Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc reduce Sri Lanka to 84-5 at lunch on Day 1, 1st Test at Pallekele

Starc, who has returned to Test cricket after a gap of seven months, was the first bowler to make a breakthrough in this match.

Sri Lanka struggled at 84 for 5 in 28 overs when Lunch was taken on Day 1 of the first Test. The opening Test of their three-Test series is being played at Pallekele International Cricket Stadium. It was a disastrous first session for the hosts as the Australian attack led by Mitchell Starc did not give them much chances to settle at the crease. Starc drew first blood, followed by Josh Hazlewood and Steve O’Keefe making the other breakthroughs. Kusal Perera and Dhananjaya de Silva will resume innings for Sri Lanka after Lunch at 12 and 24 respectively. FULL CRICKET SCORECARD: Sri Lanka vs Australia, 1st Test at Kandy

Starc, who has returned to Test cricket after a gap of seven months, was the first bowler to make a breakthrough in this match. Dimuth Karunaratne, opened the innings for Sri Lanka and faced the fast bowler touch almost 140+km. In the fifth over, Strac hit straight on Karunaratne’s pads and the umpire raised his finger immediately to declare him out. The Australians broke into celebrations before Karunaratne asked for a review. That resulted in the hosts losing a review as the replays showed it plumb and left Sri Lanka at 6 for 1. It was a special dismissal for Starc as it was his 200th First-Class wicket.

Kusal Mendis went off the mark with a bang, two back-to-back boundaries and thereby gave a hope to help Sri Lanka put up a fight against the No. 1 side. He smashed a delivery from Starc to the covers for a boundary before Hazlewood gifted him another one just next ball with a sloppy fielding at fine leg. Eventually Hazlewood managed to compensate it by dismissing Mendis. The latter while tried to play it on the on-side; he missed it, getting hit on the pads. The batsmen are seen discussing if a review should be taken or not. Nevertheless, 15 seconds were up (minimum time limit to decide about a review) and Mendis had no choice but to walk back.

The baby-faced fast bowler struck again four overs later and with the dismissal of Kaushal Silva, the Sri Lankan openers were done and dusted here. Kaushal was the next man to go back; he got a thick outside edge and an incredible low catch by Adam Voges at first slip did the job for Hazlewood. Inside 10 overs, Sri Lanka had three batsmen returned to the pavilion end.

That wicket saw Sri Lanka’s main batsmen Chandimal and Mathews at the crease. The situation worsened when O’Keefe removed Mathews. O’Keefe continues to turn the ball well. He held a 10-wicket haul in the tour match and he already has the most important wicket to his name in the first Test. A tempted Mathews came forward and while pushing one just outside off, Smith took took a diving catch at the first slip.

The toss that Mathews won was falling apart as a respectable total was nowhere to be seen. Nathan Lyon was introduced next and he has the capability to wrap the left over Sri Lankan tail. Chandimal went next, leaving an uncapped Dhananjaya de Silva along with Kusal Perera at the crease. It was Peter Nevill with a diving catch this time. While Australia have been upto the mark so far, Sri Lanka have been no less than clueless on their home conditions.

Brief scores:

Sri Lanka 84 for 5 (Dhananjaya de Silva 15*, Kusal Perera 12*; Mitchell Starc 1 for 31, Josh Hazlewood 3 for 21, Steve O’Keefe 1 for 23) vs Australia.

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(Sakshi Gupta, a reporter with CricketCountry, is a sports fanatic whose mantra in life is “do only what you enjoy.” Her Twitter handle is @sakshi2929)