14 hours Ago By Australian Associated Press
Australia have recorded their biggest Test win on the subcontinent, trouncing a hapless Sri Lanka by an innings and 242 runs in the series opener in Galle. Australia took a staggering 15 wickets either side of enforcing the follow-on during day four, wrapping up the series opener by tea. Veteran Nathan Lyon (three for 57, four for 78) and left-arm off-spinner Matthew Kuhnemann (five for 63, four for 86) inflicted the bulk of the damage, the latter barely two weeks after dislocating his thumb playing Big Bash League.
Kuhnemann had surprise top-scorer Jeffrey Vandersay (53) caught at backward point for the wicket that confirmed a huge victory just after 3pm local time. Sri Lanka finished well short of the mammoth total Australia built largely by player-of-the-match Usman Khawaja (232), stand-in skipper Steve Smith (141) and debutant Josh Inglis (102). Australia’s win overtakes a 2002 defeat of Pakistan in the UAE – by an innings and 198 runs – as their biggest in Asia.
Overall, the win is Australia’s fourth-biggest in history behind victories over South Africa in 2002, England in 1946 and South Africa in 1950. The loss is also Sri Lanka’s largest in Test history, eclipsing the defeat by an innings and 239 runs that India inflicted in 2017. Vandersay appeared to have been aware that Sri Lanka had come up just short of avoiding a new low, kicking at the dirt when Mitch Starc caught him the ball after he made his half-century.
The wicket had begun to deteriorate by the time Sri Lanka were batting, but the hosts nevertheless came up with some embarrassing batting on home soil. Most notably, veteran Dimuth Karunaratne (0) completely left Todd Murphy to career into his off-stump in the second innings. Fellow opener Oshada Fernando (6) came up with one of the all-time bad reviews by sending a Starc in-swinger upstairs.
Ball-tracker showed it was hitting his middle stump for the first scalp of the second innings. The pair of brain-snaps left Sri Lanka floundering. Kuhnemann came up with breakthrough wickets throughout Saturday, opening the floodgates in the first innings when he had Kusal Mendis caught at square leg.
The scalp triggered a collapse that left Sri Lanka all out for 165, after they had begun the day at 136 for five. Mild-mannered Kuhnemann ripped through the tail en route to his second five-wicket haul from four Test matches. In the second innings, Kuhnemann enticed strike weapon Kamindu Mendis into hitting into the wind to midwicket and then took captain Dhananjaya de Silva’s wicket for the second time in the game.
Just as he looked to have his eye in, De Silva (39) edged Kuhnemann to Beau Webster at cover. Lyon dispatched the only batter providing resistance in the first innings, Dinesh Chandimal (72), by bowling around the wicket to strike him on the back pad. Sign up to The Spin Subscribe to our cricket newsletter for our writers' thoughts on the biggest stories and a review of the week’s action after newsletter promotion In the second innings, he helped Australia cut into the tail, with Alex Carey stumping Sri Lanka’s last recognised batter Kusal Mendis (34).
Lyon bowled off-spinner Prabath Jayasuriya attempting a slog sweep on the next delivery but Nishan Peiris hit him to cover before he could snare a first Test cricket hat-trick. The tail hung around more than in the first innings – with Smith throwing the ball to Travis Head (0-8) for two overs – before Kuhnemann landed the final blow..
