Key events
65th over: Sri Lanka 225-9 (Kumara 6, Peiris 0) Matt Kuhnemann, with four wickets of his own, enters his 22nd over. It’s another beauty but Kumara breaks the shackles with a hammered four through mid-off. Good shot by the new No 9.
64th over: Sri Lanka 218-9 (Kumara 0, Peiris 0) Mendis becomes Lyon’s fourth wicket of the innings. And that is a terrible blow for Sri Lanka who have now lost their last established batter. Pressure was on after Angelo Mathews threw away his wicket late yesterday and it has played a role in Mendis playing so weird a shot to be dismissed.
WICKET! Mendis c Smith b Lyon 50 (Sri Lanka 217-9)
Mendis falls! He’d just brought up the 21st century of his career and the second of this Test and then Lyon whipped in a faster ball with more fizz and bounce and Mendis was caught on the hop. He withdrew his hands and tried to pull it into the turf but it caught the top edge and floated up to Steve Smith at slip who bagged the easiest of catches.
200 Test catches for Smith!
63rd over: Sri Lanka 215-8 (Mendis 48, Kumara 0) Kuhnemann has five deliveries left in his over and they’ll be to Lahiru Kumara. The first innings No 11 has earned a promotion to No 9 after hanging tough for 26 balls and 48 minutes with Kusal Mendis in the first innings. His defensive stroke to the last ball deceives everyone and runs for four byes.
In the Sheffield Shield game at the Gabba, New South Wales are fighting back from a disastrous 39-5 – including the prize scalp of Sam Konstas for 3 from 33 balls – to trail Queensland 292 runs with five wickets remaining.
Players are taking the field in Galle. Let’s get ready to rumble!
Nathan Lyon casually strolled past 550 Test wickets yesterday – just the seventh man in history to achieve the feat.
Ever humble, the old man from the town of Young (where the prize export is sweet cherries), was quick to shift the praise to spin partner Matthew Kuhnemann and also pay tribute to two legends who sat on his shoulders and whispered in his ears as he made history.
Will Lyon deliver two sweet cherries this morning to wrap up the Sri Lankan innings?
Before the Ashes kick off in Perth on November 21, Australia’s men will embark on a winter tour of the West Indies. If the prospect of a Melbourne winter doesn’t thrill the chill out of your bones, dates for the tour have just been announced.
Winter in the Windies? Don’t mind if we do! 🌴
The schedule for our Australian Men’s Cricket Team’s tour of the West Indies this June/July is here 🚨 pic.twitter.com/SXqimXkYO7
— Cricket Australia (@CricketAus) February 5, 2025
If the prospect of a series whitewash against Sri Lanka wasn’t delicious enough for Australian cricket fans, here’s Barney Ronay on the latest round of infighting within English cricket…
Bazball is not a cult. Maybe it’s actually a death cult. Because England are, on the numbers, suddenly terrible at cricket. And terrible in a way that feels uniform and on-message
What sweet music to Australian ears that is. Bring on the Ashes!
For those who came in late… here’s a wrap of day three.
Preamble
Angus Fontaine
Greeting cricket fans! Welcome to day four of the second Test between Australia and Sri Lanka at Galle International Cricket Stadium.
Australia are 1-0 up in the series and could be 2-0 in a matter of hours if they continue to monster the Sri Lankans this morning. The home side will resume at 211 for 8, a slim lead of 54 runs on Australia’s mammoth first innings of 414, but with just two wickets in hand.
Sri Lanka’s hopes sit heavy on the shoulders of first-innings hero Kusal Mendis (48 not out) after they again lost a clump of key of middle-order wickets yesterday, including the prized scalp of veteran Angelo Mathews for 76. Lyon was the assassin there, ending a partnership of 70 to gave Australia the edge on a day in which 15 wickets fell.
Australia built their 414 on the back of the 259-run stand from Steve Smith (131) and Alex Carey (156) – a 157-run advantage on the first innings. Carey’s swashbuckling 150 runs from 175 balls swept him past Adam Gilchrist’s two scores of 144 to set a new highest score for Australian wicketkeepers in Asia.
That 157-run lead might’ve been more but for some fine bowling by Prabath Jayasuriya. He punched through Australia’s middle order in style, grabbing 5-151 and sparking a late-order collapse that claimed first-Test centurion Josh Inglis (0), new boy Cooper Connolly (four), Beau Webster (31) and Mitchell Starc (8).
However, Sri Lanka couldn’t cash in with the bat. And if Nathan Lyon (3-80) and Matthew Kuhnemann (4-52) pick up where they left off yesterday and Travis Head swats another a quick-fire half-century from the top, Australia can bank their first series whitewash on the subcontinent in nearly 20 years.
Can Mendis conjure another rearguard action to scramble Sri Lanka into a three-figure total and give Jayasuriya something to bowl at on a fizzing Galle wicket? Or will the Australians blitz the tail and unleash ‘The Hammer’ Head to blaze a trail to victory?
Play starts at 3.30pm so join us soon to find out.
