Australia has thrashed Sri Lanka by 10 fields at Galle, eliminating the hosts in one session and winning their fastest test in 20 years. In a full display, Australia took just 22.5 overs to go through Sri Lanka for 113 in their second inning on Friday, with Nathan Lyon and Travis Head grabbing four ports each.
This meant Australia needed five runs to win, with David Warner (10 not out) finishing the job inside an over with a four and a six. The victory came in 153.2 overs for the Test Match, Australia’s fastest since knocking down Pakistan at Sharjah in 2002.
As fast as he made the morning move, Australia started and finished the first session with the bat in hand after resuming at 313-8 and being sent off by 321.
Sri Lanka made a clear effort to persecute Australian bowling players, following the same approach as tourists with the bat. Mitchell Starc’s first over was for 17 as Dimuth Karunaratne hit the fast by three limits and Pathum Nissanka another with perfect coverage.
But in four envelopes, Australia had spinners from both ends, and Sri Lanka quickly found themselves in a hole.
Three of Lyon’s ports came from wrong sweep shots and another from a reverse sweep, as their 4-31 went with their 5-90 in the first innings. He first removed Karunaratne, trapped back on the 23rd.
Kusal Mendis and Ramesh Mendis were defeated with the spin and bounce of the offspinner, were unable to overcome the balls and hit them directly into the back block.
Swepson also swept Nissanka on the 14th when he caught him lbw with one that didn’t spin too much, while it was his extra spin that later took Oshada Fernando’s lead.
Fernando had previously been substituted in the game with Sri Lankan veteran Angelo Mathews contracting Covid-19. Mathews ’view from the isolation at the team’s hotel would not have been pleasant, as his team’s second entry is the shortest in their testing history.
Sri Lanka’s misery worsened when Head grabbed his first test wicket, spinning a ball far away between Dinesh Chandimal’s bat and pad. Allrounder Dhananjaya de Silva became his second victim of the test three balls later, comically reaching a delivery to the middle trunk.
Head grabbed the last two wickets of the innings, throwing bowling at Jeffrey Vandersay and catching Lasith Embuldeniya lbw to finish with 4-10 figures.
Australia were widely defeated when they last visited Galle in 2016, came out on 106 and 183 while Rangana Herath claimed a hat-trick and Sri Lanka finished the series.
But tourists have returned with a much better game plan this time around, finding a way to baffle an inexperienced Sri Lankan attack and run through their bats.
Usman Khawaja exemplified better than days one and two as he swept and swept the reverse until 71, while Cameron Green used his long legs to nullify the hosts ’turn with his 77.