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Friday, 25 January 2019 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
Sri Lanka’s brittle batting was once again exposed down under, this time by Australia’s fiery contingent of seamers, as the visiting side were skittled out for just 144 on the opening day of the first Test in Brisbane.
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Australia’s Jhye Richardson celebrates after dismissing Dinesh Chandimal of Sri Lanka during the day-night Test cricket match between Australia and Sri Lanka at the Gabba in Brisbane on 24 January 2019 - AFP |
By stumps Australia’s batsmen had already halved the deficit, ending the day on 72/2 with night-watchman Nathan Lyon and Marcus Harris (40 not out) at the crease.
A sharp catch by Kusal Mendis at second slip to dismiss Joe Burns, and Dilruwan Perera rattling Usman Khawaja’s stumps ten minutes before the end of play, were the only consolations for Sri Lanka, on a day that belonged almost exclusively to the home side.
Earlier, having won the toss and elected to bat, Sri Lanka will know they had squandered a golden opportunity to make the best of the batting conditions, especially on a Gabba wicket that wasn’t particularly troublesome - apart from some occasional sharp bounce.
For Australia’s seamers it would have been a refreshing change of pace from the attritional outings they were subjected to earlier in the summer by India, but they also showed they had learnt their lessons. While the Indians had been happy to leave deliveries outside the off-stump well enough alone, against Sri Lanka the home seamers were careful not to provide such easy outs.
On countless occasions Sri Lanka’s batsman were beaten on the outside edge by the seamers and, unsurprisingly, of the eight wickets picked up by the fast men six were catches to either keeper or slip.
The strategy itself was conspicuous in its simplicity - angle the ball in at off-stump and then seam it away; essentially force the batsman to play more often than not.
The first to succumb to this was Lahiru Thirimanne. Brought into the side for his ability to play pace, after a nervy start where Sri Lanka had just about survived the first ten overs unscathed, he wafted hard at one outside off from Pat Cummins as a thick outside edge was snaffled gratefully by third slip.
A little over an over later debutant Jhye Richardson was in on the act, getting one to shape away off the seam from an off-stump line with Dinesh Chandimal only able to get a thick edge to second slip.
Richardson, in fact, was arguably the most proficient exponent of this Australian seam bowling strategy on his way to figures of 3 for 26 - second only to Cummins’ 4 for 39 - two of which were the crucial wickets of Dhananjaya De Silva and Kusal Mendis.
Mendis’ dismissal in particular would have thrilled him. Similar to the delivery that got Chandimal, this one was angled in at the stumps on a good length, before shaping away at the last moment, squaring Mendis up completely, and dislodging the off-stump. A dream dismissal for a fast bowler if there ever was one.
He followed this up with more clever thinking, bowling two consecutive back of a length deliveries before a full out-swinger outside off-stump, luring De Silva into a false stroke that was gratefully accepted by Tim Paine behind the stumps.
By this point Sri Lanka were reeling on 66 for 5, and hopes of a recovery lay solely on the shoulders of the always effervescent Niroshan Dickwella, and the pace-averse Roshen Silva. The pair managed to put on a 25-run partnership, though Silva’s discomfort - highlighted by a painstaking 59-ball 9 - was exacerbated by Dickwella’s laissez-faire approach.
Silva’s excruciating sojourn was ended eventually in familiar fashion, when Cummins managed to get the right-hander to nick a fuller delivery just shaping away from off-stump through to the keeper.
At 91 for 6, things could not get much worse for the visitors, but worse they did get, when their sole spinner Dilruwan Perera was handed a nasty blow on his right thumb - his bowling hand - by Mitchell Starc.
With the wicket showing some helpful bounce for the spinners, as highlighted by a Nathan Lyon delivery that dismissed Dimuth Karunaratne earlier in the innings - a teasing delivery that sprung up from a length to catch the left-hander’s glove on the way to the keeper - Sri Lanka could scarcely have believed their luck.
Fortunately the injury proved not too serious and Perera was back out to bat shortly after Mitchell Starc had eventually picked up a well-deserved wicket, getting Suranga Lakmal to nick one to third slip. Starc had his second a short while later in similar fashion, sending Perera back to the dressing room for a second time.
With wickets falling at a rate at the other end, Dickwella let loose the reigns and set about scoring quick runs, memorably scooping Starc for six over the keepers. He would put on the highest partnership of the innings with Dushmantha Chameera for the 9th wicket, before Cummins had him caught at midwicket for a 78-ball 64. Cummins would wrap up the innings a few balls later, with Chameera ballooning a catch to gully. (MB)
