Khawaja, Smith and Inglis used their feet brilliantly as Australia racked up the highest-ever total in Galle, and the hosts simply couldn’t stop them
Madushka Balasuriya30-Jan-2025It wasn’t supposed to be like this. None of it was. You come, you see, you succumb. That’s the visiting-team script, particularly as of late. And particularly in Galle.What you don’t expect is for them to rack up 654 runs in the first innings – the highest total by a side batting first in Galle, eclipsing Sri Lanka’s record set just five months ago – have three players score centuries (including one double and one debut ton) and then have the hosts’ best bowler (who even has the nickname “Galle-dozer”) bowl the most overs he’s ever had to in an innings, all while keeping the hosts out in the field for 154 excruciating overs.Related
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As far as guests go, Australia were positively horrendous, but in terms of a visiting force in unfamiliar territory they were nigh-on immaculate.The smile on Steven Smith’s face said it all, as he walked off having won the toss and elected to bat – and in Galle, you must win the toss and bat. But even so, that’s no guarantee of victory. Australia themselves can attest to that fact, having done precisely as expected the last time they played there only to end up losing by an innings and 39 runs.But not even in their wildest dreams could they have predicted the level of dominance they would exert over the first two days this time around. Sure, had Sri Lanka taken a few early reviews against Travis Head or Usman Khawaja on day one, perhaps things might have been different. Maybe if Prabath Jayasuriya had held on to a return chance off Smith, Australia’s total may not have reached these gargantuan proportions.But in reality, to grouse over these moments would be to do a grave disservice to the planning and execution required to put forth such a complete performance. Batter after Australian batter stepped out, charged, slid deep in the crease and swept, all in service of putting Sri Lanka’s spinners off their rhythms.The ultimate ignominy was the sight of Jayasuriya bowling wide outside Smith’s leg stump on the first evening, simply in the hope of slowing down the scoring while Sri Lanka waited for the second new ball. The same Jayasuriya who, before this series, had racked up 106 wickets over 17 innings at the ground – that’s a wicket roughly every 48 deliveries. The same Jayasuriya who had dismantled this same opposition on debut not three years prior.But maybe he shouldn’t feel so bad. The fact is, this Australia are not that Australia. In fact, since that tour there’s no side with a better average playing spin than this Australia.”We have to give credit to the Australian batters,” offered Jeffrey Vandersay after the day’s play on Thursday. “The way the handled all three spinners was excellent. They didn’t let any of us settle. They come forward well, and played well on both sides of the wicket as well.”Vandersay had been among the more threatening Lankan spinners, primarily due to his legspin naturally creating more revs. But while Australia arrived with plans upon plans, Sri Lanka rigidly stuck to ones that weren’t working. It was clear on day one that any turn on offer might be slow, but at no point did the Lankan spinners make a concerted attempt to vary their pace.’They played back foot, they came front, they swept on either side of the wicket’ – Vandersay on Australia’s batters•Getty ImagesSome of this could be attributed to a lack of initiative on the part of the hosts, but maybe even more down to the Australians simply bullying them away from it.”We tried [to bowl faster],” explained Vandersay. “but like I said earlier, the way they batted, they played back foot, they came front, they swept on either side of the wicket. Credit goes to them.”It was a statement steeped in a feeling of inevitability; we tried, but they were better. You hear it frequently in sports. Just earlier this month Alexander Zverev echoed similar sentiments about Janik Sinner after the latter’s Australian Open triumph. But you don’t expect to hear it about a visiting team in Galle.Sure there have been bad results for Sri Lanka in Galle before, most notably against India in 2017, but that was a pretty great India side and a pretty poor Sri Lankan one. This game – and yes, it might only be two days old – is a reality check.It’s a harsh lesson for the Lankans, and one you might argue they should already have learnt. New Zealand had provided a warning shot of sorts over the course of their two-Test series a few months prior, where the 2-0 margin neatly concealed the periods when New Zealand’s batters had handled the Lankan spinners without all that much fuss.Such periods within Tests tend to end up as footnotes, but had Sri Lanka paid closer attention they would have realised that better teams will simply execute such plans better.And so it transpired as Australia sauntered along at a scoring rate of 4.24 – one matched by a visiting side on only four other occasions – while Sri Lanka’s spin options each racked up (unwanted) milestones of their own, going for 189, 193 and and 182 runs respectively, all on a surface tailored to them.Sure, this is not how things were supposed to be, but unless Sri Lanka adapt, they might be this way more often than not.
