Media365
NEW DELHI: Australia blew away Sri Lanka by an innings and 242 runs to record a historic win at Galle and take a 1-0 lead in the two-match series on Saturday.
The defeat for Lanka that came on the fourth day of the first Test is now their biggest ever in the traditional format.
The match concluded before tea with Matthew Kuhnemann, the rookie left-arm spinner, achieving his career-best figures of 9-149 across both innings.
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“We were put under pressure,” Sri Lanka skipper Dhananjaya de Silva said afterwards. “The batters should have put up a better show.”
Kuhnemann performed remarkably despite having surgery just two weeks ago for a broken right thumb injury from the Big Bash League. He required constant medical attention throughout the match.
Nathan Lyon provided excellent support, claiming seven wickets, thoroughly challenging the Lankan batsmen.
The previous record for Sri Lanka’s heaviest defeat was against India in Nagpur in 2017, losing by an innings and 239 runs.
Lanka’s first innings ended at 165 after resuming at 136 for five, losing their final five wickets for just nine runs.
Following on in the second innings, Lanka lost three wickets before lunch and then collapsed in the second session.
Dinesh Chandimal stood out with a score of 72 in the first innings and formed one of only two fifty-plus partnerships with Angelo Mathews in the second innings.
Chandimal was later dismissed for 31 just before lunch.
Oshada Fernando struggled in his return, scoring only six runs after his first innings seven. Mitchell Starc’s inswinger led to his dismissal.
Dimuth Karunaratne, the former captain, continued his poor form, getting dismissed for zero by Todd Murphy.
The third day saw limited play due to rain, which caused an early lunch and washed out the final two sessions.
Earlier, Australia had declared at 654 for 6 on the second day, featuring Usman Khawaja‘s career-best score of 232.
“Galle is a tough place to play cricket and we are very happy with this win,” Khawaja said.
“I’ve played a lot of cricket in Sri Lanka, this being my fifth tour. I’ve made lot of mistakes before. I guess all that experience came in handy in this game.”
Steve Smith achieved a milestone by becoming the fourth Australian to reach 10,000 Test runs, scoring 141 in his innings.
Josh Inglis marked his debut with a century.
The series will continue with the second and final Test match at Galle, followed by two ODIs in Colombo.
