A late Steve Smith run out has highlighted Australia’s jitters with the bat in Sri Lanka after Nathan Lyon joined elite company with his 20th five-wicket haul in Test cricket.
Lyon claimed figures of 5-90 to help bowl Sri Lanka out for 212 just after tea on the opening day of the two-Test series, before the tourists went to stumps at 3-98 in Galle.
On the same day Sri Lanka paid tribute to Shane Warner, legspinner Mitchell Swepson also vindicated his selection with a fine 3-55 as he at one stage took two wickets in successive balls.
At that point all was going well for Australia, as David Warner exploded out of the blocks in reply to have them 0-47.
But as is so often the case on the sub-continent, a sting in the tail was still to come.
In a chaotic final hour, Warner was trapped lbw for 25 by Ramesh Mendis, Marnus Labuschagne reverse-swept the spinner straight to gully and Smith was visibly furious after being run out.
(Photo by Buddhika Weerasinghe/Getty Images)
Hit on the pads on six, Smith took off after Usman Khawaja appeared to call him through amid an lbw appeal and then hesitated.
Smith turned and dived but was well short of his ground, making clear his frustration clear to Khawaja as he got up and stormed off the ground.
Australia’s situation at stumps could have also been far worse had Niroshan Dickwella not missed a chance to stump Khawaja, who finished the day unbeaten on 47.
But still Wednesday belonged to Lyon, who joined Clarrie Grimmett, Dennis Lillee, Glenn McGrath and Warne as the only Australians to claim 20 five-wicket hauls.
Derided for his inability to take command with his spin in the 2016 series against Sri Lanka, Lyon failed to take a five-wicket haul in the 3-0 flogging then.
He has since spoken about the lessons taken from that, including realising he needed to learn to bowl ugly on the sub-continent with more variations in his release point.
“I’ve learned a lot from my time in the sub-continent but also in Australia about how to bowl off breaks and what is effective,” Lyon said.
“That phrase of bowling ugly is something I refer to myself to make sure I use my variations and bowl at the right speeds.
“I have fallen in love with the shape of off-break bowling in Australia, and coming to the sub-continent is something I need to do to make sure I am getting the best out of myself.”
He claimed the key wicket of Dimuth Karunaratne for 28 just after lunch on Wednesday, drawing his inside edge before David Warner leapt forward to take a one-handed catch at slip.
Angelo Mathews became Lyon’s next victim when he glided him straight to Warner at leg slip, before the offspinner ended a rearguard action from Dickwella (58) to run through the tail early in the final session.
“I was really proud of the way we came back after tea and stuck to our plans,” Lyon said.
“I see this game as being pretty even, so plenty of work to do.”
Swepson would have also walked away happy with his return, after appearing to be at risk of losing his spot following a difficult debut tour of Pakistan.
After taking just two wickets for 266 runs there, Swepson’s first two scalps on Wednesday came with balls Warne would have been proud of.
Both drifted, dipped and turned, allowing them to catch the edges of Dhananjaya de Silva and Dinesh Chandimal.
Danno
Roar Rookie
I did actually miss the crowd thanking Australia for coming over , but thanks for showing me the other side of the coin , thumbs up
Rellum
Roar Guru
Come on Sweppo!!!!
jameswm
Roar Guru
Yeah the team batting 2nd always needs to be ahead on 1st innings for the match to be even. 50 feels about right. If we can get to 300, that would be great. Head will go pretty hard, and should. He’s not the greatest player of spin. And Cam Green can get his eye in and take them on.
Tempo
Roar Rookie
Forget sandpapergate, for me it's moments like this that convinced me that Smith is not cut out for captaincy. Look at how calm and even Cummins is when things are going wrong - that's what makes a good leader, someone who can encourage their team to trust their process and move forward from bad moments and not dwell on them. Smith is a wonderful player and good cricket brain, but he's better in a brains trust role as vice-captain than the man steering the ship. There were many examples of him losing his cool or failing to back his players when he was captain, eg criticising Maxwell's training, the DRS "brain fade" in India, getting flustered during the day-night Ashes test in 2017, etc.
Tempo
Roar Rookie
First 10 overs could be critical - if the roller calms the pitch down a bit to start off with, it gives an opportunity to score some quick runs before the ball starts really ripping again. Australia probably need to be 50 runs ahead on first innings for the game to be relatively even given they are batting last. Any lead higher than that will be very handy.
Tempo
Roar Rookie
The turmoil is the governments fault. The people of Sri Lanka support having Australia there to give some distraction from their difficulties and also bring some much needed revenue into the country. I haven't heard a single voice from within Sri Lanka saying this cricket tour is a bad thing - there's widespread support for it.
Ouch
Roar Rookie
that run-out was infuriating. should never happen in test cricket
jameswm
Roar Guru
Yeah completely understandable he was very very peeved, but not good form to show it like that. Does he think Ussie is happy about what happened?
jameswm
Roar Guru
Gone are the days Ussie can't play spin, esp right arm orthodox, and esp in the subcontinent. As Warner showed us, research has shown it's the straight ones that create the biggest risk.
jameswm
Roar Guru
Yeah definite bond between the cricketing nations after this. The crowd wore yellow and brought banners thanking us. And then SL did a huge tribute to Warnie, who was esp revered over there - and had this great relationship with Murali too.
jameswm
Roar Guru
Ussie is off Smith's Xmas card list - both share the blame but much more Ussie - classic case of "YES, NO, SORRY".
Clear as mud
Guest
Khawaja has form in burning the striker (Maxwell at the World Cup) but what a pathetic display of sooking by Smith. Still unable to grow up even as he charges through his 40s
matth
Roar Guru
I don't think Australia are in control at all, we need at least one decent partnership to even get to parity. One of Green or Carey is going to have to come up with a 50.
Prez
Roar Rookie
Crazy turn that fingers spinners were getting on day 1. Going to be very hard for the current two left handers to hang around. Head played ok and got off strike but had a missed stumping and was beaten by the spin. Hope he will take advantage of early conditions on day 2 and score quick. Ussie looks more comfortable playing spin but also had his moments of poor judgement. A massive day 2 coming up which could determine the entire series.
Derek Murray
Roar Rookie
You missed the SL crowd standing and cheering the Australian team in the last ODI? People wearing Australian colours and waving Australian flags, thanking the team for coming?
Danno
Roar Rookie
I actually can’t believe this test series went ahead with the turmoil in Sri Lanka at the moment, people are starving , government should have intervened and postponed it to better times