start with Pathum Nissanka and Dimuth Karunaratne, in particular, collecting a tonne of boundaries. The opening pair signalled their attacking stance by combining to hit four boundaries off Mitchell Starc in the first over. The hosts struggled to find the correct mix between playing it safe and displaying the necessary temperament and technique on a surface that was more than willing to help the spinners.
Nathan Lyon and Travis Head took eight wickets to disrupt the hosts' batting line-up
Dimuth Karunaratne paddle-swept and flicked Nathan Lyon and Mitchell Starc as he kept up his adventurous style of play. However, Lyon quickly took Karunaratne after the southpaw managed to get a slight edge on his sweep to the keeper. Pathum Nissanka also lost his wicket attempting to sweep in Mitchell Swepson's very next over of bowling. Nissanka requested a review to reverse the LBW ruling but was given out.
Oshada Fernando, covid substitute for Angelo Mathews, joined Kusal Mendis to build a partnership, but Nathan Lyon found the top edge off Mendis, dismissing him at 8. In the next over, Mitchell Swepson took Oshada Fernando as the batter got caught at slip. Dhananjaya de Silva and Dinesh Chandimal briefly gave hope that Sri Lanka would put up a fight as Alex Carey failed to get a stumping in the 14th over, which would have allowed Lyon to remove Dhananjaya. But Travis Head castled Chandimal with a ripper, trapping Dhananjaya in the same over for an LBW. The loud request for an LBW was initially denied by umpire Kumar Dharmasena but was reversed after a review when the ball-tracker projected the ball to strike the leg-stump.
Ramesh Mendis (0) lost his wicket attempting to sweep off Nathan Lyon, whereas Travis Head, in a single over, took Jeffrey Vandersay (8) and Lasith Embuldeniya (0).
Hosts somehow managed to score 113 against the lead of 109 runs by Australia to avoid defeat by an innings.
Nine-wicket haul for Nathan Lyon as spinners dominated the pitch
Nathan Lyon shone with a match haul of nine wickets. He took a five-wicket haul in the match's first innings, including the valuable wickets of Angelo Mathews, captain Dimuth Karunaratne and Niroshan Dickwella, who scored a half-century. Even in the second innings, he successfully took four wickets while conceding only 31 runs in his 11-over long spell. The Australian spinner was unplayable in both innings as the hosts could not play against the spin. The bowler was unplayable and took big wickets in both innings of the game. Australian spinners bagged 18 off the 20 wickets in the match.
Ramesh Mendis, the right-arm off-break bowler, was very clinical for Sri Lanka as he bagged four wickets in the game's first innings, giving the host a front foot in the game at one point. Jeffrey Vandersay, too took two wickets in that innings but was very expensive as he conceded 68 runs in his ten overs spell.
Ten wickets won by Australia
As the Sri Lankan team folded up for just 112 runs, the chase by Australia was a cakewalk. The team only needed five runs in the second innings to wrap up the game, which was scored by David Warner alone. He finished the game in heroic style by hitting a winning six long over the fence leading his side to a vast and memorable victory with all the ten wickets remaining.
It was a significant win for Australia, having lost to Sri Lanka 3-0 during their previous tour in 2016, and they will now clash for a second test match on 8th July 2022.