Australia vs Sri Lanka 2019: 1st Test, Day 2 - Report

Australia Cricket team finished day two of the first Test at Brisbane on a high with the wicket Dimuth Karunaratne as Sri Lanka trail by 162 runs. Meanwhile, Australia posted 323 runs in reply to Sri Lanka’s 144 in the first innings.

However, Australia had a faulty start losing few wickets early in the morning session of day two. With Australia in dire need of a partnership, Travis Head and Marnus Labuschagne joined hands to stitch a crucial partnership. The Sri Lankans didn’t made it a smooth sail for the duo with both of them surviving a few scares. Once they survived through the tough period, runs started to flow. Head played a couple of well-timed drives while Labuschagne took on Perera with sweep shots.

Although Sri Lanka had their chance in the second session but failed to capitalise on it. Soon after that, it was Head who tried to break free as Labuschagne followed it up to bring his maiden Test fifty. Head also reached the landmark with a single off Dhananjaya de Silva.

Lakmal wrecks havoc

At the fag end of the session, there was a bit of joy for the Lankans as Akila Dananjaya dismissed Labuschagne. The visitors also took the second new ball just before the break and experienced Suranga Lakmal made full use of it. He ripped through the rest of the order in the night session. He found a hint of shape back into Head to dismiss well-set batsman LBW. With his very next ball, he swung one away from Tim Paine to find the edge and pick up the wicket of consecutive deliveries.

He came back after few overs to send Pat Patterson back to the hut and ended up with a five-for. Mitchell Starc then frustrated the Sri Lankans before Dilruwan Perera wrapped up things. Dimuth Karunaratne and Lahiru Thirmanne then bated through most of the last half an hour of the day’s play before Pat Cummins removed the former to mark the final ball of Day 3.