Galle, Jan 29 Australia dominated Day 1 of the first Test against Sri Lanka at the Galle Cricket Stadium on Wednesday as opener Usman Khawaja and stand-in skipper Steve Smith scored unbeaten centuries to take the visitors 330/2 at Stumps.
Khawaja (147 not out) and Smith (104 not out) stitched up a 195-run partnership to ensure Australia’s solid start to the series.
After winning the toss and opting to bat first, Travis Head (57) picked up where he left off from the Border Gavaskar Trophy series as he gave the visitors a scintillating start which included three boundaries in the opening over against Asitha Fernando. The left-handed batter did not stop there as he once again targeted Fernando by hitting him for two boundaries in the fifth over, whilst Khawaja also joined the party by scoring his first boundary of the game in the same over.
Head continued his onslaught which saw him score at a strike rate of 142.5 before he was cheaply dismissed by Prabath Jayasuriya in the 14th over. Head tried to clear the boundary ropes off the left-arm spinner but could not connect properly as he was caught at long on.
Marnus Labuschagne (20) came down to the crease following Head’s dismissal but struggled to find his rhythm. He scored at a strike rate of 40 before Jeffrey Vandersay’s full delivery saw the right-handed batter knick it to first slip on the stroke of lunch.
Smith became just the 15th batter to surpass 10,000 Test runs, on his very first ball at the crease, joining an exclusive club of Australian greats that includes Allan Border, Steve Waugh, and Ricky Ponting.
Sri Lanka would have surely been happy to remove Labuschagne and reduce the visitors to 145/2 at Lunch but the coming two sessions belonged entirely to Australia.
Sri Lanka missed a chance to dismiss Khawaja well short of his century as skipper Dhananjaya de Silva opted against taking a review whilst the opener was batting at 76 off Jayasuriya’s delivery. Replays later confirmed the left-handed batter had nicked the ball and was handed a lifeline.
Both batters went on to cross the hundred-run milestone and shortly after Smith reached his 35th Test century, rain started drizzling causing an early end to day’s play.
Brief Score:
Australia 330/2 in 81.1 overs (Usman Khawaja 147 not out, Smith 104 not out; Jeffrey Vandersay 1-93) against Sri Lanka
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