Hazlewood rattles Sri Lanka in opening session

The trio of Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc and Steve O'Keefe scythed through Sri Lanka's batting line-up to put Australia on top at lunch on Day 1 of the first Test at the Pallekele International Stadium on Tuesday (July 26) in Kandy. Only Dhananjaya de Silva offered some resistance and remained unbeaten on 24, while the likes of Dinesh Chandimal and Angelo Mathews departed for humble returns as the hosts stumbled to 84 for 5 in the opening session.

On a pleasant day, with the ground surrounded by the blissful facade of clouded mountains and leafy ramble of trees swaying in the gentle breeze, Angelo Mathews won the toss and elected to bat. Sri Lanka handed Test debuts for de Silva and Lakshan Sandakan while on expected lines, Australia opted to play two spinners - Nathan Lyon and O'Keefe.

It was the opening pace duo of Starc and Hazlewood, who joined forces to sow seeds of doubt in the opposition ranks. Starc was rewarded for generating copious swing with the scalp of Dimuth Karunaratne (5) in the fifth over of the innings. The 28-year-old opening batsman 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. Hazlewood backed up Starc's incisive spell by snaring the wickets of Kusal Mendis (8) in the next over and Kaushal Silva (4) soon after, with three of Sri Lanka's batsmen back in the shed within the opening ten overs.

The New South Welshman explored every nook and cranny of the batsmen's defence in the corridor of uncertainty. He ended Mendis's essay with a delivery that nipped back off the seam appreciably to trap him in front and made further inroads prising out Silva with an outswinger.

For a while, Mathews (15) and Chandimal (15) shared a fluent stand of 25 and tried to resurrect the innings. The duo mainly looked to deal in a diet of singles and twos, sprinkled by the occasional eye-catching shots. The cut stroke that Mathews crunched off Starc gave an inkling that he was approaching the challenge with a positive intent.

The Lankan think-tank would have hoped for the pair to stitch a substantial partnership, given that those were the last two experienced hands in the line-up. However, Mathews's resistance was soon ended by O'Keefe after the Sri Lankan skipper reached out to a delivery that was bowled from wide of the crease by the left-arm spinner and the outside edge was snapped up by Steve Smith at first slip.

To make matters worse, Chandimal fell to a probing outswinger from Hazlewood on the brink of lunch, while de Silva, in his first Test, played with an air of confidence as Australia finished the session on top.

Brief Scores: Sri Lanka 83/5 (Dhananjaya de Silva 24*; Hazlewood 3-20, Steve O'Keefe 1-23) vs Australia.