Dimuth Karunaratne:
“Yeah [it’s a shock]. It’s been disappointing, to win the toss and get out for 212 – disappointed as a batting unit. There was something for the bowlers, but our bowlers couldn’t hurt the Australians. And they also batted really well. I think as a batting unit, we needed to put our hands up and put up a good score, to put them under pressure. That’s what we expect. We’ve been playing in these conditions, we know how to play turn, but the decisions we took were horrible. We’ve played with these boys [the spinners] for the last couple of years, I think they’re good enough to know how to do their job over here. We bowled well in patches – I think Ramesh bowled really well but the others couldn’t support him. When we bat second it’s not easy, especially against Lyon who was turning the ball heavily. We just wanted to put pressure on him, and play a couple of shots. The approach was really good, the intention was really good, but I think sometimes we took bad decisions.”
Pat Cummins:
“Amazing win. Turning up this morning I didn’t think it was going to happen that fast. Really proud of the squad. It’s really foreign conditions for us. Although the way everyone played was outstanding. I don’t think we were surprised [by the conditions], but we were really clear in our planning, how everyone was going to go about it. I thought the bravery and especially the proactiveness shown by our batters was fantastic. It was really tough, but it was the same for both teams. Totally agree [that the young guys stood up]. Someone like Green has grown up at the WACA and over in Perth it’s so different to here. Players go through their whole careers looking for a method in these conditions, and in he’s first knock he’s found it. Really happy for him, he was the difference.”
Cameron Green is the Man of the Match:
“yeah definitely [a special innings]. Playing in the subcontinent you’ve got a few unknowns, but you’ve got a lot of experienced guys in the dressing room to help out. Good first game. A few guys said just to be proactive. If you go out there just defending, you get yourself in trouble. Looking to score is how you give yourself the best chance. You’re gonna get out at some point so you might as well play some shots.”
Sri Lanka vs Australia Highlights today, Friday 1-7-2022. 1st Test, Australia tour of Sri Lanka from Galle International Stadium.
Australia tour of Sri Lanka 2022 Complete Fixture
Form guide
(Last five completed matches; most recent first)
Sri Lanka WDLLW
Australia WDDWD
Sri Lanka won the toss and will bat.
Sri Lanka team: 1 Pathum Nissanka, 2 Dimuth Karunaratne (capt), 3 Kusal Mendis, 4 Angelo Mathews, 5 Dhananjaya de Silva, 6 Dinesh Chandimal, 7 Niroshan Dickwella (wk), 8 Ramesh Mendis, 9 Jeffrey Vandersay, 10 Lasith Embuldeniya, 11 Asitha Fernando
Australia team: 1 David Warner, 2 Usman Khawaja, 3 Marnus Labuschagne, 4 Steven Smith, 5 Travis Head, 6 Cameron Green, 7 Alex Carey (wk), 8 Pat Cummins (capt), 9 Mitchell Starc, 10 Nathan Lyon, 11 Mitchell Swepson
Head to Head In Test’s: 31
Sri Lanka Won: 4
Australia Won: 19
Match Timings: 04:30 GMT | 10:00 Local
Umpires – Kumar Dharmasena, Nitin Menon
TV Umpires – Ruchira Palliyaguruge
Match Referee – Javagal Srinath
Reserve Umpire – Raveendra Wimalasiri
Match number – Test no. 2469
