RECORD: Slowest partnership between Peter Nevill-Steven O'Keefe of Australia

Pallekele: Australia’s sub-continent woes continued as they once again surrendered against quality spin bowling by Sri Lanka’s senior spinner Rangana Herath and debutant china-man Lakshan Sandakan on a helpful pitch. But Australia didn’t go out without a fight. Though the top-order failed miserably with the exception of captain Steve Smith, a strong resistance was posed by their wicketkeeper Peter Nevill and left-arm spinner Steven O’Keefe. The duo created an all-time world record for the 9^th wicket in their attempt to save Australia from defeat. Nevill and O’Keefe played an extra-ordinary 178 balls between them and scored just 4 runs at a run rate of just 0.13. This is a world record for lowest run-rate. Before them, the record belonged to South Africa’s Hashim Amla and AB de Villiers. Amla and de Villiers played 253 balls for 27 runs at a run rate of 0.64 against India last year. However, Nevill and O’Keefe’s effort couldn’t save Australia from the defeat as Sri Lanka registered a comfortable 106-run win to take 1-0 lead in the series. LOWEST RUN-RATES OF PARTNERSHIPS (MIN 100 BALLS)