Sri Lanka v Australia: first men’s cricket Test, day one – live

Key events
28th over: Australia 131-1 (Khawaja 54, Labuschagne 19) Vandersay continues to trouble the Australian batters. Two singles is all they can manage as the 34-year-old rookie finds a nagging line on off stump.
27th over: Australia 128-1 (Khawaja 52, Labuschagne 18) Jayasuriya’s 11th over is a tight one as he looks for roughage outside off stump. Khawaja breaks the deadlock with a tight single on the last.
26th over: Australia 127-1 (Khawaja 51, Labuschagne 18) Vandersay is into his third over and it’s been an impressive spell so far from the diminutive 34-year-old. Khawaja sneaks a run through backward point but Sri Lanka have done well to stem the flow of runs.
25th over: Australia 123-1 (Khawaja 50, Labuschagne 18) Jayasuriya continues to threaten. He took 12 wickets in that match-winning and series-equalling performance in 2022 and he’s finding his groove again today. Khawaja flicks one off the pads to reach a half-century from 71 balls with four fours and a six. It’s the 28th fifty of his career.
24th over: Australia 123-1 (Khawaja 48, Labuschagne 16) Beaten! Beautiful bowling by Vandersay. He made Labuschagne look foolish three times in that over, floating the ball, landing it on a dime and fizzing it past the bat. Hope for Sri Lanka!
23rd over: Australia 123-1 (Khawaja 48, Labuschagne 16) Australia continue to dominate this first session. Jayasuriya has bowled well but runs came in a torrent when Travis Head was at the crease and have flowed steadily ever since. The batters keep things ticking over with a couple of singles here.
22nd over: Australia 120-1 (Khawaja 47, Labuschagne 16) Jeffrey Vandersay is into the attack and Labuschagne quickly gets him thinking, spanking a two and then a single to different parts of the ground. Just the second Test for Vandersay and he has two wickets at 35 to his name so far.
21st over: Australia 117-1 (Khawaja 47, Labuschagne 12) Australia’s run rate has now dropped from a Travis Head high of 6.5 to 5.75 as Sri Lanka fight back and find spin and bounce. Jayasuriya has led the way and he rips one past Marnus as a reminder that he’s not called the Galledozer for nothing.
20th over: Australia 115-1 (Khawaja 46, Labuschagne 11) Short ball from Peiris and Khawaja leans back and heaves it to the midwicket rope. Labuschagne gets in on the action now, stepping out and driving to the mid-on fence. But he’s beaten on the next! And there’s a loud and vociferous appeal for lbw on the fifth as Labuschagne’s sweep goes awry. Umpire says NO and the Man in the High Tower says… close but NOT OUT.
19th over: Australia 106-1 (Khawaja 41, Labuschagne 7) Jayasuriya and Labuschagne are duelling. Bowler wins the first round, floating one outside off which narrowly beats the outside edge. Labuschagne takes the second, taking a long stride down to the fifth and sweeping for four. Good battle unfolding here.
18th over: Australia 101-1 (Khawaja 40, Labuschagne 3) Khawaja continues to attack, pinching a couple of twos from Peiris. But he gets lucky on the last, edging luckily to a ball scooting lower and faster at middle stump. He steals a run but it’s a lucky one.
17th over: Australia 96-1 (Khawaja 35, Labuschagne 3) Wicket-taker Jayasuriya is in the zone now. Labuschagne works him for a couple but Sri Lanka applying pressure for the first time in the Test.
16th over: Australia 94-1 (Khawaja 35, Labuschagne 1) Marnus Labuschagne is at the crease in his 46th Test and he watches Khawaja work a single from Peiris. Labuschagne gets off the mark by tickling a single through square leg. Will Usman continue to attack? Or will Head’s absence send him back into his more familiar anchor role?
WICKET! Head c Chandimal b Jayasuriya 57 (Australia 92-1)
Head holes out on the long on boundary! He stepped down to deposit it down the ground but the ball arrived a tad slower and hit the toe end of the bat. A weird clonking noise rang out and Head knew he was in trouble. Sure enough the shot had height but not weight and Australia’s new opener is OUT! Sri Lanka strike at last but Head has done some serious damage in this first hour.
15th over: Australia 91-0 (Khawaja 33, Head 57) Spin for Jayasuriya and Khawaja is beaten. Unfortunately the bat pad has been removed and he runs a single when he might’ve been caught. Head takes the long handle to the next one…. and is OUT. Labuschagne survives a loud shout for lbw on his second ball faced but it’s way down legside.
14th over: Australia 91-0 (Khawaja 33, Head 57) Nishan Peiris starts his seventh over with 0-31. He’s rolling them down at 85kph and finding flickers of spin but he’s been bludgeoned by two batters at the top of their game. Head underlines that statement by skipping down to catch the fourth ball on the half-volley and slam it to the boundary.
13th over: Australia 84-0 (Khawaja 31, Head 51) Cheeky by Khawaja! Seeing a yawing gap on the offside, he steps out and reverse sweeps Jayasuriya for FOUR. Great batting by the 38-year-old. After stepping out with power, he steps back with patience, flicking a single from the last to keep strike. Australia’s run-rate is now 6.46!
12th over: Australia 76-0 (Khawaja 24, Head 50) Head brings up his FIFTY with a single to long on. Great innings so far with the half century coming from just 35 balls with nine fours and a six.
11th over: Australia 74-0 (Khawaja 24, Head 49) Head taps a single to keep the strike rotating. Khawaja does the same as Jaysuriya continues to probe for spin. He finds it on the fifth delivery but Head sees it fizzing and flat bats it wide of mid-off for four more.
Vivienne Doonar emails to ask: Why was Sam Kontas dropped? Because he’s unproven in Sri Lankan conditions, Vivienne, and Travis Head is a proven master of them, as proven by his 49 from 33 balls today.
10th over: Australia 67-0 (Khawaja 22, Head 44) Now Khawaja clubs a SIX! Peiris continues to toss it up but the batter saw it coming and was three metres down the pitch to negate the spin and loft it just over the rope. Sri Lanka seem unfazed by the Australian assault and Peiris gets the fifth ball to grip and it beats Khawaja who edges just wide of the man at back pad. He celebrates the near-catch by pitching another four over mid-on.
9th over: Australia 54-0 (Khawaja 13, Head 40) Head hammers another FOUR. This time Jayasuriya put it short and wide and Head stepped back and smashed it square. Ouch! Now Head gets down on one knee and slog sweeps another glorious boundary. Fifty is up for Australia and they are rattling along at six runs per over!
8th over: Australia 45-0 (Khawja 12, Head 33) Peiris gives it air… and so does Head, stepping down and lifting into the grandstands for SIX! Wonderful batting from the Australian vice-captain who is now batting in his baggy green cap. Between that and the bristling moustache it’s a throwback to Australia’s first Test against Sri Lanka in 1983 when David Hookes tonked a famous unbeaten 143 from 145 balls. Big appeal against Head now and this time Sri Lanka review. But it’s a bad call. The ball is striking Head’s left pad way outside the line. Review lost.
7th over: Australia 37-0 (Khawaja 12, Head 24) Fernando, robbed of a wicket in his last over when his captain didn’t review a ball hitting Head’s off stump, is replaced with Prabath Jayasuriya AKA “The Galledozer”. Jayasuriya was the destroyer in the second Test of the last series against Australia in 2022, taking 12 wickets to bolster his career tally of 107 from 19 Tests. Head taps a single from the last.
6th over: Australia 36-0 (Khawaja 12, Head 23) Peiris tosses it up but Khawaja has his feet dancing and he drives it for four past long on. Another fast over, another profitable one for Australia. And fortuitous as it turns out, as replays of that appeal in the previous over show that Fernando’s final ball was indeed hitting Head’s stumps!
5th over: Australia 32-0 (Khawaja 3, Head 23) Bad ball first up from Fernando and Head punishes it, taking it off middle stump and sending it to the rope. Tries to repeat it on the next but it’s squarer and only yields a single. Khawaja now feasts on a fuller wider ball, stepping out and opening the face to glide his first boundary of the day. The 79-Test veteran then reaches for a wide one and steers a run behind point. Head stands tall to the next, cutting powerfully and eluding the boundary rider for a fifth boundary from 13 balls. Big appeal on the last, more exasperation than expectant me thinks, but Sri Lanka opt not to review.
4th over: Australia 18-0 (Khawaja 3, Head 14) Right-armer Peiris wheels in again from his two-metre “run-up”. Head immediately slaps a single and Khawaja, beaten in flight and looking awkward, inside edges a run in return. Head tiptoes down to the final ball, driving straight to retain the strike.
3rd over: Australia 15-0 (Khawaja 2, Head 12) Fernanado returns, this time around the wicket. This is the 27-year-old’s 22nd Test and he has 76 wickets at 26 to show for them. Second ball jags back and catches Khawaja on the codpiece. Nasty for Ussie, nice for Asitha and first sign of spice from this Galle pitch thus far… but the extra kick came from a no-ball. Khawaja can’t get a bat on the rest. Good response from Fernando.
2nd over: Australia 14-0 (Khawaja 2, Head 12) Two-Test spinner Nishan Peiris will bowl the second over and lucky for him it’s to Usman Khawaja not boundary-glutton Travis Head. Peiris rattles through six deliveries and has a single taken from the last.
1st over: Australia 13-0 (Khawaja 1, Head 12) And we’re away! First ball from Asitha Fernando is full and Usman Khawaja takes a half-step to drive a single. Head has a look at one then casually flicks the next for FOUR. Fifth ball is wide and Head, deep in the crease, swats it square for another boundary. Easy pickings. And why not go three in a row? A late cut eludes gully and flies to the rope. What a start for Travis Head!
Players are on the field and anthems are being belted out under cloudy skies in Galle. There was rain overnight but skies are clear for now and expected to stay that way for much of the day. After that, things gets dicey with showers predicted fr the remainder of the Test.
The pitch looks dry and dusty. No grass to speak of but there’ll likely be moisture deeper down. Heaters and UV lights have been used by curators to dry the pitch this morning. What effect will it have? Batten ‘em down and buckle ‘em up, we’re about to find out!
So teenage wonderboy Sam Konstas has been dropped after two Tests and Scott Boland’s run of bad luck continues, also dumped after winning man of the match honours in his last Test. Again.
Konstas makes way for Travis Head to open the batting with fellow Asian wicket specialist Usman Khawaja and Boland will shine the pine to allow specialist spinners right-armer Todd Murphy and leftie Matthew Kuhnemann to return to the line-up.
An interesting challenge now awaits Konstas who seemed assured of playing in the Ashes but whose rollercoaster rise has now been suddenly derailed. If Josh Inglis, a fine player of spin, takes his chance in the middle order this series and Head excels at the top and decides to stay there, Australian cricket’s Next Big Thing might be left waiting for Usman Khawaja to retire if he’s to dust off his baggy green.
It’s nothing Geoff Lemon didn’t see coming…
Teams
Final XIs have been confirmed and it’s a case of ‘Come in spinner!’ as both sides plump for triple-threat spin attacks.
Australia XI: 1 Usman Khawaja 2 Travis Head 3 Marnus Labuschagne 4 Steven Smith (capt.) 5 Josh Inglis 6 Beau Webster 7 Alex Carey (wk) 8 Mitchell Starc 9 Mathew Kuhnemann 10 Nathan Lyon 11 Todd Murphy
Sri Lanka XI: 1 Dimuth Karunaratne, 2 Oshada Fernando, 3 Dinesh Chandimal, 4 Angelo Mathews, 5 Kamindu Mendis, 6 Dhananjaya de Silva (capt.), 7 Kusal Mendis (wk), 8 Prabath Jayasuriya, 9 Nishan Peiris, 10 Jeffrey Vandersay 11 Asitha Fernando
Josh Inglis is confirmed to play and has received baggy green cap No 470 from redoubtable former Test opener Geoff Marsh whose son Mitchell was dropped for this series. The English-born, Australian-raised Inglis completes the Australian cricket holy trinity, having already played 26 ODIs and 29 T20s in the green and gold.
Australia have won the toss and will bat first
Good toss to win for Steve Smith. Australia will bat first and bowl last on what is traditionally a fiercely spinning Galle wicket.
As Australia’s men get their series under way today, Australia’s women are preparing to play the Ashes Test against England at the Melbourne Cricket Ground tomorrow. Australia are unbeaten in the series so far and, if Beth Mooney’s fighting words today are any indicator, there’s plenty more pain for the English to come.
Since 2007-08, Australia and Sri Lanka have played for the Warne-Muralitharan Trophy, named for the two titans of spin bowling from either nation. The trophy itself is a beauty, with the magic hands of both men cast in bronze and gripping match balls.
With final XIs pending here’s how the squads line up for this series…
Sri Lanka: Dhananjaya de Silva (c), Dimuth Karunaratne, Pathum Nissanka, 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: 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.
Australia enter this series without spearhead and captain Pat Cummins, who has sent his superhero cape to the dry-cleaners and stayed home for the birth of his second child while plotting the next step in Australia conquest of the cricketing world.
With Josh Hazlewood also sidelined, the bowling attack Australia’s selectors go with here in Galle is the subject of heated conjecture. Veterans Mitchell Starc and spinner Nathan Lyon seem certain to play. But who partners each?
Will people’s hero paceman Scott Boland get a chance alongside Starc with the new ball? Or does uncapped NSW firebrand Sean Abbott get his opportunity at last? Perhaps the medium pace of SCG Test hero allrounder Beau Webster is promoted up the bowling order?
Given the dry spinning wickets here in Galle, it’s also possible Australia could opt for a three-prong spin attack. Will Todd Murphy, Matthew Kuhnemann or rookie Cooper Connolly partner Lyon? Or will Australia pick just one of that trio and trust the part-time tweak of Travis Head who took a handy 4-10 to clinch the first Test for Australia in 2022?
There is risk with all three spinners, with Murphy not having played a Test in over a year, left-armer Kuhnemann recovering from thumb surgery and Connolly a veteran of just four first-class games.
The playing XIs for this match will be confirmed shortly, with plenty of debate over who will start and where they’ll bat/ bowl if picked.
Australia dropped a bombshell yesterday by confirming Travis Head will replace Sam Konstas as opener. Will the 19-year-old Boxing Day Test hero move down the order or drop out of the XI entirely? If the latter, who fills that vacant middle-order spot? Will Nathan McSweeney – a specialist No 5 at home – be recalled? Or are local reports on the money saying dynamic wicketkeeper-batter Josh Inglis is set to win a Test debut a month shy of his 30th birthday?
Feel free to drop me an email with your tuppence worth at any stage today. Or simply rhapsodise about Konstas in prose or poetry so we can get under Barney Ronay’s skin ahead of the Ashes…
There is deep intrigue surrounding this series, with key personnel missing from both squads, several stars believed to be playing injured and a host of fresh faces bracing for baptism in the pressure cooker of Test cricket.
Both sides had a good 2024, with Sri Lanka boasting a 6-4 win-loss record and Australia 7-2-1. However, Australia still have their tail up after defeating India 3-1 to win back the Border-Gavaskar Trophy for the first time in a decade, whereas Sri Lanka finished the year with a 2-0 away loss to South Africa, losing both Tests by hefty 233-run and 109-run margins.
Here’s how Geoff Lemon previewed the first Test…
Preamble
Angus Fontaine
Greetings cricket fans! Welcome to the Guardian’s over-by-over coverage of the opening day in the first Test between Australia and Sri Lanka at Galle International Cricket Stadium. Angus Fontaine here with you for the opening stages before Rob Smyth takes you home to stumps.
These two nations have been playing Tests against each other since 1983. In the 33 Tests over those 42 years, Australia has won 20 to Sri Lanka’s five, with eight draws. Overall, in 14 series, Australia has won 11 and Sri Lanka just two, with their sole triumphs coming at home in 1999 and 2016. However, the pendulum has swung back to Sri Lanka of late. Of the seven Tests contested in the past decade, Sri Lanka lead 4-3 (no draws).
If you’re looking for a form guide for 2025, look no further than the most recent two-Test showdown in 2022, the only drawn series ever staged between these countries, both played at Galle, today’s battleground.
Australia won the first Test by 10 wickets inside three days, with Nathan Lyon taking nine scalps and Travis Head 4-10 in the second innings. Sri Lanka then staged an epic fightback in the second Test. After Marnus Labuschagne (104) and Steve Smith (145) led Australia’s to 364, Dinesh Chandimal (206) swept Sri Lanka to 554 before Prabath Jayasuriya (6-59) rolled the visitors for 151 to seal victory by an innings and 39 runs.
It was a stunning reminder of how formidable Sri Lanka can be at home and why Australia are wary. Despite beating India 3-1 in the home summer and securing their berth at the World Test Championship in July, the No 1 Test side in the world somehow enter this 2025 series as underdogs.
The stage is set, the fuse is lit, and action gets under way at 3.30pm AEST.