Pallekele: Australia recovered from the loss of two early wickets to reach 66 for two when rain brought an early close to the opening day of the Test series, cutting the first-innings deficit to 51 runs after dismissing Sri Lanka for a meagre 117.
Play did not get underway after the tea break Tuesday because of a persistent drizzle. Opener David Warner was bowled by Nuwan Pradeep without scoring in the third over of Australia’s innings and left-arm spinner Rangana Herath bowled Joe Burns (3) with a straight delivery to reduce Australia to 7-2. Captain Steve Smith was batting on 28 and Usman Khawaja was on 25 after an unbroken 59-run stand.
Earlier on Tuesday, paceman Josh Hazlewood (3-21) and offspinner Nathan Lyon (3-12) took three wickets each to skittle Sri Lanka less than seven overs into the second session of the first Test.
Seamer Mitchell Starc (2-51) and left-arm orthodox spinner Steve O’Keefe (2-32) also contributed as ball dominated bat in the first opening sessions. Dhananjaya de Silva, who got off the mark in his Test debut with a six, top-scored for Sri Lanka with 24 from 38 balls.
After Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews won the toss and elected to bat first Starc trapped opener Dimuth Karunaratne (5) lbw in the fifth over to start the batting collapse.
Hazlewood had No. 3 Kusal Mendis (8) out lbw and Kaushal Silva (4) caught by Adam Voges as Sri Lanka slipped to 19-3 and then returned to have Dinesh Chandimal (15) caught behind by Peter Nevill.
