AUS vs SL 1st Test: All-Round Australia Crush Sri Lanka By An Innings And 242 Runs In Their Own Backyard
AUS vs SL 1st Test: Australia, led by Steve Smith, handed Sri Lanka a thumping defeat in their own backyard as the visitors clinched an innings and 242 runs win over Sri Lanka.
AUS vs SL 1st Test: Australia defeated Sri Lanka by an innings and 242 runs in the 1st AUS vs SL Test at Galle on February 1 (Saturday). Sri Lanka batted twice but could not reach anywhere Australia’s massive first-innings score of 654-6. Led by stand-in captain Steve Smith, Australia registered their 12th win in the World Test Championship (WTC) 2023-25 cycle. Usman Khawaja, Steve Smith, Josh Inglis, Matthew Kuhnemann, Nathan Lyon and Mitchell Starc stood out in Australia’s all-round win.
After winning the toss and choosin to bat first, Australia were quick to right away put pressure on Sri Lankan bowlers as Travis Head unleashed his aggressive shotmaking taking the visitors past the 60-run mark in just 10 overs. Head brought up his fifty in just 35 balls before perishing on 57 runs. However, he had given Australia an excellent platform to build their innings on. Usman Khawaja looked untroubled against the Sri Lankan bowling attack while Marnus Labuschagne could not score big as he got out for just 20 runs.
Khawaja-Smith Partnership Highlights Australia's Batting Dominance In Galle
New batter Steve Smith joined hands with Khawaja and racked up a 266-run partnership. Smith also achieved the 10,000 Test runs-milestone and went on to score 141 runs, his 35th Test ton. Khawaja, on the other hand, scored his first double-century. Aussie debutant Josh Inglis also scored a century as Australia piled on 654 runs for the loss of just 6 wickets before declaring the innings.
Spinners secure an innings win for Australia in the first Test against Sri Lanka 👌#WTC25 | #SLvAUS 📝: https://t.co/8NKpfnNf96 pic.twitter.com/KB1z31zofV
— ICC (@ICC) February 1, 2025
Kuhnemann, Lyon Spin Away Sri Lanka Batters
With a mountain in front of them, Sri Lanka could only manage 165 runs with only Dinesh Chandimal scoring a fifty in their first innings. Australian spinner, especially Kuhnemann, were too good for the hosts.
Come second innings, Sri Lanka put up a stronger fight, but they could still not get anywhere close to Australia's score as they were bundled out for 247 runs. Jeffrey Vandersay was the sole half-centurion for the hosts as Kuhnemann and Nathan Lyon bagged eight wickets combined.
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