The downpour initially prompted the umpires to call an early tea break, but they were later forced to abandon play early for the second day running.
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They will try to emulate when Australia played at Pallekele on their last tour in 2011 when they skittled Sri Lanka for 174 and then, on the back of tons from Shaun Marsh (141) and Mike Hussey (142), racked up 411. “It’s about making sure you’re doing it from ball one and not waiting until you’re 15 or 20, because you can make a mistake before that”.
They will be looking to win the first match and put a lot of pressure on their opponent.
“It certainly will help spin bowlers”, Smith added.
They (Sri Lanka) have some quality spinners in their rank led by Rangana Herath.
“We shud [sic] be proud of him”.
Warner, who was returning to the side after being out of action for six weeks with a broken finger, faced just four balls before dragging Pradeep’s delivery onto his stumps.
And Muralitharan, the highest wicket-taker in Test history, then accused the board president of knowing nothing about cricket and angrily denounced any suggestion of being “a traitor”. The ICC chose an absurd time to present an absurd trophy, handing over the Test Championship Mace at the start of this series, though it was won at the end of one in New Zealand in February. “It’s been a little bit tacky on the first morning, that’s the information we’ve been given”, Smith said.
We are going to be hunted down as we are number one and we need to work hard and stay on top.
While Herath was providing Angelo Mathews with both the attacking and containing options, Sandakan ran through the lower order to finish with 4 for 58.
“I guess we never really got in that kind of position so we never saw that side of Stephen”.
Nor, predictably, are the Australians taking them for granted.
“Australia asked me to coach for the entire series, but I told them I can only do 10 days because I don’t want to be in the opposition dressing room during the match in Sri Lanka, that’s not ethical”.
The tourists head into the first of three Tests emboldened by their strong win in the warm-up clash against a Sri Lankan Board XI and an earlier than usual arrival to adjust to the sub-continent conditions.
Steve O’Keefe celebrates the wicket of Sri Lanka skipper Angelo Mathews.
Overnight batsmen Usman Khawaja (26) and Steve Smith (30) didn’t last long against Herath’s spin, as Australia faltered after starting the day 66 for two in response to Sri Lanka’s 117 all out inside 35 overs on Tuesday.
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Dhananjaya de Silva (25), the debutant, was the only batsman who played with assuredness before he fell to a top-spinner from Lyon that bounced extra to induce the inside edge and for Joe Burns to pouch the catch at forward short leg.
