Matthew Kuhnemann shines as Australia dominate Sri Lanka

Australia won the first Test against Sri Lanka in resounding fashion, winning by an innings and 242 runs on Saturday in Galle.

With weather only permitting 27 overs of play on day three, the visitors made up for lost time when play resumed on Saturday morning, quickly wrapping up Sri Lanka’s first innings.

The remaining five wickets fell for just 29 runs as Matthew Kuhnemann took his second five-wicket bag, leaving the hosts 489 runs behind still.

An enormous favourite across cricket betting sites, Australia opted to enforce the follow-on given how much rest their bowlers were handed by the preceding day’s rain delays.
Sri Lanka started poorly in their second innings, losing openers Oshada Fernando (6) and Dimuth Karunaratne (0) cheaply yet again.

However, the middle order rebuilt well, with Dinesh Chandimal (31), Angelo Mathews (41), Kamindu Mendis (32) and Kusal Mendis (34) taking the home side beyond their first innings total.

None went on to score big though, something that was desperately needed if Sri Lanka were to avoid an innings loss.

Even when bowler Jeffrey Vandersay notched his maiden half-century – a well-struck 53 from 47 – it was too little too late.

Nathan Lyon and Kuhnemann were the pick of the bowlers for Australia second time around, with each taking four wickets as the hosts crumbled for 247 all-out.

“I thought we started the Test beautifully, Usman [Khawaja] and Travis [Head] up top really set the tone,” Australian captain Steve Smith said after the match.

“Usman’s innings was outstanding, to get his first double hundred, the way he went about it and the shots he played.

“The pressure he put on the bowlers was outstanding, and throughout that innings we had plenty of good partnerships.

“And to get 650 allowed us to bowl twice.

“Thought [Mitchell] Starc did a tremendous job with the new ball and the spinners did a great job as well.

“Thought we batted extremely well, and gave us a chance to press the game and get to a position that we wanted to.

“I thought the bowlers bowled really well in tandem, the beauty of having three frontline spinners is you can just rotate and keep guys as fresh as possible.”

Losing captain Dhananjaya de Silva rued his side’s missed opportunities over the four days of play and is focused on improving ahead of next week’s second Test.

“Chasing 600+ runs is not easy,” he said.

“The wicket was not that hard, but the ball was turning.

“But the batters have to put their hands up and put the opposition under pressure.

“Of course, losing hurts always.

“We had our chances, reviews and catches dropped. We made chances but never took them.

“We have to put our bodies on the line and play well.

“They are champion side, in the WTC final, so we have to up our game for the next Test.”

The two sides will meet again on Thursday in Galle for the final Test of the series, where Australia are heavily favoured across cricket bookmakers to complete a whitewash.

Marantelli Bet has the visitors at $1.75 to win while Sri Lanka pay a longer $2.60 to pull off an upset and draw the series.

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