Cricket Highlights, 09 July: SL vs AUS (2nd Test – Day 2)

SL vs AUS (2nd Test – Day 2) – Highlights

Visiting Australia was all out for 364 runs due to the whirlwind magic of Left-arm slow orthodox spinner Prabath Jayasuriya, who made his debut in the Galle Test. At the end of the second day’s play, the host Sri Lanka took 184 runs for 2 wickets. In other words, the hosts are behind by 180 runs with 8 wickets in hand.

Pat Cummins & Co. scored 298 runs for losing 5 wickets on the first day. Batting on the second day, the Aussies could score only 66 runs in 20 overs for the last five wickets. The visitors have lost one wicket after another due to Jayasuriya’s whirlwind.

Australia started the second day’s play with a bang. However, it did not take long for the situation to change, and Steven Smith remained unbeaten on 145 runs.

Jayasuriya brought the day’s first breakthrough for Sri Lanka by sending off Alex Carey, who scored 28 runs. Earlier, Carey made a 77-run partnership with Smith. But then, no one else could accompany Smith in that way. The rest were just in the queue of coming and leaving the crease. Mitchell Starc was dismissed for 1, Pat Cummins for 5, Nathan Lyon for 5, and Mitchell Swepson for 3 runs.

Jayasuriya also got the wicket of Mitchell Starc in the over after the departure of Carey; Kusal Mendis took a great catch in the slip. He became only the sixth Sri Lankan bowler to take five wickets in his debut with that wicket. The last three Australian batsmen got out being lbw. Aussie captain Pat Cummins returned to the dressing room after falling victim to Kasun Rajitha, Mitchell Swepson became the victim of another debutant Maheesh Theekshana.

Earlier, Jayasuriya sent back Nathan Lyon to the pavilion and set the record for the second-best bowling in his debut for Sri Lanka. He took the maximum number of 6 wickets for 118 runs. Praveen Jayawickrama, who took 6 wickets for 92 runs against Bangladesh last year, is at the top of the list. Kasun Rajitha also took two wickets, while Ramesh Mendis and Maheesh Theekshana took one wicket each.

In reply, Sri Lanka lost the wicket of opener Pathum Nissanka in the beginning. In the ninth over, he fell victim to Mitchell Starc and returned to the dressing room with the team’s 12 runs. This young right-handed batsman played 25 balls and scored 6 runs. Australia then put some pressure on Sri Lanka.

As a result, the hosts got the first boundary in the 15th over, Kusal Mendis hit that off Cummins. After Nissanka’s departure, Dimuth Karunaratne and Mendis did not give wickets to Australia, even though the runs were not coming that much. The second wicket of these two batsmen combined to form a pair of 152 runs. Sri Lanka avoided the follow-on by this pair.

Sri Lanka went to the tea break with 65 runs for 1 wicket in 30 overs. However, the hosts scored 119 runs at the run rate of 3.61 in the next session. Karunaratne was crossing the 30th half-century of his career and moving towards the 15th century. However, he went to flick the ball of Swepson, which skidded on the pitch and became lbw as he missed it. The Sri Lankan captain returned to the pavilion with 86 runs.

Kusal is unbeaten on 84 runs at the end of the day. Another experienced batsman Angelo Mathews is unbeaten on 6 off 36 balls with him.

SL vs AUS Scoreboard

Australia (1st Innings) – 364/10 (110.0)

Sri Lanka (1st Innings) – 184/2 (63.0)

SL vs AUS Playing XIs