Smith and Marsh counter Sri Lankan spin after Chandimal special

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Smith and Marsh counter Sri Lankan spin after Chandimal special

Steve Smith and Shaun Marsh made excellent half-centuries as they led Australia’s fight back against Sri Lanka on day two in the third Test at SSC grounds on Sunday.  


After struggling throughout the Test series, Smith and Marsh constructed the best ever stand for the Australians, 120 unfinished runs for the 2nd wicket to keep the home team at bay as they were 141/1 at stumps. Dinesh Chandimal’s 7th Test hundred took Sri Lanka to 355 while Mitchell Starc returned with best figures of 5 for 63.

In reply to Sri Lanka’s first innings score of 355, Australian opener David Warner dished out their positive intent from the first ball itself when he plundered Dilruwan Perera over the mid-wicket boundary for a six. But Sri Lanka struck back when part-time off-spinner Dhananjaya De Silva took the inside edge of Warner’s bat to send the dangerous left-hander back to the pavilion.

Earlier in the first session, the hosts resumed from their overnight score of 214/5 as Chandimal and De Silva continued to play late, patiently to frustrate the visitors. De Silva added 13 more runs to his overnight score of 116 before falling to Nathan Lyon as the ball turned off the good length to take the inside edge, lobbed to short-leg fielder, Shaun Marsh.

De Silva’s stunning 280-ball 129 which included 18 elegant boundaries came in 328 minutes. After being 26 for 5 yesterday morning, De Silva and Chandimal recorded the highest 6th wicket stand for Sri Lanka against Australia, 211 runs, which is also the highest 6th wicket partnership in Test history when the first 5 wickets have been fallen below 50.

Off-spinning all-rounder Dilruwan Perera made a 25-ball 16 as he picked out deep mid-off fielder Lyon off Jon Holland to end a 40-ball stand worth 30.

Chandimal batted with more aggressiveness today when he reverse-swept Lyon for a six, flicking Starc over mid-wicket and reaching his milestone through a deft touch into the leg-side in the 281st ball. Incidentally, Chandimal made a match-winning century last year on the same day against India at Galle while this is the first time number 6 & 7 batsmen have scored hundreds in same innings for Sri Lanka.

Chandimal was soon dropped on 100 by Smith at first-slip while the Aussie skipper failed to cling on to Herath’s edge when he was 25. A brief shower interrupted play for 34 minutes after lunch but it did not affect in the end.

Herath was hit nastily on his box by Josh Hazelwood which made him retire at 33 to end the 73-run partnership for the 8th wicket, highest for Sri Lanka against Australia. Mitchell Starc returned to end Chandimal’s 356-ball 132 with a reverse-swinger as the edge was sharply taken by Peter Nevill. Starc completed his third five-wicket haul of the series when Suranga Lakmal was snapped at gully as Sri Lanka’s last five wickets added 329 runs.

Batsmen Dismissal Runs Balls
Kaushal Silva  c Smith b Starc 0 15
Dimuth Karunarathne   b Starc 7 34
Kusal Perera c Smith b Lyon 16 32
Kusal Mendis c Smith b Starc 1 12
Angelo Mathews  c Starc b Lyon 1 4
Dinesh Chandimal c Nevill b Starc 132 356
Dhananjaya De Silva c S Marsh b Lyon 129 280
Dilruwan Perera c Lyon b Holland 16 25
Rangana Herath Retired Hurt 33 71
Suranga Lakmal c M Marsh b Starc 5 11
Lakshan Sandakan Not Out 4 8
Extras (11) TOTAL 355 (141.1 overs)

Fall of wickets :  1-2 (Silva, 4.4 ov), 2-21 (MDKJ Perera, 11.6 ov), 3-23 (Karunaratne, 14.1 ov), 4-24 (Mathews, 15.1 ov), 5-26 (Mendis, 16.2 ov), 6-237 (de Silva, 103.2 ov), 7-267 (MDK Perera, 109.6 ov), 7-340* (Herath, retired not out, 136.6 ov), 8-348 (Chandimal, 139.2 ov), 9-355 (Lakmal, 141.1 ov)

Bowler Overs Maidens Runs Wickets
Mitchell Starc  25.1 11 63 5
Josh Hazelwood 18 4 52 0
Nathan Lyon 50 11 110 3
Jon Holland 37 8 69 1
Mitchell Marsh 10 1 45 0
Steve Smith 1 0 5 0
Batsmen Dismissal Runs Balls
David Warner  c K Perera b De Silva 11 9
Shaun Marsh Not Out 64 140
Steve Smith Not Out 61 108
Extras (5) TOTAL 141/1 (43 overs)

Fall of wickets : 1-21 (Warner, 3.6 ov)

Bowler Overs Maidens Runs Wickets
Dilruwan Perera  17 2 48 0
Dhananjaya De Silva 5 0 20 1
Rangana Herath  13 2 36 0
Lakshan Sandakan 4 0 19 0
Suranga Lakmal 4 0 13 0