Michael Clarke may well have thought it was April 2nd by the time play concluded on the opening day of the second Test, although a day full of birthday wishes may still not have gone so well. Even the disappointment of losing the toss may have turned out to be a blessing in disguise as his opening bowlers took full advantage of the early movement to take three wickets inside eight overs. Before the toss things were already moving in Australia's direction with the hosts forced to replace the injured Herath (finger) who took eight wickets in the first Test, but not with Ajantha Mendis, who awoke with back problems and wasn't risked. After Tillakaratne Dilshan won the toss and batted on a pitch that looked several shades friendlier than the Galle wicket, Clarke admitted that we would also have batted. As it was, his openers did get to bat on the first day.
Once again, Ryan Harris showed himself to be right at home in leading the inexperienced Australian attack, and soon had Paranavitana edging to Haddin, before Trent Copeland removed Dilshan with an off-cutter that the opener mistakenly chose to let hit the top of off stump. Michael Hussey then took a blinder off Jayawardene's edge to leave Sri Lanka tottering at 3/14. Sangakkara struggled to build a response and at 5/128 was just starting to lift them out of the gloom, along with Angelo Matthews, when Clarke surprisingly turned to Mike Hussey for a bowl. Mark Taylor couldn't have done it better, and the Australians were jubilant when Sangakkara hit the third ball of the over to Phil Hughes. Matthews hit out to finish top score on 58, but the Sri Lankan's 174 was well short of par on a good batting wicket. The Australian front line bowlers all had happy days, with Harris finishing with three, while Copeland, Johnson and Lyon all finished with two.
The Australian openers made good use of the wicket in the time left to them before bad light stopped play. Both played some lovely shots, and took the score to 0/60 at the early close. Shane Watson (36*) and Hughes (23*) will resume looking to extract full value from the pitch and the situation. Shaun Marsh may walk out to bat in his first Test in an almost perfect situation, and Ricky Ponting might be able to rest up at home with his new baby for the third Test.
Scorecard here.
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