Warne-Muralitharan Trophy Second Test at Galle Labuschagne, Smith centuries put Australia in strong position

COSTLY MISS: Wicket-keeper Niroshan Dickwella misses a stumping chance offered by Marnus Labuschagne at 28

Marnus Labuschagne celebrates his 7th Test hundred

Steve Smith kisses his helmet after completing his 28th Test century

Prabath Jayasuriya took three wickets on his Test debut on the first day

Centuries from Marnus Labuschagne and Steven Smith put Australia in a strong position at the end of the first day of the second cricket Test for the Warne-Muralitharan trophy played at the Galle International Cricket Stadium yesterday.   

Labuschagne scored 104 and Smith was undefeated on 109 as Australia won the toss and batting first closed on 298-5. Batting with Smith was Alex Carey on 16.

The platform for an imposing Australian first innings total was laid by Labuschagne in partnership with Smith. Following the loss of openers David Warner for five and Usman Khawaja for 37 in the first session, the pair added 105 in the afternoon session stretching their partnership to worth 134 off 228 balls before being separated.

Kasun Rajitha back in the team gave Sri Lanka the initial breakthrough by getting through the defences of David Warner (5) as early as the fifth over of the innings. Labuschagne helped Usman Khawaja in a stand worth 55 before Khawaja who had been batting confidently for 37 was undone by a ‘beauty’ from Ramesh Mendis that pitched middle stump and went onto beat his defence and hit off stump.

On either side of tea debutant left-arm spinner Prabath Jayasuriya captured three wickets as Sri Lanka crawled their way back into the game, but Smith stood firm and with Carey as his partner he will be looking to stretch Australia’s total beyond the 400-run mark.

Jayasuriya drafted into the squad in place of the two left-arm spinners Lasith Embuldeniya (dropped due to poor form) and Praveen Jayawickrama (COVID-19 victim) was the pick of the Lankan bowlers ending the day with three wickets for 90.

Sri Lanka had only themselves to blame for letting Australia off the hook when Labuschagne was given a reprieve at 28 when Niroshan Dickwella missed an easy stumping chance off Ramesh Mendis. Had that chance not gone abegging Australia would have been three down at lunch.       

How costly that miss was Sri Lanka soon found out as Labuschagne seized the chance given to him early in his innings with both hands to complete his seventh Test hundred, his first outside Australia and the first by an Australian at Galle since Matthew Hayden, Darren Lehmann and Damien Martyn all of whom scored a hundred in the same Test in 2004.

Labuschagne went to this half-century off 84 balls (5 fours) and his hundred off 147 balls (12 fours) before losing his wicket on the stroke of tea when he failed to get to the pitch of the ball from Jayasuriya and as fate would have it Dickwella in this instance whipped off the bails to end his innings at 104 scored off 156 balls with 12 fours.

Dickwella, in fact, had an off day missing a stumping off Cameron Green as well when the batsman was on one. Thankfully the lapse didn’t prove expensive, although it deprived another debutant Maheesh Theekshana of his maiden Test wicket.

Travis Head (12) and Green (4) departed quickly falling to Jayasuriya within five overs of each other, but Carey hung around for nearly an hour helping to swell the total by 46 in a threatening partnership with Smith, who having reached his fifty off 98 balls (7 fours) brought up his 28th Test century off 193 balls with his 13th boundary, a glorious cover drive off Rajitha. It was Smith’s second hundred against Sri Lanka, the first also being scored on Lankan soil at the SSC in 2016.

Sri Lanka hit by COVID-19 casualties gave Test caps to three players; left-arm spinner Prabath Jayasuriya, batting all-rounder Kamindu Mendis and off-spinner Maheesh Theekshana and overall made four changes with Kasun Rajitha replacing Asitha Fernando. Theekshana became the first cricketer from St Benedict’s College, Kotahena to play Test cricket in the school’s 157-year-old history. Australia retained the same side which meant that Glenn Maxwell had a long wait to regain his Test place.

Speaking to the media at the end of the day Labuschagne said: “A lot of my preparation coming into this game was actually done on a wicket that was going to be spinning from day one. I actually had to adjust my game a bit. 

“Speaking to Steve out there and speaking to Uzzie (Usman Khawaja) – we were just talking about trusting our defence a bit more, being able to be a bit more selective rather than having to be as forward with our game as you were on the other wicket, when the wicket is going so big and it’s so inconsistent. 

“You have to take some chances and premeditate a sweep or premeditate running down the wicket. On this wicket you could trust your defence a bit more and use those other options as boundary options rather than surviving options.”

Jayasuriya said that Labuschagne and Smith tried to put pressure on the bowlers. “They have a lot of experience. They don’t let a bowler settle down. They try to break a bowler’s rhythm. That’s what they tried to do and you need to be smart as a bowler.”

“If you take the first Test pitch and this one, it is a lot different. You have to be patient when you are playing a team like Australia who are ranked number one in the world. I thought as a team we bowled pretty well.”