Australia will almost certainly have to enforce the follow-on to have any chance of winning the first Test of its away series against Sri Lanka as rain and star batter Dinesh Chandimal threaten to force a draw.
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Incessant afternoon rain forced an early end to day three on Friday, with Australia leading by 518 runs and former home skipper Dinesh Chandimal waging a lone battle.
It means Sri Lanka will resume at 5-136, with the first ball due to be bowled at 3.15pm (AEDT). Chandimal is unbeaten on 63 and wicketkeeper Kusal Mendis is at the crease on 10.
Sri Lanka on day three lost two more wickets from their overnight 3-44. But Chandimal, who was promoted to the crucial No. 3 position last year and has since averaged over 50, stood firm despite the uphill battle to avoid the follow-on.
“It’s going to require something magnificent from Dinesh Chandimal,” commentator Adam Collins told SEN Cricket.
“He knows how the play the lone hand. He did so against Australis a few years ago.”
MATCH CENTRE: Sri Lanka vs Australia first Test scorecard
Captain Dhananjaya de Silva looked comfortable at the wicket on Friday, producing consecutive boundaries against Todd Murphy. But in the next over, he rushed down the track to Matthew Kuhnemann and missed the ball completely, gifting Alex Carey a regulation stumping and leaving for 22.
Kuhnemann post-play credited stand-in skipper Steve Smith for the de Silva dismissal.
“That was probably down to ‘Smudge’,” Kuhnemann said. “He made the field adjustment, he brought mid-off up and brought mid-on even further up and around.
“His message is for me to bowl my best ball and do that consistently and then we come up with a plan, but that was all him – credit to Smudge for that wicket.
“Tactically he’s a genius. He’ll have under cover what he wants us to do. For us bowlers it’s about bowling our best ball and then Smudge looks after the rest.”
Australia declared at 654-6 late on the second day after opener Usman Khawaja’s career-best 232.
Aussie bowlers strike early on day 3 | 00:26
Asked if his team batted too long on the first two days, Kuhnemann said: “Not at all. I think the boys batted beautifully and you saw today there was a bit more spin – the first couple of days are always the best time to bat.
“It’s just about how we adapt to conditions with the game moving forward, but hopefully it starts to spin a bit more. It is still nice to bat on, as you’ve seen they’ve played some beautiful shots.”
Picturesque Galle will also host the second and final match of the series next week before a two-match ODI series in Colombo.
— AFP
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