Sri Lanka win the toss, but lose the grip

 Pathum Nissanka is bowled trying to sweep

Australian players form a guard of honour for Dimuth Karunaratne in his final Test

Dinesh Chandimal continued his good form with another fifty

Nathan Lyon produced a super spell to take three top order wickets

• Mid-afternoon collapse hands back advantage to Aussies

Sa’adi Thawfeeq reporting from Galle

The toss played a vital role in the first Warne-Murali Trophy Test where Australia won it and went onto win the match by a record margin at the Galle International Cricket Stadium.

Yesterday at the same venue in the second Test and in Dimuth Karunaratne’s 100th and farewell appearance, Sri Lanka won the toss and batted first and everything seemed to be going according to plan when they ended the first session at 87-1.

But by mid-afternoon they had thrown it all away to end the day on 229-9, and hand back the advantage to Australia. After losing the toss on a dry pitch Australia made things hard for the Lankan batters giving nothing away and draining the runs so that in trying to score, they played into the opposition’s hands.

“This is not the total we wanted. We had a good start but then the afternoon session was poor. A few good knocks from Chandi and Menda but not what we wanted at the end of the day,” said Sri Lanka’s batting coach Thilina Kandamby.

“In the afternoon session our approach was too negative. There were too many dot balls and not much rotation of strike. The other day we swept well although we lost a few wickets. Today we didn’t do that.”

“Initially we were targeting 350. Now we are nine down, Menda is still there and I hope he will be able to get us to 275 or so. There was not much of a difference on the pitch. I thought Australia bowled really well. We didn’t get many loose balls. They were very consistent with their lengths. We could have been a bit more positive.”

There was more help from the wicket yesterday compared to the opening day of the previous Test, but it was a slow turn and nothing too extravagant. Nathan Lyon was brilliant once more, taking all of the first three wickets that fell earlier.

Sri Lanka just couldn’t get a substantial partnership at any time. Whenever two batters seemed to get in, Australia found a way to break that stand with Travis Head, Matthew Kuhnemann and Mitchell Starc, all of them chipping in.

Pathum Nissanka returning to Test cricket after injury fell to Lyon in his first over attempting a sweep. Dimuth Karunaratne and Dinesh Chandimal put on 70 for the second wicket, but Australia bounced back in the afternoon session to capture four wickets for 57 and regain the grip on the game.

Karunaratne’s penultimate Test innings ended at 36 off 83 balls (3 fours) being bowled by Lyon, Angelo Mathews was kept quiet and his innings was cut short by a wide drifter. Travis Head was handed the ball and he responded with the wicket of Kamindu Mendis. In the midst of all these, Mitchell Starc was getting the ball to reverse appreciably and one such ball caused the downfall of the Lankan captain Dhananjaya de Silva to a poor shot chasing a wide ball.

Dinesh Chandimal and Kusal Mendis scored fifties but the former was dismissed by a beauty from Matthew Kuhnemann for a well fought 74 off 163 balls (6 fours, 1 six), while the latter ran out of support against the second new ball.

Ramesh Mendis stuck it out for 28 off 94 balls and offered some resistance in a partnership of 65 for the seventh wicket with Kusal Mendis, but Starc with the second new ball had Ramesh and Prabath Jayasuriya dismissed off successive balls.

Kusal Mendis was left to fight a lone battle and was unbeaten at stumps on 59 scored off 107 balls (6 fours, 1 six) with last man Lahiru Kumara.

“We have talked about the batting collapses. We have given options for the batters to rotate the strike and do things differently, but it keeps happening,” said Kandamby.

Assessing the day’s play, Australia’s spin bowling Daniel Vettori, the former New Zealand spinner said, “I think the game is pretty tight. We anticipated the wicket coming to the fore in terms of those footmarks, and breaking up and becoming quite dusty. If you go and have a look at the surface now, the footmarks have really come to the fore and it will get dustier and dustier.”

“I think Sri Lanka played the style of game where they wanted to play for an extended period of time. They were a lot more aggressive in the first Test and today, in particular, Chandimal was very selective with his shots and played exceptionally well. That partnership between the two Mendises at the end showed you can compete on this wicket, albeit that it’s tricky. Those three in particular, and Karunaratne as well, showed the application that’s probably required on this surface.”

Prior to the commencement of play Sri Lanka Cricket felicitated Dimuth Karunaratne in becoming the seventh Sri Lankan to play in 100 Tests after Sanath Jayasuriya, Muttiah Muralitharan, Chaminda Vaas, Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara and Angelo Mathews.