Australia dominated both the sessions of the first day at Galle after Sri Lanka lost all its batsmen which could have been a dependent thought on the team. After the top order was cleaned up, Sweepson took two consecutive wickets in his over as Dinesh Chandimal walked bat with a duck score to his name.
Niroshan Dickwella and Ramesh Mendis are playing and the hosts depend their game on the last depending soldier – Dickwella, who can play after experiencing 50 Test games in his career.
Captain’s speech during the toss:
Pat Cummins; We were looking to bat first as well. We have managed to put up a XI (laughs). Thankfully, Travis has pulled up well and is playing. Two seamers, two spinners and a couple of spinning all-rounders. Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon and Swepson are the bowlers playing. It is weird seeing him (Hazlewood) seating on the bench, he is a world-class bowler but we have gone with Starc.
Dimuth Karunaratne: We are going to bat first. We know how the pitch is going to behave on days 4 and 5, so we want to take advantage of the conditions. Vandersay is playing. We are playing one seamer and three spinners.
Playing XI for both the teams:
Australia (Playing XI): Usman Khawaja, David Warner, Marnus Labuschagne, Steven Smith, Travis Head, Cameron Green, Alex Carey(w), Pat Cummins(c), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Swepson
Sri Lanka (Playing XI): Pathum Nissanka, Dimuth Karunaratne(c), Kusal Mendis, Angelo Mathews, Dhananjaya de Silva, Dinesh Chandimal, Niroshan Dickwella(w), Ramesh Mendis, Jeffrey Vandersay, Lasith Embuldeniya, Asitha Fernando
