Bowlers ran amok but bats set up record Aussie Test win

For all the pyrotechnics unleashed across a breakneck final day at Galle where 15 wickets crashed inside two sessions, it was the dearth of dismissals on day one of the opening Test that proved more consequential.

In the aftermath of Australia's victory by an innings and 242 runs which is their biggest Test margin in Asia, opinions in the rival camps varied as to the nature of the Galle pitch and the methods employed by the rival bowling attacks upon it.

But Australia's stand-in skipper Steve Smith and Sri Lanka coach Sanath Jayasuriya concurred that the visitors' batting on day one, which continued into the following day as they piled on 6(dec)-654, effectively decided the contest.

After Smith won a crucial coin toss, new-look opening pair Usman Khawaja and Travis Head shellshocked the hosts with a run-a-ball stand of 92, before Khawaja (232) and Smith (141) piled on a 266-run partnership for the second wicket.

By the time Josh Inglis went to the wicket on day two, the score had passed 400 and he was able to step-up momentum with the fastest century on Test debut by an Australia batter (off 90 balls) by which time Sri Lanka was out of ideas and similarly bereft of hope.

"I didn't think they bowled badly by any stretch," Smith said of the Sri Lanka attack which deployed just four bowlers across 154 overs.

"There was certainly some good spells but we just batted really, really well.

"Put them under pressure, particularly the guys that were playing the sweep shot.

"That was tough to defend.

"Uzzie (Khawaja) played probably 25 per cent of his balls as sweep or reverse sweeps so it was difficult for them to set fields to, and Inglis was similar, and (Alex) Carey was similar.

"And then a couple of us went down the straighter plane and did that well as well.

"To post 650 on what was a wicket that offered a fair amount of spin, was a very good effort.

"It was a near-flawless performance."

Jayasuriya was also unwilling to place too much blame on his bowlers, but noted there "was a serious problem with shot selection" from his team's experienced batting line-up with only one top-order player – Dinesh Chandimal with 72 in the first innings – reaching 50.

Where Sri Lanka let the game slip, according to the coach, was that opening morning when they wasted multiple chances to make a breakthrough before Australia went to lunch 2-145 and eyeing a huge score.

Head would have been given out lbw for 23 had Sri Lanka skipper Dhananjaya de Silva called for a review, while Smith was dropped on one (a return chance to offspinner Prabath Jayasuriya) and Khawaja missed at slip by the captain on 54.

As the day wore on and the bowlers wore out, Khawaja survived an appeal for a catch behind on 74 that would also have brought a wicket if reviewed, while Smith was dropped again on 19 when his lofted drive burst through the hands of Kamindu Mendis at cover.

"You can't control the toss but we should have controlled the first session of the game," Sanath Jayasuriya, the former star opener who was appointed coach last year, said after Sri Lanka's heaviest-ever Test defeat that ensured Australia retain the Warne-Muralidaran Trophy.

"We dropped two or three catches, and we didn’t review crucial decisions and I think fielding was the key.

"It would have been a different story altogether if we got some wickets.

"Then they batted really well, Khawaja and Smith.

"The wicket was a little on the slow side and they adjusted themselves really well, front foot and back foot both and they played both sides of the wicket.

"They outplayed us, they played positive cricket and got runs on the board.

"That was the key I think."

The coach agreed with his legspinner Jeffrey Vandersay - whose counter-attacking half-century at innings end yesterday gave local supporters something to cheer - that Sri Lanka's spinners had bowled more slowly than their Australia counterparts.

While Vandersay, Prabath Jayasuriya and Nishan Peiris sent down a combined 139 overs for 6-564 in Australia's sole innings, their rivals Nathan Lyon, Matthew Kuhnemann and Todd Murphy collected 17-369 from an aggregate 91.5 overs across two innings.

Sanath Jayasuriya explained his spinners were simply operating at the speed they have habitually bowled at Galle where Sri Lanka has played a majority of their Tests over the past four years, for a 61 per cent winning record prior to this game.

But he acknowledged the Galle pitch for the opening match of this two-Test series had been slower than normal due to the wet weather that has plagued the coastal town in recent weeks, and Australia's spinners had operated at a faster pace.

Smith, who marshalled his bowlers in shorter spells with a greater preparedness to wring changes as soon as a batter looked to be settling in, downplayed the importance of speed through the air.

"For me, it's more length than pace," he said in the wake of Australia's biggest Test win in matches played in Asia and the Middle-East.

"If you can consistently hit a good length then regardless of what's going on, you're going to be in play.

"If you can get the ball to skid, or one to rag (spin sharply).

"If you’re challenging the good length, the length where they (rival batters) are lunging forward and can’t get back to it or they can't drive it, if you're hitting that consistently then your pace is kind of irrelevant, I think."

Smith heaped praise upon left-arm spinner Kuhnemann who finished with 9-149, his best match figures in four appearances with the previous three coming in India almost two years ago.

The fact Kuhnemann made it on to the field was something of a miracle given he sustained a compound fracture of his right thumb in a BBL fielding mishap just weeks ago.

It led Smith to speculate the operation to mend Kuhnemann's injury must have been carried out by a magician rather than a surgeon.

And while the value of a left-arm orthodox bowler able to rely on natural pitch variations to spin ball away from right-handed batters or slide it on straight is well known on the subcontinent, Australia's off-spinners Lyon (7-135) and Murphy (1-85) proved equally potent.

"All the spinners worked really well together," Smith said of the trio who also played three Tests together in India in 2023 and have now captured 54 wickets between them when bowling in unison.

"That's the beauty of having three frontline bowlers, you can chop and change them.

"As soon as one's not looking quite as effective or the batter gets a bit of a read on them or they get a little bit tired, you put the next one on and wait to see what's happening there.

"It's good fun juggling them, I quite enjoy that.

"It's (also) a lot of fun when you've got 650 on the board.

"You can set some funky fields, try and force batter error as much as possible and not be worried about getting hit for any boundaries and things like that."

Qantas Tour of Sri Lanka

First Test: Australia win by an innings and 242 runs

Second Test: February 6-10, Galle (3.30pm AEDT)

Sri Lanka Test squad: Dhananjaya de Silva (c), Dimuth Karunaratne, Pathum Nissanka (subject to fitness), Oshada Fernando, Lahiru Udara, Dinesh Chandimal, Angelo Mathews, Kamindu Mendis, Kusal Mendis, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Sonal Dinusha, Prabath Jayasuriya, Jeffrey Vandersay, Nishan Peiris, Asitha Fernando, Vishwa Fernando, Lahiru Kumara, Milan Rathnayake

Australia Test squad: Steve Smith (c), Sean Abbott, Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cooper Connolly, Travis Head (vc), Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Sam Konstas, Matt Kuhnemann, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Nathan McSweeney, Todd Murphy, Mitchell Starc, Beau Webster

First ODI: February 12, Colombo (3.30pm AEDT)

Second ODI: February 14, Colombo (3.30pm AEDT)