By Srian Obeyesekere
Australia ran up a stranglehold 330 for the loss of 3 wickets on the second day of the second test on Saturday, a replica of their first test first iñnings score on the first day, in reply to Sri Lanka’s 257 all out to lead by 73 runs with skipper Steve Smith on 120 in back to back centuries, and wicket keeper batsman Alex Carey on 139 sharing in an unfinished 239 fourth wicket partnership having come together after Sri Lanka’s bowlers had reduced the touring side to 91 for 3 after 29.5 overs at the Galle International Cricket Stadium.
Sri Lanka added a further 28 to their overnight 229 for 9 with Kusal Mendis, who was on 59, going on to carry his bat scoring 85 off 139 balls inclusive of 10 boundaries and a six as Australia claimed the last wicket that of Lahiru Kumara for 7 with Matthew Kuhnemann cleaning up the innings having him caught by Beau Webster.
Sri Lanka made early inroads reducing Australia to 32 for 1 wicket into the fourth ball of the seventh over, and 37 for 2 seven deliveries later when Nishan Peiris had Travis Head caught by skipper Dhananjaya de Silva for 21, and Prabath Jayasuriya followed up by trapping Marnus Labuschagne leg before wicket for 4.
The Lankan bowlers carried the fight going on to reduce Australia to 91 for 3 when Peiris trapped Usman Khawaja leg before wicket for 36 for his second wicket. Khawaja faced 57 balls hitting 3 boundaries.
But that was as far as the Lankans would go as the Australian captain Steve Smith set about blunting the hosts three pronged spin attack in a 234-ball innings hitting 9 boundaries and a six while Alex Carey was a mite more extravagant in going for the bowling in surging to 139 off 156 balls firing 13 boundaries and 2 over the top in their unfinished fourth wicket bonding from 301 balls.
At stumps Australia had taken a firm grip of the match with three more days of play remaining to going for a big score with Smith and Carey in command and 7 wickets intact.
Nishan Peiris ended the day having conceded a modest 70 runs for his two wickets from 21 overs while Jayasuriya came in for some stick conceding 107 runs for his one wicket off 25 overs. Ramesh Mendis went for 70 runs from 19 wicketless while the solitary pace bowler Lahiru Kumara bowled just 7 overs for 37 runs with skipper Dhananjaya de Silva having shared the new ball with him sending down just 5 overs for 18 runs without success.
Chief Scores
Sri Lanka 1st innings 257 (97.4 Overs)
(Dinesh Chandimal 74, Kusal Mendis 59, Dimuth Karunaratne 36, Ramesh Mendis 28, Mitchell Starc 3/37, Matthew Kuhnemann 3/63, Nathan Lyon 3/96, Travis Head 1/31)
Australia first iñnings 330/3 (80 Overs)
(Alex Carey n.o. 139, Steve Smith n.o. 120, Usman Khawaja 36, Travis Head 21, Nishan Peiris 2/70, Prabath Jayasuriya 1/107)
