Australia v Sri Lanka – 2nd Test – 1st Day's Summary
Sri Lanka 174 v Australia 60 - Australia trail by 114 runs with 10 wickets remaining in the 1st innings
Sri Lanka after getting beaten by http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 in the first Test at Galle International Stadium, pledged vengeance in the second Test at Pallekele International Cricket Stadium to level the three-match series in a bid to put a hefty total on the board after winning the toss.
However, their plans received a rude welcome from Australia who made early inroads by grabbing the wicket of opener http://www.senore.com/Cricket/RJ-Harris-c2330.
Before the Sri Lankans could settle in, they suffered the loss of skipper http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Trent-Copeland-c2709.
Then in the 8th over veteran http://www.senore.com/Cricket/MEK-Hussey-c1942 at third-man off the bowling of Copeland. The batsman could only bolster four runs off ten deliveries. At the time of this wicket, the Sri Lankans had posted only 14 runs on the board for the loss of three wickets.
The Australians at this point in time were completely dominating the game as they did not allow the Sri Lankans to dictate terms in the match. On the other hand, the hosts desperately tried to bat against a belligerent Australian bowling onslaught.
In the mean time, when wickets were falling like http://www.senore.com/Cricket/KC-Sangakkara-c1779 stood fast and kept his end secure by barring the Australians from grabbing his wicket.
Sangakkara desperately needed someone to hold the other end in order to start scoring quickly and the middle-order batsman http://www.senore.com/Cricket/TT-Samaraweera-c2712 provided Sangakkara with the support that was the need of the hour.
However, in the 24th over Samaraweera after crafting 17 runs off 55 deliveries edged to Haddin off the bowling of Harris. At the time of his departure http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758 were standing at 57 runs for the loss of four wickets.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Nathan-Michael-Lyon-c78822.
It was then http://www.senore.com/Cricket/AD-Mathews-c913 who came to Sri Lanka’s rescue as he established a befitting partnership with Sangakkara helping the side bat against the opposition.
The two batsmen scored 52 runs in the sixth wicket partnership as they took the score to 128 runs before Hussey stepped in to break the partnership when he bowled a delivery to Sangakkara that was caught by Hughes.
The rest of the Sri Lankan tail was cleaned up by the Aussies and later Mathews also lost his wicket after scoring 58 runs off 111 deliveries as the Lankans posted 174 runs at the end of their first innings.
Beginning their turn to bat, the Australian openers http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Watson-c96326 on 36 runs and Hughes on 23 runs.
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