It didn't take long for Astralia's new boys long to make themselves at home in the Test arena. Trent Copeland opened the bowling with Ryan harris and saw his first ball sent to the fence by Dilshan, but responded to have him caught by Ponting at short cover off the next ball. Nathan Lyon topped him, removing Sangakkara with his first ball in Test cricket as he induced the number three to edge to Michael Clarke at slip. And while Copeland didn't add to his tally, Lyon routed the tail to finish with 5/34 as Sri Lanka collapsed to finish with just 110. Although Lyon's stunning debut figures will get plenty of press, it was a brilliant reverse-wing spell from Shane Watson (3/11) as he reduced the home side from 3/87 to 6/88 in two overs. Once again, batsmen struggled to make a substantial score on a tricky pitch and both Sri Lankan batsmen who reached 20 failed to make 30, increasing the virtue of Hussey's opening day 95.
In reply, Australia's second innings started disastrously with Shane Watson falling first ball. Ponting also fell cheaply, again to the pull shot as he lost his wicket and his bat to a delivery from Lakmal. Michael Clarke played an aggressive innings, reaching his 50 off just 54 balls with support from Hughes and Hussey, and at 3/110 and a lead of 278, the game seemed Australia's. However, Clarke fell for 60, Hussey went next ball, shortly followed by Haddin and Australia limped to the close at 6/115 with Herath taking all three wickets. A handy lead of 283 to be sure on this pitch, but given Australia's inability to close out matches in the fourth innings in recent years, they will be hoping that Khawaja, like the new bowlers, can repay some of the selector's faith in adding some further runs with the tail on day 3.
Scorecard here.
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