Smith, Labuschagne centuries give Australia first day honours

By Shehan Daniel reporting from Galle  

Centuries from Steven Smith and Marnus Labuschagne ensured that the opening day of the second Test belonged to Australia, benefiting from Sri Lanka’s rejigged bowling attack failing to impose itself on the visitors.

Smith remained unbeaten on 109 having ended the day with Alex Carey, on 16 not out, for company, and Australia on 298 for 5.

On a pitch that was more batting friendly than the first Test but still had some turn, which is likely to become more pronounced the further the Test goes, Sri Lanka’s bowlers failed to build enough pressure on the Australian batsmen, at times gifting the opposition with boundaries by bowling either too short or too full.

The day could have had a much better outlook for the hosts had wicket-keeper Niroshan Dickwella not fluffed two stumping chances, one of them crucially of Labuschagne, when the batsman was on 28.  

That chance came five overs from lunch when Labuschagne charged Ramesh Mendis and missed, and the usually sharp Dickwella was not attentive enough to collect the ball to complete the dismissal.

He missed another chance later in the innings, when Cameron Green advanced and played over the ball, but that mistake didn’t prove too costly, with the tall all-rounder failing to add much more to his score.

The best of the Sri Lankan bowling came just before and immediately after the tea break, when debutant Prabath Jayasuriya took three wickets and the Sri Lankans slowed the scoring rate.

Jayasuriya, one of three debutants for Sri Lanka in this Test, wasn’t particularly effective in his first two spells, but a longer 16-over third spell yielded the best of the left-arm spinner, who took three wickets for 40 runs during that passage of play.

By the time Jayasuriya came on for that spell, Australia had flourished thanks to a century partnership between Labuschagne and Smith, and it appeared that would continue when the former welcomed the left-arm spinner with a boundary.

In his next over, Jayasuriya extracted sharp turn to deceive Labuschagne who was caught out of his crease, and this time Dickwella made amends by effecting the stumping – though his blunder effectively cost 76 runs.

That breakthrough ended a 134-run third-wicket partnership between the pair, and Jayasuriya added to that after tea with the wickets of Travis Head and Green.

It seemed appropriate that the two centurions, known for their great friendship off-the-field, cleared significant roadblocks in their career on the same day – Labuschagne had not scored a century outside Australia until yesterday and Smith was 18 months separated since the last time he reached triple figures.

Between the two stumping chances he gave Sri Lanka, Labuschagne looked almost completely untroubled, striking 12 boundaries in his century, a milestone he reached in 147 balls.

Smith, in contrast scored at a slower pace, getting to his ton in 193 balls, but was no more ruffled by the Sri Lankan bowlers than his compatriot.

Earlier in the day, Mendis bowled a marathon 19-over spell, having opened the bowing with Kasun Rajitha, and picked up the wicket of Usman Khawaja with a perfect off-spinning delivery that hit the left-hander’s off-stump, but saw no further success in his subsequent spells.  

Maheesh Theekshana also on debut, went wicketless in his 14 overs, with Kasun Rajitha – one of the three bowling changes Sri Lanka made – taking the wicket of David Warner in the fifth over of the day.