Australia Almost There

Khawaja and Harris added 40

After another solid day, Australia is within five wickets of victory in the 1st Test at Galle.

The last four Australian wickets added 95 in 26 overs after bad light and then rain caused the start to be delayed until after lunch. Johnson left early after he tried to flog Herath over the mid wicket fence but top-edged instead to Prassana Jayawardene behind the stumps. Ryan Harris, batting well above his weight at number 9, smashed two fours over the leg side, survived a DRS and was dropped in an eventful innings. He did however add 40 with Khawaja and wasn't the one to end the partnership. After nearly 90 minutes at the crease, Khawaja was lbw to his first innings nemesis, Welegedera. Herath picked up Harris with a return catch soon after to complete a pfeiffer. Trent Copeland and Nathan Lyon then added further to the Sri Lankan woes with a last wicket stand of 32 which included 6 fours. Tillakaratne Dilshan finally ended it when he had the No 11 flogging down the ground to be caught by Thilan Samaraweera.

Dilshan bowled by Harris

With 370 required or more than seven sessions to bat, it was the pitch more than the quality of the Sri Lankan batting line up that was against them. Harris had two within his first four overs. In a match of first ball events, Tharanga Paranavitana was trapped back in his crease by Harris at the start and soon after, Dilshan left a gap between bat and pad that Fat Albert's bum would have slipped through and lost his off stump. It has been an indifferent match for the Sri Lankan captain and one he hasn't seemed engaged in. Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene were in the midst of a recover as would befit the best two batsmen their country has produced. During their partnership, tempers became frayed as Jayawardene spoke with Copeland about running on the pitch. It should have ended there as the umpire intervened, but once again, Brad Haddin just had to add his voice to the discussions. As a result, it all became close to out of hand until both umpires calmed things down. He's a chirpy fellow Haddin and a good team man but he sticks his beak in too often. Watson came on for one of his destructive cameos and ended the partnership. He bowled a short, quicker ball and it jumped like a spiteful eastern brown snake at Sangakkara's throat. In the end, he did well not to be in hospital and lobbed the ball to Michael Hussey in the gully instead. Watson is an interesting case but its enough to say that it takes something exceptional to make such a good batsmen looked so ungainly and hurried.

Haddin having too much to say

Samaraweera was a tad unlucky when he left a ball from Johnson which came back of the pitch and clipped the back of his disengaged bat and carried to Haddin. Prassana collected a pair when Harris jagged a fullish ball back from outside off stump and an involuntary inside edge took it to middle stump. At 5-68, Jayawardene was batting superbly and was joined by Angelo Matthews, surprisingly, owing to his age, made vice captain before the toss. He is, however a talented young player but sometimes over ambitious. There were moments in the 18 further overs before bad light ended the day where it had started, when Matthews rode his luck but the more he got the ball onto the bat, the better he looked. 

Jayawardene cuts for four

All the while, Jayawardene kept playing the ball late with a mixture of straight bat defence and head over the ball, Glenn Turner chips through the on side and aggressive pulls, hooks and cuts against any ball that provided leeway. If Michael Clarke's innings yesterday was a quality example of how to play on such a difficult wicket, then Jayawardene provided the master class today. His innings was so far ahead on any others played in this Test, the difference was ridiculous ... and that's inclusive of Hussey's first day effort. 

The day ended with the rare sight of Ricky Ponting bowling offies with all the seriousness and sad puppy dog looks that he has worn during his numerous appearances before match referees. He got no wickets although might have had Jayawardene if Phil Hughes was taller and had fallen forward more quickly at short leg. Still, he had his bum patted by his team mates and got to set the field again for old times sake. 


Once this partnership is broken its all over red rover and Australia 1-0 up. Poor start by your correspondent: I got the pitch wrong and the result wrong. I can only improve!