Sri Lanka v Australia / News

SRI-LANKA V AUSTRALIA/ NEWS

The first Test was only 90 minutes old when the players headed to lunch on the first day in Galle, but already it was clear that the batsmen would have a tough five days ahead of them. Sri Lanka's bowlers found plenty of spin and some surprising bounce to get rid of both of Australia's openers, before Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke steadied for the visitors.

At lunch, they had reached 76 for 2, with Ponting on 21 and Clarke on 21, but plenty of work remained after Shane Watson and Phillip Hughes both fell within the first ten overs. The start of the match had been delayed by an hour following overnight rain, but Clarke had no hesitation in choosing to bat, and Australia were happy to see Ajantha Mendis, the mystery spinner who troubled them in the limited-overs games, left off the team sheet.

Instead, the Sri Lankans went in with two spinners, Rangana Herath and Suraj Randiv, and it took only one delivery for the spin threat to be revealed. Watson had started strongly against the seamers but when Tillakaratne Dilshan gambled on Herath in the seventh over, the first ball spun sharply and took the outside edge of Watson's bat, and was well taken by Prasanna Jayawardene.

Three overs later, Hughes (12) was surprised by a Suranga Lakmal delivery that bounced off a good length, caught the shoulder of the bat and was snared by Tharanga Paranavitana at first slip. Those two balls encapsulated the challenge the batsmen would face on a pitch devoid of grass, and it was encouraging for the Australians that Clarke and Ponting reached lunch safely.

Clarke was using his feet against the spinners and lofted the final ball of the session over mid-off for a boundary, while Ponting had handled the seamers well. He square-drove Lakmal for four and punched a classy off-drive to the boundary off Chanaka Welegedara, a shot that Watson had used effectively earlier in the innings.

Welegedara's second over, the third of the match, cost 16 runs as Watson drove past mid-on with perfect timing on three occasions and then pulled another four when the bowler dropped short. He raced to 22 from 12 deliveries but didn't add to his total, the introduction of Herath proving a clever move by Dilshan. Whether the omission of Mendis proves a smart move by the Sri Lankan selectors remains to be seen. 

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