Australia expose Sri Lanka hypocrisy in brutal seven-wicket hour at Galle

Sri Lanka captain Dhananjaya de Silva bemoaned a lack of Test cricket on his side’s calendar. If this is the kind of cricket they’re going to produce, they’re lucky they aren’t playing more, writes DANIEL CHERNY.

On the eve of this match, Sri Lankan captain Dhananjaya de Silva bemoaned the fact the hosts were only scheduled to play four Tests this year.

If this is the type of cricket that his side is going to produce, then maybe they lucky the calendar is so bare.

Sri Lanka’s performance on Saturday morning at Galle International Stadium was abject.

Australia was clinical, but rarely is a side beaten up this badly on its home soil.

This is not a particularly young or rebuilding Sri Lankan outfit. The XI contains five of the nation’s 18 most-capped players in its four-decade Test history.

Matthew Kuhnemann took five in Sri Lanka’s first innings. Picture: Ishara S.Kodikara/AFP

Rain had wiped out most of day three and there were further storms expected on the afternoon of day four. Mother Nature had given Sri Lanka a chance to save this match.

Instead the Warne-Muralitharan Trophy was essentially handed over as though it was part of some local hospitality scheme for foreign guests.

The experienced players were as culpable as anyone. De Silva went dancing down the wicket on Friday morning to fall to Matt Kuhnemann.

Kusal Mendis, who made 176 to be the linchpin of a Sri Lankan victory against Australia at Pallekele in 2016, fell straight into Steve Smith’s leg side trap on day four, exposing Sri Lanka’s long tail.

Dinesh Chandimal had batted well but missed an attempted reverse sweep from Nathan Lyon. Before long he’d be back out there after the follow-on was enforced.

Dinesh Chandimal offered the only real resistance of Sri Lanka’s first innings. Picture: Ishara S. Kodikara/AFP

Dimuth Karunaratne is playing his 99th Test. Selectors would be well within their rights to deny him a 100th after the opener after he left a Todd Murphy ball that crashed into off-stump before the former captain had scored in the second innings. By that point, Sri Lanka had lost 7-15 across its two consecutive innings.

Australian selectors had tossed up which of Beau Webster or Cooper Connolly should fill the final spot in the Aussie XI. As it turned out the call barely seemed to matter. As of lunch on Saturday, Webster hadn’t bowled and had made 23 at No. 7 after coming in with 570 already on the board.

It can be a game of fine margins of course, and things may have looked vastly different in this match had Smith been caught on one when offering a return chance to Prabath Jayasuriya on the opening day. The Aussie skipper instead danced his way to 141, the second of Australia’s three centurions in a total of 6-654.

They say there are two types of leaves...

No prizes for guessing which category this Karunaratne one falls into 🫣#SLvAUSpic.twitter.com/6LBQ0EOlk4

— 7Cricket (@7Cricket) February 1, 2025

But even acknowledging that Australia has had some luck in the form of winning the toss and poor DRS management from the opposition, it is hard to believe this showing that Sri Lanka was seriously in the frame for the World Test Championship final at the start of the year.

One poor match against the world’s best side should not impugn Sri Lanka’s Test status for good, and under the leadership of Sanath Jayasuriya this team has in the last six months won a Test at The Oval and dismantled New Zealand.

Saturday morning’s showing was the cricket of a minnow, and Sri Lanka – especially at home where it has only lost one Test series to Australia in the past two decades – should be much better than that.

Sri Lanka remains in the WTC for the next cycle, although the picture beyond that point becomes murkier as discussions of further tiers in Test cricket (they already exist given Ireland, Zimbabwe and Afghanistan only play non-WTC Tests) gather steam.

Fair or not, greedy administrators will be on the hunt for reasons not to play against certain opponents, and unfortunately de Silva and his men have just provided more than a few to leave Sri Lanka off the menu.

Originally published as Australia expose Sri Lanka hypocrisy in brutal seven-wicket hour at Galle