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Steve Smith and Usman Khawaja have Australia in control

Usman Khawaja is one of the few Aussie cricketers that should be guaranteed selection for the rest of the summer. (AP Photo/Tertius Pickard)
Expert
26th July, 2016
4

There were two telling facets of play during the opening day of the three-Test series against Sri Lanka at Pallekele Stadium: the presentation of the coveted ICC’s Test Championship mace, and the failure of all four opening batsmen.

The mace was a very visible reminder to the locals they were playing the best Test team in the world, while the four opening batsmen could only manage 14 runs between them – Dimuth Karunaratne (5), Kaushal Silva (4), David Warner (0), and Joe Burns (5), facing a collective but unproductive 57 deliveries.

» Re-live Day 1 with our live blog
» Full scorecard

The pitch had something for every bowler, but Australian skipper Steve Smith’s unbeaten 28 off 46, and Usman Khawaja’s 25 not out off 54 were out-of-character digs, but important in the 2-66 reply to Sri Lanka’s 117.

That was Sri Lanka’s 16th lowest total in history, but the third collapse this year after 91 against England at Headingley, and 101 at Chester-le-Street.

The reason why the Australian attack was so dominant were dot balls, and Smith’s aggressive field placements. There were many times when the Sri Lankan batsmen must have felt claustrophobic.

Mitchell Starc bowled 45 dot balls, Josh Hazlewood and Steve O’Keefe 50 each, and Nathan Lyon 13 for a total of 158, or 26,2 overs in a total of 34.2

Point proved.

Smith and coach Darren Lehmann proved another point by selecting two spinners, leaving out Jackson Bird, and having them bowl with relatively new balls in the net practice leading into the Test.

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Smith gave the nod to O’Keefe as early as the ninth over, but left the more experienced Lyon until just before lunch.

The skipper’s handling of his attack was outstanding, so much so Mitchell Marsh wasn’t called on at all. The Sri Lankans were given no respite.

Hazlewood was the pick of them with 3-21 off 10, as was Lyon with 3-12 off three that included all three wickets in just seven deliveries after lunch.

Lyon now has 198 wickets in his 55th Test, having debuted against Sri Lanka at Galle five years ago, capturing 5-34 off 15 in the first innings.

Khawaja is the only other survivor of that Galle Test that Australia won by 128 runs – Shane Watson, Phil Hughes, Ricky Ponting, Michael Clarke, Mike Hussey, Brad Haddin, Mitchell Johnson, Ryan Harris, and Trent Copeland were the others on duty.

So much depends on how Smith, Khawaha, Adam Voges, Marsh, Peter Nevill, and O’Keefe fire today.

Batting last on this wicket could prove very awkward, with 38-year-old Rangana Herath – the left arm orthodox spinner – a world class tweaker.

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