Sri Lanka suffered their biggest defeat in Test Cricket, being completely outplayed by Australia, who secured victory by an innings and 242 runs on the fourth day (February 1) of the first Test in Galle.
With a massive 489-run lead, Australia enforced the follow-on. However, Sri Lanka’s top order faltered once again, losing both openers with just six runs on the board. Mitchell Starc trapped Oshada Fernando lbw, while Dimuth Karunaratne was bowled for a duck after shouldering arms to a Todd Murphy delivery that crashed into his off stump.
Angelo Mathews and Dinesh Chandimal attempted to rebuild, stitching together a 69-run partnership for the third wicket. However, Nathan Lyon broke the stand at the stroke of lunch, dismissing Chandimal for the second time in the morning session. Kamindu Mendis played aggressively but eventually holed out to deep midwicket, and Mathews departed in the following over after making 41, leaving Sri Lanka struggling at 114/5.
Dhananjaya de Silva and Kusal Mendis showed some resistance but failed to convert their starts, falling in quick succession as Sri Lanka’s collapse continued. Jeffrey Vandersay provided some entertainment lower down the order, bringing up his maiden Test fifty in just 46 balls. However, he was dismissed on the very next delivery, as Sri Lanka folded for 247.
Nathan Lyon and Matthew Kuhnemann starred with the ball once again, both picking up four wickets each. Kuhnemann finished with career-best match figures of 9 for 149.
Earlier in the day, after rain disrupted play on Day 3, Sri Lanka resumed their first innings at 136/5. However, their resistance lasted just 45 minutes as Australia cleaned up the last five wickets for just 29 additional runs.
Chandimal and Kusal Mendis put together the highest partnership of the innings (49 runs), but the latter threw his wicket away, and Chandimal fell soon after for a hard-fought 72, adjudged lbw. The tailenders offered little resistance, with wickets tumbling in consecutive overs.
Kuhnemann was outstanding with his left-arm spin, registering his second five-wicket haul in Test cricket, while Lyon chipped in with three scalps.
Brief Scores:
Australia 654/6d (154) Usman Khawaja 232, Steve Smith 141, Josh Inglis 102, Travis Head 57, Alex Carey 46*, Jeffrey Vandersay 3/182, Prabath Jayasuriya 3/193
Sri Lanka 165 (52.2) Dinesh Chandimal 72, Dhananjaya de Silva 22, Matthew Kuhnemann 5/63, Nathan Lyon 3/57, Mitchell Starc 2/13 & 247 (f/o) (54.3) Jeffrey Vandersay 53, Angelo Mathews 41, Dhananjaya de Silva 39, Kusal Mendis 34, Nathan Lyon 4/78, Matthew Kuhnemann 4/86
Australia won by an innings & 242 runs.
Result
| Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Usman Khawaja | c Kusal Mendis b Prabath Jayasuriya | 232 | 352 | 16 | 1 | 65.91 |
| Travis Head | c Dinesh Chandimal b Prabath Jayasuriya | 57 | 40 | 10 | 1 | 142.50 |
| Marnus Labuschagne | c Dhananjaya de Silva b Jeffery Vandersay | 20 | 50 | 2 | 0 | 40.00 |
| Steve Smith | lbw b Jeffery Vandersay | 141 | 251 | 12 | 2 | 56.18 |
| Josh Inglis | c Kamindu Mendis b Prabath Jayasuriya | 102 | 94 | 10 | 1 | 108.51 |
| Alex Carey | not out | 46 | 69 | 1 | 0 | 66.67 |
| Beau Webster | c Kamindu Mendis b Jeffery Vandersay | 23 | 50 | 1 | 0 | 46.00 |
| Mitchell Starc | not out | 19 | 19 | 0 | 0 | 100.00 |
| Extras | 14 (b 2 , lb 11 , nb 1, w 0, pen 0) |
| Total | 654/6 (154 Overs, RR: 4.25) |
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Asitha Fernando | 15 | 1 | 77 | 0 | 5.13 | |
| Nishan Peiris | 41 | 1 | 189 | 0 | 4.61 | |
| Prabath Jayasuriya | 60 | 8 | 193 | 3 | 3.22 | |
| Jeffery Vandersay | 38 | 0 | 182 | 3 | 4.79 | |
| Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lasith Croospulle | lbw b Matthew Kuhemann | 7 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 70.00 |
| Dimuth Karunaratne | c McSweeney b Mitchell Starc | 7 | 13 | 1 | 0 | 53.85 |
| Dinesh Chandimal | lbw b Nathan Lyon | 72 | 139 | 9 | 0 | 51.80 |
| Angelo Mathews | c Travis Head b Nathan Lyon | 7 | 18 | 1 | 0 | 38.89 |
| Kamindu Mendis | c Alex Carey b Mitchell Starc | 15 | 38 | 1 | 1 | 39.47 |
| Dhananjaya de Silva | st Matthew Kuhemann b Alex Carey | 22 | 34 | 3 | 0 | 64.71 |
| Kusal Mendis | c Todd Murphy b Matthew Kuhemann | 21 | 40 | 1 | 1 | 52.50 |
| Prabath Jayasuriya | st Alex Carey b Matthew Kuhemann | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Jeffery Vandersay | c Mitchell Starc b Matthew Kuhemann | 4 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 57.14 |
| Nishan Peiris | c Josh Inglis b Nathan Lyon | 5 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 55.56 |
| Asitha Fernando | not out | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Extras | 5 (b 0 , lb 4 , nb 1, w 0, pen 0) |
| Total | 165/10 (52.2 Overs, RR: 3.15) |
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mitchell Starc | 8 | 1 | 13 | 2 | 1.62 | |
| Matthew Kuhemann | 18.2 | 3 | 63 | 5 | 3.46 | |
| Nathan Lyon | 20 | 3 | 57 | 3 | 2.85 | |
| Todd Murphy | 6 | 1 | 28 | 0 | 4.67 | |
| Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lasith Croospulle | lbw b Mitchell Starc | 6 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 60.00 |
| Dimuth Karunaratne | b Todd Murphy | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Dinesh Chandimal | c Travis Head b Nathan Lyon | 31 | 49 | 3 | 0 | 63.27 |
| Angelo Mathews | c Travis Head b Nathan Lyon | 41 | 59 | 6 | 0 | 69.49 |
| Kamindu Mendis | c Mitchell Starc b Matthew Kuhemann | 32 | 26 | 4 | 1 | 123.08 |
| Dhananjaya de Silva | c Beau Webster b Matthew Kuhemann | 39 | 50 | 8 | 0 | 78.00 |
| Kusal Mendis | st Alex Carey b Nathan Lyon | 34 | 47 | 4 | 0 | 72.34 |
| Prabath Jayasuriya | b Nathan Lyon | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 33.33 |
| Jeffery Vandersay | c Mitchell Starc b Matthew Kuhemann | 53 | 47 | 7 | 2 | 112.77 |
| Nishan Peiris | b Matthew Kuhemann | 0 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Asitha Fernando | not out | 6 | 18 | 0 | 1 | 33.33 |
| Extras | 4 (b 0 , lb 4 , nb 0, w 0, pen 0) |
| Total | 247/10 (54.3 Overs, RR: 4.53) |
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mitchell Starc | 5 | 1 | 11 | 1 | 2.20 | |
| Todd Murphy | 11 | 0 | 57 | 1 | 5.18 | |
| Matthew Kuhemann | 17.3 | 2 | 86 | 4 | 4.97 | |
| Nathan Lyon | 19 | 4 | 78 | 4 | 4.11 | |
| Travis Head | 2 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 4.00 | |
 of the first Test in Galle. ){kind=link}