My game plan pretty simple - play as straight as I could: Adam Voges

Adam Voges, the Australian batsman, has defended Steve Smith's reckless dismissal on day two but also admitted Australia rued a "missed opportunity" to take control of the First Test at the Pallekelle in Kandy.
The veteran batsman top-scored with 47 but Australia were dismissed in their first innings for a disappointing 203, with a lead of just 86. Australia still has the initiative, but the visitors could have been in an impregnable position had they batted better.

Much of the criticism of Australia's batting has been directed at Smith, who unsuccessfully charged at Rangana Herathin the second over of the day andthe first ball he had faced from Sri Lanka's left-arm spinner. Smith was stumped for 30 and Australia's ironclad grip on the contest loosened after that as wickets regularly tumbled.

Allan Border, the former Australian captain, described Smith's dismissal as a "brain explosion". But Voges said Smith's aggressiveness simply "didn't come off".

"We talk about taking risks early to try and spread the field and then getting ones," he said after rain washed out the final session on Wednesday (July 27). "He tried to take that risk early. If it comes off, it looks great.

"I think we felt one or two partnerships, or those couple of partnerships that did get going, making them bigger,"Vogesadded. "If we had done that, we probably have a 100-run plus lead and feeling like we are driving the game. (It was)a little bit of a missed opportunity today, but some good starts, but we know in these conditions we want to be getting bigger scores and bigger partnerships."

Voges said the Sri Lankan spinners Herath and Lakshan Sandakan, the debutant left-arm wrist spinner, were tough to curtail. "It's a tricky one (the pitch)," Voges said. "Noone has really mastered it yet over these two days. It's tough going. It's hard to score on, particularly with in-outfields and your boundary options are quite limited.

"You know you are going to have to face a lot of balls but we expected that coming into this Test. It's probably just the inconsistencies around the bounce and spin - some do, some don't, some bounce a bit more than others, some keep a bit low. I kept my game plan pretty simple:play as straight as I could and bat for as long as I could."

Being an unknown, Sandakan beguiled Australia's batsmen, admitted Voges. "I just said to the guys to keep looking for his leg-spinner and then you will hopefully notice there is something that is a little bit different,which was what I was trying to do," he said.

Despite their batting woes, Voges believed Australia was still in a commanding position. "We have a good lead and we have one second innings wicket," he said. "Like I said, noone has really mastered this wicket with the bat yet, so tomorrow morning (Thursday)is going to be a crucial session."