Galle, Sri Lanka, June 28 (BUS): Australian bowlers Pat Cummins and Mitchell Stark took their stakes each as rollerball pitchers kept batsmen guessing as Sri Lanka scrambled to 68 for two at lunch on the opening day of the first Test cricket on Wednesday.
Sri Lanka captains Demuth Karunaratne and Pathum Nisanka opened the bat and added 38 pitches for the first small gate after being elected to the bats first, according to the Associated Press.
He forced Cummins to outsmart Nissanka (23) with a delivery spike to wicket-keeper Alex Carey and then by four runs, Starc had No. 3 hitter Kusal Mendis (3) driving away from his body to gain an advantage for Carey.
Karunaratne was hitting at 25 with Angelo Matthews at 15 in the break. Cummins had bowling figures of 1-12 while Starc had 1-24.
Although still careless, the Australian riders remained menacing, especially the non-racing Nathan Lyon who used the cross sea breeze to achieve good effect for drifting, sharp turns and off-court jumps. The first turn delivery drifted towards Karunaratne’s left leg torso, then sharply flipped off the torso and bounced back to hit Kari on the face.
The host team named three-time bowlers for the match including leg pitcher Jeffrey Vandersay for his first Test. The 32-year-old has collected 25 wickets in 19 one-day caps, seven wickets in 14 caps and twenty 20 caps for Sri Lanka.
Left arm instrumental Lasith Embuldeniya and other instrumental Ramesh Mendes, along with Vandersay, will add variety to the spin attack.
Sri Lanka has a strong hitting lineup with seven dedicated batsmen. Asitha Fernando will be the only female shooter on the team with the option to call in allrounder Matthews to collect a few seams if needed.
Lyon, with 427 wickets in 108 games, leads the Australian spin attack with the help of Mitchell Sweepson. Tourists have the option of using Marnus Labuschagne and Steven Smith, two bowlers on hand.
The series is played for the Warne-Muralitharan Cup named after the best bowlers in Test history with 1,508 test wickets combined. It is the first series to be awarded the trophy after the great Australian Shane Warren died in March of a heart attack while on vacation in Thailand.
A brief remembrance of Warren was held prior to the match.
The Australian leggy player 708 test wicket behind Mutiah Muralitharan 800 in Sri Lanka, performed his 500th test on this land in 2004 and later helped rebuild the land after it was devastated by the Asian tsunami later that year.