Nathan Lyon and Josh Hazlewood weren’t at their best, Australia’s fielders missed three chances, but Mitchell Starc’s five-for had the visitors batting well before stumps on the first day in Galle
Daniel Brettig in Galle04-Aug-2016Australia’s day one effort in Galle was not so good as their opening day in Pallekele, if better than the second innings. Mitchell Starc delivered his best stuff of the series so far, Nathan Lyon disappointed and Josh Hazlewood ended the innings looking a little on the sore side. Dropped catches were an unwelcome sight, but Jon Holland can be expected to be better in the second innings after easing his debut nerves with a wicket. All the while, however, the bowlers were aware it is the batsmen who have more to prove in these conditions.Mitchell StarcAn excellent display to top and tail Sri Lanka’s innings, with a tight spell in between to account for Kusal Mendis. Starc has not been able to generate much of his trademark new- ball swing so far in this series, but in the case of Dimuth Karunaratne that was almost a blessing for Australia. Having twice got him lbw at Pallekele with balls angling into the stumps, this time Starc drifted the first ball of the match into Karunaratne’s pads and was the most delighted man in Galle when the opener flicked it obligingly to Joe Burns at forward square leg. A classical left-armer’s dismissal followed when the angled ball accounted for Kaushal Silva, before Starc worked his way into tackling Mendis’ considerable skill. Operating in tandem with Hazlewood, Starc was able to gain just enough reverse swing to find an edge, denying Mendis a second hundred in as many innings. Starc returned to the attack to clean up the tail and showed evidence his rhythm has improved since the second innings at Pallekele, finding a pair of yorkers to have Australia batting well before stumps.Josh HazlewoodA better day than his figures of 1 for 51 would suggest. After a tidy opening spell, Halewood’s return in the 22nd over signalled a period of sharp reverse swing and the opportunity for the Australians to attack. So sharp was the bend on Halewood’s inswinger that an lbw decision against Mends had to be overturned because the ball was projected to be skimming past leg stump, but he persisted to squeeze out Denesh Chandimal and so deny Sri Lanka a follow-up to their young No. 4’s latest exploit. Hazlewood did go for a few more boundaries than he would have preferred, but this was mainly the result of attacking the stumps in search of wickets rather than anything overly loose. He ended the day looking somewhat preppy, and did not return to partner Starc against the tail.Nathan LyonReturning to the scene of his first Test in 2011, Lyon was unable to repeat his first ball dismissal of Kumar Sangakkara that day, but did offer a fair impression of the delivery with another sharp offbreak to account for Kusal Perera. Later on he spun another fine delivery through Dilruwan Perera for a considered lbw verdict from the umpire Richard Kettleborough, but in between was unable to pose the sort of consistent threat the pitch suggested he might have. Sri Lanka’s batsmen have played Lyon well, calculating their attacks on him in between tight defensive strokes and plenty of sweep shots. Mendis and Angelo Mathews both heaved Lyon over the boundary for sixes, while Sri Laka’s captain also essayed a most impudent reverse sweep to a more than respectable delivery. Darren Lehmann said in the lead-up to this Test that the tourists wanted to see better from Lyon: an economy rate of 4.33 was more generous than the coach would have desired.Mitchell Marsh contributed with the wicket of Angelo Mathews•Associated PressMitchell MarshAnother useful supporting stint, albeit with a few boundary balls early on. There was some talk of Marsh being replaced by his brother for this match, but his lively fast medium will always offer a useful counterpoint and here he was able to contribute with the wicket of Mathews, dabbling at a ball better left alone. His best balls actually followed that wicket, with a one-two punch to Dilruwan Perera that beat the bat then won an lbw verdict from Chris Gaffaney, although the decision was then reversed on review. Marsh was also unlucky to watch Steve Smith drop a chance at slip, something seldom seen from an otherwise excellent fielder.Jon HollandThe prominent cross-breeze in Galle offered lavish drift at times for Holland on debut, and the wicket provided occasionally expansive turn. But it was always going to be a lot to expect Holland, not long off the plane from Australia, to adapt in the manner that Steve O’Keefe had done with he benefit of more than three weeks in India and then Sri Lanka to prepare for the Pallekele Test. That being said, Holland was not disgraced, posing numerous problems amid Sri Lankan attempts to attack him, and denied a first wicket when his offsider Lyon misjudged the flight of a ball sailing high in the direction of midwicket. Holland eventually had his reward when Dhananjaya de Silva missed a full toss, and Australia can expect better from him in the second innings.Fielding and catchingIf Lyon’s misjudgment of Kusal Perera’s loft into the outfield is included, the Australians missed three clear chances for the day, a figure that will not please Smith. He will be even less happy to have been one of the culprits. Nor will Peter Nevill be pleased to have missed a low chance soon afterwards. In themselves, these errors were not overly costly against a Sri Lankan batting line-up that offered more opportunities at regular intervals, but the coach Lehmann will be aware that stronger batting line-ups will be encounters later in the season, not least in India next year. For now the batsmen must do their job, but improvement in the field must also be a team priority.
