Australians bat themselves into dominant position on day one

Usman Khawaja celebrates his century

Steve Smith fans travelled 8,358 km to see him score the one run that got him to 10,000 Test runs

 Steve Smith and Usman Khawaja during their 

unbroken stand of 195

• Khawaja, Smith put Sri Lanka to the sword with centuries

Sa’adi Thawfeeq reporting from Galle

Centuries by Usman Khawaja and Acting Captain Steve Smith gave Australia a head start on the opening day of the first Warne-Murali Trophy Test played at the Galle International Cricket Stadium yesterday.

Australia ended the day brought forward by bad light strongly placed at 330-2, batting first after winning the toss.  

Khawaja scored his 16th Test century and his fifth Test ton in Asia, and Smith marked his return to Australian captaincy by scoring his 35th Test hundred and also passing 10,000 Test runs, as the pair put on an unfinished third wicket stand of 195 off 307 balls to knock the wind out of the Lankan sails. They made Sri Lanka toil hard and at the end of the day, the hosts had just two wickets to show for. No wickets fell after lunch as Khawaja and Smith took full control of the Sri Lankan bowling.

What a momentous occasion it was for Smith, who was once castigated heavily for his role in the Sandpapergate ball-tampering scandal seven years ago. Dropped on one (return catch to Prabath Jayasuriya), Smith made it look easy, hitting 10 fours and one six in his 104* scored off 188 balls. He was the fifth fastest by innings (205) to get to 10,000 Test runs, the 15th player overall to achieve the feat, and fourth Australian after Ricky Ponting, Allan Border, and Steve Waugh.

Sri Lanka had chances to get Khawaja multiple times but did not take them. They did not review when he was out caught behind at 74, and then at 90 when Kusal Mendis could not hold onto a bat-pad opportunity. Khawaja was particularly good against spin, using the reverse-sweep to great effect, and was unbeaten on 147 scored off 210 balls with 10 fours and a six.

“We have played a lot of cricket in the sub-continent but not been able to put pressure on the opposition. But today, we definitely did that,” said Khawaja at the end of the day. “Showed how fast we were scoring until they tried to bowl a bit negative after tea. Sometimes you have to give the credit to the batsmen.”

Head and Khawaja got Australia off to a good start, posting 92 scoring at more than six runs an over.

“We went after the bowling from the start. I took on the off-spinner and Head did what he did and put pressure on the bowlers and the field spread. It is a matter of how long you can do it. Still, it is not easy out there. We had to employ the sweep and the reverse sweep a lot,” said Khawaja.

Travis Head gave Australia a head-start with his usual aggressive mode by slamming three fours off Asitha Fernando in the first over of the match. He got to his fifty (57 off 40 balls, 10 fours, 1 six) and then holed out to long-on in trying to hit Jayasuriya for six. Head lived by the sword and died by it.

He got a massive lifeline at 23 when Sri Lanka got an lbw review off Asitha Fernando, horribly wrong by not calling for it. Ball tracker showed three reds. For all those mistakes, Sri Lanka were made to pay big by the Aussies.

“It was a tough day for us. Everyone could see that we could not bring our best game today. Credit should go to Australian batters. They played spin well. We missed a couple of chances and that proved to be costly. We have a big task on our hands to claw back into the game,” said Sri Lanka’s spin bowling Coach Piyal Wijetunge.

“The pitch is not the usual Galle wicket; it is on the slow side. It is not easy to bowl, yes, but that is not an excuse. When the wicket is not helping the bowlers, you should try to show more discipline and I do not think we bowled well today.”

“We should have been more disciplined and not conceded a lot of runs. If we can get a few wickets early then we are back in the game.”

Both teams went into the Test spin heavy by playing three spinners. Sri Lanka went with Jayasuriya, Peiris, and Vandersay and Australia with Nathan Lyon, Todd Murphy, and Matthew Kuhnemann. Australia also capped Josh Inglis. 

Play will commence at 9:45 a.m. today.