Australia v Sri Lanka first Test news: Nathan Lyon five wickets, Steve Smith fuming after run out
Honours are shared between Australia and Sri Lanka after day one of the first Test, with Nathan Lyon’s big haul offset by a flurry of late Aussie wickets.
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Australia’s Nathan Lyon on Wednesday said the first Test is in the balance after his five-wicket haul helped bowl out Sri Lanka for 212 but the hosts hit back with three wickets on day one.
The tourists reached 98 for three at stumps after Sri Lankan spinner Ramesh Mendis struck twice, including David Warner’s key wicket for 25, on a turning pitch at the picturesque Galle stadium.
Earlier, wicketkeeper-batsman Niroshan Dickwella made a defiant 58 before the Sri Lankan innings folded in the final session of a quick-moving game.
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LYON BATTLES THROUGH BACK SPASMS
A first over back spasm suffered by Lyon couldn’t stop the Australian spinner from delivering one of the great Sri Lankan efforts including an ironman 22-over stretch he expects he’ll need to repeat to steer his team to a test win in Galle.
Lyon, who took his 20th five wicket haul in tests after a post-tea blitz on day one, revealed he suffered his first ever back spasm just four balls into a marathon bowling stretch across the opening two sessions.
But while the 34-year-old veteran of 108 tests conceded he was “pretty stiff” after snaring 5-90 on the opening day, Lyon was adamant he wouldn’t be impeded knowing he’ll be required to go again with spin twin Mitchell Swepson in the second innings on a pitch set to be more dust bowl than wicket when Sri Lanka bats again.
Scroll down for a full scoreboard from Day 1
“Fourth ball I just had a little back spasm. I’ve never had one – ever. I’ve been pretty lucky, touch wood, with injuries,” Lyon said after sending down 25 overs across two spells, with just three coming after tea as he took the Sri Lankan tail down snaring 3-10 after the break.
“It didn’t impede me bowling – I’m pretty stiff now. But we’ve got a pretty amazing medical staff. I’ll no doubt be having dinner in the team room and getting into some physio. That’s all part of it.
“I’m just going to do everything I possibly can to ensure I get enough rest and recover well and see our amazing medical staff here. There’s no excuses, I’ve just got to come out and perform and do what I do best, which is bowl off-breaks … I’ll be fine.”
SWEPSON STEPS UP FOR SELECTORS
Lyon and Swepson took eight Sri Lankan wickets between them on the back of a pre-match chat which gave the veteran every indication his younger spin partner was up for the Sri Lankan challenge.
And the elder statesman of Australian spinning could not have been prouder of his rookie mate.
Selectors backed Swepson, who took three opening day wickets including two in two balls to break the game wide open, despite taking just two wickets in two tests in his maiden series in Pakistan.
Having seen the work he’d done to respond from that torrid time, Lyon was confident there was better to come.
“I’m extremely proud of Sweppo. You talk to him and he didn’t have the series he wanted in Pakistan, but to be honest I still thought he was learning and learning how hard Test cricket is to play,” Lyon said.
“I actually sat down with Sweppo, well he asked to sit down yesterday (Tuesday) for a Coke in the arvo and we just chatted. He’s in a really good place mentally, and the way he’s been bowling in the nets has been exceptional.
“I am absolutely stoked for him and I know he’s going to get his rewards. He’s doing the hard work and he has all the support from the Australian cricket team. He’s well aware of that. He bowled beautifully so nothing but proud of Sweppo.”
TEST EVENLY BALANCED
Lyon believed the match was “even” after the opening day with the wicket deteriorating and the four-man Sri Lankan spin attack set to be hard to hold out with the Aussies still 114-runs behind when they resume on day two at 3-98.
He knows he’s going to be the main man with the ball again when Sri Lanka goes back in but ever the team man Lyon is ready to bowl 22 overs, or more, in a row, happy to do whatever his team needs him to do in the pursuit of victory.
“I love bowling. You ask Pat (Captain Pat Cummins) if he can take the ball out of my hands in these types of conditions and he will probably tell you where to go,” Lyon said.
“I absolutely love bowling in these conditions. This is my job over here in these conditions. If I can keep playing my role for Australia, then I will more than happily do that.
“I will do whatever the team needs. If that’s long spells, then it is long spells. If it is short spells as Pat is changing his bowlers that is entirely fine as well.
“For me it’s always been about the team and what I can do to help the Australian team.”
WARNER GETS AUSSIES OFF TO FAST START
The spin die had well and truly been cast when Australian opener David Warner, after taking two brilliant catches in the field, did his best to put the match in fast-forward hitting four boundaries in his first 10 balls as Sri Lankan used just a single over of seam-bowling before putting their four slow bowlers to work.
They removed Warner for 25 and Marnus Labuschagne for just 13 as a lean 10-innings stretch which has yielded just one half century continued.
Smith was then left filthy and fuming after a chaotic run-out in the shadows of stumps which left his white shirt covered in dirt and the star batter pointing furiously at partner Usman Khawaja when his dive to save himself came up short.
Out for just six, Smith was denied a chance to repeat his Sri Lankan century in 2016, and reach triple figures for the first time in 11 tests, leaving Khawaja (47 not out) and Travis Head (six not out) to guide the tourists to 3-98 at stumps after a day of spin carnage at the seaside ground.
Australia’s own spin twins lapped up all pre-match predictions of a pitch set to turn from day one as Swepson validated the confidence of his captain Pat Cummins to snare his best figures in Test cricket, appropriately on a day which began with a tribute to leg-spinning legend Shane Warne.
LEGGIE SHINES AFTER TRIBUTE TO WARNE
Swepson, who had a torrid time in his maiden series in Pakistan, finished with 3-55 to show leg-spin was just as worthy as finger-spinning in Sri Lanka, but it was Lyon who really put the home team in a twirl.
After taking two wickets in his long opening stretch across the opening two sessions, having come on to bowl just five overs into the opening day, the tea break re-energised Lyon who ended a rearguard action and helped wrap up the Sri Lankan innings in that three over burst.
But it was fitting that Swepson was the man who got the crowd, sweating it out in sapping tropical heat at the seaside ground, buzzing after a pre-match tribute to the late Warne, who made leg-spin bowling cool again.
With Warne’s smiling face surrounding the ground on dozens of posters covering the fence, Swepson delivered a short three over burst just before lunch then returned with purpose for his next spell and duly delivered for Cummins who said was a “luxury” to have a leggie in the team.
With the first ball of his fourth over Swepson delivered the perfect leg break which grazed the edge of Dhananjaya de Silva’s bat and slid perfectly into keeper Alex Carey’s gloves.
Swepson had bowled more than 80 overs after taking his second wicket in Pakistan without tasting joy again, but waited just four in his third match for his next one.
Things only got better the very next ball, Swepson again showed the sort of weaponry selectors knew he had his arsenal with a mirror image delivery which this time flicked of Dinesh Chandimal’s blade and flew to Warner at second-slip who juggled it, fell on the ground, juggled it some ore before grasping it in his elbow.
Swepson had 2-10 having got the nod from selectors to deliver something different after snaring just two wickets on flat Pakistan wickets which were nothing but hard work.
But when puffs of dust were released from the pitch in early deliveries from Australia’s opening bowlers Mitchell Starc and Cummins, signs were strong Swepson and Lyon would be in the action.
That came to bear in Lyon’s first delivery, in just the sixth over of the game, which spun and reared so much it jumped off the pitch and hit the grill of Carey’s helmet, forcing a change of lid.
The ominous spin signs came after Cummins and Starc delivered Australia the first two breakthroughs after Sri Lanka won the toss and chose to send the tourists in.
Earlier, a pre-match tribute to Australian legend Shane Warne reflected the level of adoration for the late spin great in Sri Lanka.
Even one of Warne’s fiercest on-field rivals, former Sri Lankan captain Arjuna Ranatunga, revealed he was “shattered” when news of the Australian legend’s death reached his country.
During their playing days Ranatunga made a point of trying to take Warne down, with his bat and his mouth, as much as possible, famously calling the Australian an “overrated bowler”.
Ranatunga hit the winning runs in the 1996 World Cup final off Warne and it was rare for them not to clash when Australia played Sri Lanka.
Warne, who once said “I don’t like him, and I’m not in a club of one” when asked about Ranatunga often picked on the Sri Lankan’s weight.
Never concerned about keeping his rival onside, Ranatunga called Warne out over his drugs ban in 2003, even though he was retired.
“If I swallow a lamb or a goat, it is none of his business. But I must tell him that I don’t swallow those pills and blame my mother for it,” he said.
But after the Sri Lankan cricket association presented a special plaque to Cricket Australia CEO Nick Hockley to honour Warne before the match, Ranatunga revealed just how much his death in March was felt by him and his countrymen.
“Everyone knows that he was a brilliant player but especially after the tsunami he got really close with the Sri Lankan hearts, everyone was shattered when we heard the news the whole country was,” he said.
“The way he played cricket, he was very competitive in the middle, but a very good friend outside, that’s what we need in the game. It’s a huge loss for the world, not just Australian cricket.”
Ranatunga said he felt Warne was a “great in the making” after their first encounter during a test series in 1992, when Warne spun Australia to a stunning victory with a spell of 3-0 in Colombo.
Despite their on-field clashes, Ranatunga was adamant they also shared a high level of respect, which played out after both men put their spikes away.
“We had our gobful to say to each other. But generally he respected me a lot and I respect him a lot,” Ranatunga said. “We had a lot of discussions together, especially after we finished cricket, but not while we were playing.
“I met him when we did commentary stints, and I was one person who liked to listen to him, he told the truth. Generally Shane was very outspoken, and his cricket knowledge was really good. It’s a huge loss for the world not just Australian cricket.”
SRI LANKA V AUSTRALIA FIRST TEST SCOREBOARD
Final scoreboard on the first day of the opening Test between Sri Lanka and Australia in Galle on Wednesday:
Sri Lanka
P. Nissanka c Alex Carey b Cummins 23
D. Karunaratne c Warner b Lyon 28
K. Mendis c Carey b Starc 3
A. Mathews c Warner b Lyon 39
D. de Silva c Carey b Swepson 14
D. Chandimal c Warner b Swepson 0
N. Dickwella c Carey b Lyon 58
R. Mendis lbw b Lyon 22
J. Vandersay c Starc b Swepson 6
L. Embuldeniya c Khawaja b Lyon 6
A. Fernando not out 2
Extras (b5, lb6) 11
Total (all out, 59 overs) 212
Fall of Wickets 1-38 (Nissanka), 2-42 (K. Mendis), 3-74 (Karunaratne), 4-97 (de Silva), 5-97 (Chandimal), 6-139 (Mathews), 7-193 (R. Mendis), 8-198 (Dickwella), 9-206 (Embuldeniya), 10-212 (Vandersay)
Bowling: Starc 9-0-31-1, Cummins 12-4-25-1, Lyon 25-2-90-5, Swepson 13-0-55-3
Australia
U. Khawaja not out 47
D. Warner lbw b R. Mendis 25
M. Labuschagne c Fernando b R. Mendis 13
S. Smith run out (Dickwella/K. Mendis) 6
T. Head not out 6
Extras (nb1) 1
Total (3 wickets, 25 overs) 98
Fall of wickets: 1-47 (Warner), 2-75 (Labuschagne), 3-83 (Smith)
Yet to bat: C. Green, A. Carey, P. Cummins, M. Starc, N. Lyon, M. Swepson
Bowling: Fernando 1-0-9-0, De Silva 3-0-4-0, Embuldeniya 7-0-39-0 (nb1), R. Mendis 11-0-35-2, Vandersay 3-0-11-0
Toss: Sri Lanka
Umpires: Kumar Dharmasena (SRI), Nitin Menon (IND) TV umpire: Ruchira Palliyaguruge (SRI) Match referee: Javagal Srinath (IND)
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