Australia in control after early hiccup

Steve Smith and Usman Khawaja aided Australia in tightening their grip on proceedings, rebuilding with an unbeaten 59-run stand, taking them to 66 for 2 at Tea on Day 1 of the first Test played at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium on Tuesday (July 26) in Kandy. That after an initial hiccup that saw openers David Warner and Joe Burns being dismissed with just seven runs on the board following Sri Lanka's dismal outing with the bat where they only managed to post a modest 117.

Rangana Herath, the veteran slow left-arm orthodox bowler, and Nuwan Pradeep, the tireless workhorse, lifted the spirits of the home side by sending back the opening duo of Warner (0) and Joe Burns (3) back to the pavilion in successive overs. Smith (28*) then calmed down the jangling nerves in the tourists' camp to guide them to tea without further losses, with Khawaja for company.

The Australian skipper used the depth of the crease to keep the spinners at bay. He also covered for the turn and played late to thread the gaps in the field with needlepoint precision. Khawaja (25*), survived a few nervy moments early on in his innings, including a close leg before shout off Herath, which was adjudged not out, but for which, Sri Lanka opted for a review. Replays indicated that he was struck outside the line of off stump, so the decision was upheld.

Once the 29-year-old left-hander weathered the initial storm, he played with a dash of freedom to keep the scorecard ticking. In the 13th over of the innings, when Dilruwan Perera pitched it on a fuller length, he cracked a sweep shot to collect a boundary before rocking back to smear a cut through the point region.
Earlier, on a pleasant day, Hazlewood bowled an incisive spell to snare the wickets of Kusal Mendis (8) and Kaushal Silva (4) up front and leave Sri Lanka reeling at 43 for 4. The New South Welshman showed that he is a fine manipulator of the ball by moving it both ways at the tilt of a wrist. He ended Mendis's essay with a delivery that nipped back off the seam appreciably to trap him in front and made further inroads by prising out Silva with an outswinger.

His pace colleague, Mitchell Starc augmented late swing with the left-armer's angle to back up the New South Welshman. The 25-year-old left-arm pacer was rewarded for his effort with the scalp of Dimuth Karunaratne (5) in the fifth over of the innings. Karunaratne played down the wrong line and was struck plumb in front. He wasn't convinced of the decision and opted for a review, but on replays, it was clear that it would clatter into the leg stump.

Starc also accounted for the wicket of Herath with a razor sharp inswinging yorker. The lower-order batsman was originally given not out, but Australia opted for a review and replays showed that it hit Herath's boot before the veteran left-arm spinner eked out an edge on it. Hence, the LBW decision was overturned.

Lyon, too, made his presence felt by running through the lower order. With a slew of sliders, he kept the opposition batsmen on tenterhooks. If the impressive debutant Dhananjaya de Silva (24) couldn't handle the extra bounce and offered a simple catch to Joe Burns at forward short leg, then he used the arm-ball to pick up the wickets of Dilruwan Perera (0) and Kusal Perera (20). Eventually, Steve O'Keefe cleaned up the innings by snuffing out Nuwan Pradeep (0). Hazlewood returned figures of 3 for 20, while Lyon finished with 3 for 12.

Despite losing a couple of wickets against the new ball, Australia hold all the aces going into the final session. Sri Lanka need a slew of wickets to put the tourists under pressure.

Brief Scores: Sri Lanka 117 (Dhananjaya de Silva 24; Nathan Lyon 3-12, Hazlewood 3-20, Steve O'Keefe 2-32) lead Australia 66/2 (Steve Smith 28*, Usman Khawaja 25*; Nuwan Pradeep 1-3) by 51 runs.