Sri Lankan bowlers made to toil hard on first day

Sri Lanka’s 20-day long cricket tour of Australia kick-started today with a 3-day match at the Blundstone Arena in Hobart. The match is being played as a day/night encounter with the pink ball as preparation for the 1st Test in Brisbane, which is also scheduled to be played in similar conditions.

The Australia XI, led by Joe Burns, took major honours today, the opening day of the practice match, as they put on 316 runs in 75 overs losing just 5 wickets after winning the toss.

Sri Lanka, after being asked to bowl first, with a pink Kookaburra ball, started off brilliantly taking 3 wickets for just 25 runs. Dushmantha Chameera and Kasun Rajitha were exceptional with the new ball as they wrecked the hosts dismissing skipper Burns, Marnus Labuschagne and Matt Renshaw, three players who are tipped to be part of the Australian XI for the 1st Test.

Nuwan Pradeep, who opened the bowling for Sri Lanka was taken off after bowling just 2 overs. According to reliable sources Pradeep was stopped from bowling further due to an injury which he might have sustained during his short spell.

Will Pucovski, the 20-year old batsman who was included in the 13-man squad for the 1st Test, then together with uncapped Kurtis Patterson took the hosts to tea safely.

Dushmantha Chameera, who had an excellent opening spell struck once again with the wicket of Pucovski right after the break. Kasun Rajitha, who had a brilliant match in Sri Lanka’s last day night Test in Barbados, picked his 2nd wicket 2 overs later. Jason Sangha, who led Australia for the runner-up title in the 2018 ICC U19 World Cup, was the man to be dismissed.

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Since that wicket, it was all about runs for the Aussies. Patterson who was joined by wicket keeper batsman Jake Doran took Australia XI from 98/5 to 316/5 before they declared their essay. Both of them went on to score centuries while Patterson scored a 150.

Jake Doran during his memorable innings, hit Kusal Mendis and Roshen Silva thrice in the space of 4 Dilruwan Perera deliveries. Kusal Mendis, unluckily had to walk away with severe pain after he was hit in the 3rd ball of the 42nd over as Doran swept a Dilruwan full toss straight onto Mendis’ finger. Mendis was fielding at short leg at that time.

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Roshen Silva, who replaced Mendis in the very next delivery, was hit by a similar shot in the 5th ball of the same over and was hit again in the 1st ball of the next over bowled by Dilruwan Perera.

In bowling for Sri Lanka the two spinners, Dilruwan Perera and Lakshan Sandakan went wicket-less with some expensive overs. Sandakan was hit for 70 runs in his 10 overs while Dilruwan went for 54 in his 12 overs.

The 3 fast bowlers who bowled in tandem for most of the time, Suranga Lakmal, Dushmantha Chameera and Kasun Rajitha looked in fine form although Lakmal, the most experienced out of the lot, went wicket-less.

Lahiru Thirimanne paired up with Dimuth Karunaratne as Sri Lanka’s latest opening pair in Tests and saw through the 13 overs they faced cautiously. Sri Lanka ended the day on 38 for no loss with Karunaratne and Thirimanne unbeaten on 26 and 12 respectively.

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