Day 2: Day 1 was one of torment for Sri Lanka as Australia piled on the runs with ease and elan. Sri Lanka’s bowling lacked venom and towards end of day perhaps even enthusiasm. In fact looked bereft ideas they resorted bowling a negative line spinners stem scoring. Earlier in day though Sri Lanka did create chances unfortunately they weren’t converted. The hosts shouldn’t be too disheartened though because even first day there some help for the spinners. They’ll need to pull their act together quickly though because Australia already have an imposing score - one that they’ll add to quickly should Sri Lanka repeat the mistakes they made yesterday. It is not always that you come to Galle and have the upper hand over Sri Lanka unless you are Australia. They have three wins out of the six Test matches at the venue against the hosts and will come up against a known spin threat posed by the Lankans. Iqbal Sports Live. Iqbal Sports. Australia recently locked in as the second team to book the World Test Championship final ticket to the Lord's after South Africa. They will be high on confidence and relieved of the pressure of a possible do-or-die situation had they not won the Border-Gavaskar Trophy earlier in the Summer. The Aussies had a five-day camp in Dubai before heading to the Island Nation for two Test matches and as many ODIs. Km Punk Live. Km Punk. Both red-ball games will be played at Galle International Stadium with the series opener of the Warne-Murali Trophy starting on Wednesday (January 29). The Kangaroos are coming off a dominating 3-1 series win over India at home as the current WTC holders regained the BGT for the first time since 2014-15. The regular skipper Pat Cummins will miss the tour due to paternity leave as well as due to a slight ankle niggle. Crictalks Live. Crictalks. In Cummins' absence the veteran Steven Smith will lead the Aussies in this series. There was an elbow injury looming large on Smith which he experienced during his fielding stint with Sydney Sixers in the BBL but thankfully the New South Wales' cricketer has fully recovered in time. Smudge is just one run away from becoming the fourth Australian to complete 10000 Test runs which will be a special moment in his cricketing career. Apart from the fluorescent green silicone guard the Queenslander sported as protection when batting and heavy strapping while bowling there was little evidence the 28-year-old was nursing an injury. Cooper Connolly got a call-up into the Test arena for the first time with Nathan McSweeney being called back into the set-up after being dropped for the 4th and 5th Tests versus India. Sam Konstas Usman Khawaja Marnus Labuschagne. Travis Head Mitchell Starc Alex Carey and Scott Boland are the other familiar names in the Australian squad. Josh Inglis and Sean Abbott continue to remain with the team with the former recovering from a calf injury he suffered while fielding in the Boxing Day Test which kept him out of the series decider against India and the rest of the BBL. Australian stand-in skipper Smith has confirmed they will return to their previously successful method with Head. Moving up the order and opening the batting with Khawaja. This opening pair was successful on the previous tour to India and they want to stick to it. Head's movement in the XI with leave the number 5 open giving a selection headache. It would be either McSweeney returning to the team or Inglis making his debut as a batter. Konstas is likely to be dropped purely because of tactics. Starc will lead the attack. Webster is capable of bowling with the new ball and he can also bowl some spin. Lyon and Kuhnemann are the two spinners for sure. There will be a toss-up between Boland for the second seamer role and Murphy for the third spinner's role. On the other hand Sri Lanka were blown away by South Africa in overseas conditions in a two-match Test series despite some impressive performances from Jayasuriya. The Dhananjaya de Silva-led side has been excellent in the past year barring their outings against the Temba Bavuma-led outfit. Uncapped Sonal Dinusha a 24-year-old left-arm spinning all-rounder and opening batter Lahiru Udara are also in Sri Lanka's 18-man squad. Sri Lanka are most likely to miss their opener Pathum Nissanka. He is in the squad but he is still recovering from a groin strain which he picked up in New Zealand. Oshada Fernando will likely replace Nissanka as an opener in the first Test. The hosts will look forward to their seasoned campaigners Dimuth Karunaratne Angelo Mathews Dinesh Chandimal and Kusal Mendis for most of the runs. At the same time Kamindu Mendis who was in crazy form of late will be key once again. Sadeera Samarawickrama has been around the Test side for a long time but hasn't really had an opportunity recently.

• published: 30 Jan 2025
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