Sri Lanka v Australia: second men's cricket Test, day one – live

42nd over: Sri Lanka 108-3 (Chandimal 50, Mendis 3) Chandimal goes to a well made half century off 105 balls. He’s looked a bit skittish in the last few overs, unsure of how to counteract the incessantly nagging length and lines of Kuhnemann and Lyon. He averages around 6o in Test’s at Galle, he can’t let this slide now, his team need him to make a big one and set up this game.

41st over: Sri Lanka 105-3 (Chandimal 48, Mendis 2) Nathan Lyon is bowling like a dream, he slides one past Kamindu Mendis’ defensive poke and Joel Wilson raises the finger! Was there a noise? It wasn’t the most convincing appeal… Mendis sends it upstairs and sure enough there is a flat line on the snicko so the decision is reversed. NOT OUT.

40th over: Sri Lanka 105-3 (Chandimal 48, Mendis 2) A lot hinges on this partnership now for the home side, the wily experience of Chandimal and the coming man in golden form - Kamindu Mendis. They need to get their side to a competitive first innings score.

39th over: Sri Lanka 101-3 (Chandimal 46, Mendis 0) Kamindu Mendis is the new batter, Sri Lanka teetering a little after lunch.

Shot. That’s more like it – Chandimal uses his feet and drives Lyon down the ground for four. It was a bit uppish but safely in the gap. A better approach to take a few risks rather than scratching around and waiting to get a ball with your name on. A single through point brings Mathews on sttrike…

He’s out! A flighted ball from Lyon is poked at by Mathews and Carey takes a sharp catch behind the stumps. That’s Lyon’s 150th wicket in Asia, it’s a nice on too, flighted and a hint of turn, he’s troubling both edges as he so often does. A painful innings from Big Angelo comes to an end.

38th over: Sri Lanka 96-2 (Chandimal 41, Mathews 1) Chandimal uses his feet to get down the pitch and take a single down to long on, the first run in a long old while.

Elsewhere, has everyone seen this shot? Pure filth:

37th over: Sri Lanka 95-2 (Chandimal 40, Mathews 1) The run rate flatlines completely as Lyon ties Angelo Mathew to the crease. The batters need to find a way to rotate the strike. At the minute they are in their crease and letting the spinners dictate to them. Easily said from here, mind.

36th over: Sri Lanka 95-2 (Chandimal 40, Mathews 1) The pressure cooker begins to hiss. Just two runs in the last 20 odd balls as Kuhnemann reels off a maiden.

35th over: Sri Lanka 95-2 (Chandimal 40, Mathews 1) Australia are putting the squeeze on here, fielders around the bat – Marnus chirping away as is his wont – the run rate has stagnated since lunch.

34th over: Sri Lanka 94-2 (Chandimal 39, Mathews 1) Kuhnemann peels off a maiden. Looking at the Karunaratne wicket, it was clever bowling from Lyon, the ball before turned sharply and he followed up with a much quicker and straighter ball that was onto the batter before he expected. He was late on the stroke and that created enough of a gap for the ball to sneak through.

33rd over: Sri Lanka 94-2 (Chandimal 39, Mathews 1) Angelo Mathews is the new man and Australia sense they have a moment here, men swarm the bat. Lyon springs in, Angelo blocks a couple and gets of the mark with a push down the ground.

After looking completely untroubled Dimuth Karunatratne is bowled by Nathan Lyon! The ball skidded on and the batter went back when he should have come forward, a toe edge crashes into the stumps and he has to depart.

32nd over: Sri Lanka 93-1 (Karunaratne 36, Chandimal 39) Matt Kuhnemann to bowl in tandem with Lyon. Karunaratne picks up a single to open his account for the afternoon and take the partnership to 70 and counting.

31st over: Sri Lanka 92-1 (Karunaratne 35, Chandimal 39) Chandimal gets his side off to a strong start in the afternoon session – pouncing on a wide-ish ball from Lyon and punching off the back foot for four through point.

The players head out to the middle after the lunch break. Hot sun beating down in Galle now. It’s dank and dark here in London. England are about to take on India in the first ODI over in Nagpur. Tom Davies has got you covered for that one:

Further lunchtime reading: Send me your worst butterfingered moments why don’t you! Droppers – you have nothing to lose but your… pride.

We all know what it is like to drop a catch. Remember when your colleague tossed you that Pink Lady over your desk, about eight years ago now. To the day. It was such a dolly! You malfunctioned didn’t you? Let yourself down, the apple fell on to your keyboard with an embarrassing clatter. Qwerty? Droppy more like. What about that time you fumbled the car keys off that simple over-bonnet-toss and there was a small but quite significant part of you inside that died for ever as you scrambled among the filth on the pavement. That is where you belong now, Droppy, among the dirt and grime, on the floor alongside your spilt opportunity.”

The players head off for some sustenance. I might well do the same. Back soon for some lunchtime musings. In the meantime, why not have a delve into a few of the pieces we’ve published on the site this week?

First up, this made me chuckle from the dripping-in-disdain quill of Jonny Liew. He’s sharp as ever as English cricket hits pay dirt, but at what cost?

30 overs. 87 runs. The home side ticking along patiently at 2 and a bit runs an over after electing to bat first. Not a bad return for the loss of just Pathum Nissanka. Australia have bowled ok but without too much penetration on a pitch that has spun less than they might initially have thought.

30th over: Sri Lanka 87-1 (Karunaratne 34, Chandimal 35)

29th over: Sri Lanka 87-1 (Karunaratne 34 , Chandimal 35) Lyon back on just before lunch, he rattles through a maiden. We’ll have one more before lunch.

28th over: Sri Lanka 87-1 (Karunaratne 34 , Chandimal 35) Cooper Connolly is summoned for his first bowl in Test cricket. Serviceable action but no great turn on the ball. He drops a couple short but manages to drift a few too. Deep breaths young man. Three off the over.

27th over: Sri Lanka 84-1 (Karunaratne 32 , Chandimal 34) Careful Dimuth! Karunaratne drives uppishly off Webster, gets three runs for it but it wasn’t very far from Labuschagne lurking in the covers.

Dimuth sounds like a town in Minnesota. Wait, maybe I’m thinking of the home town of one Robert Zimmerman?

26th over: Sri Lanka 79-1 (Karunaratne 27, Chandimal 32) Kuhnemann replaces Lyon, another change of ends for him. Each batter content to soak up a few balls and flick in the gap to pick up a single.

25th over: Sri Lanka 77-1 (Karunaratne 27, Chandimal 32) Chandimal gets a thick edge off Webster and the ball flies away safely for four runs. Ten minutes to lunch, Sri Lanka’s session so far but that could change with a wicket.

24th over: Sri Lanka 71-1 (Karunaratne 27, Chandimal 27) Lyon into his ninth over of the morning. He’s got the one wicket to fall so far this morning.

Breaking News: Hearing that Marcus Stoinis has announced his retirement from ODI cricket effective immediately. That is a shock. More as we get it. He was in Australia’s Champions Trophy squad.

23rd over: Sri Lanka 69-1 (Karunaratne 26, Chandimal 26) Webster chugs in, medium pace at about 125kph. Would probably get me and thee out. Military medium. Karunaratne clips a single and a front foot no-ball makes it two off the over as Chandimal blocks out the rest. Attritional stuff.

22nd over: Sri Lanka 67-1 (Karunaratne 25, Chandimal 26) Karunaratne guides a single past point. Close! Chandimal nearly plinks a flick into the leg side straight to Beau Webster at short midwicket but the ball dies on the turf just before it reaches the big man. Webster is now going to come on for his first bowl in the series by the looks of it.

21st over: Sri Lanka 66-1 (Karunaratne 24, Chandimal 26) Well bowled Matt Kuhnemann, he beats Chandimal on the drive, tossing the ball up above the eye-line, enticing the stroke and skidding it past the edge. He’s on the money for the rest of the over too, a maiden – the first of the day so far! Sri Lanka have rotated the strike very well.

20th over: Sri Lanka 66-1 (Karunaratne 24, Chandimal 26) Lyon rattles off a quick over. Just a Chandimal single poked past point.

19th over: Sri Lanka 65-1 (Karunaratne 24, Chandimal 25) Kuhnemann varies his flight and speeds but can’t get the breakthrough. Four singles off the over with relative ease. This surface looking more dormant now that most of us expected.

18th over: Sri Lanka 61-1 (Karunaratne 22, Chandimal 23) Two singles pocketed off Lyon.

17th over: Sri Lanka 59-1 (Karunaratne 21, Chandimal 22) Love this from Sri Lanka and Dinesh Chandimal! He slaps Kuhnemann away for four over point and then opens his shoulders good and proper with a glorious lofted drive over mid-off for SIX!

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16th over: Sri Lanka 48-1 (Karunaratne 21, Chandimal 11) Just a single worked off Lyon. He has men all around the bat but the turn isn’t quite as sharp now the ball has lost some it’s shine. Sri Lanka have played well in this first session. Nope – I’ve no idea what a decent first innings score might be, what do you want from me – genuine insight?

15th over: Sri Lanka 47-1 (Karunaratne 21, Chandimal 10) Drinks are taken after fifteen overs, I was a bit premature before. Could be because I’m in need of some caffeine as dawn begins to creak here in London. I’ve got my three year old daughter next to me, she’s currently being placated by some fruit loaf and Snow White and the Seven Dwarves on Disney. She’s got quite a laissez faire attitude to sleep, let’s just put it that way.

Bashful Karunaratne takes a single off Kuhnemann.

14th over: Sri Lanka 46-1 (Karunaratne 21, Chandimal 9) “Other than Marnus and his 11 lives” writes Sydney’s Peter Warrington, “I really like this team, the individuals and the structure. Connolly joins Stackpole, Smith and Maxwell as young promising batters whose spinning is good enough to let them debut down the order to get a taste. There’s a timeless romance to it.”

I confess I’ve never seen the young Connolly bowl live, he must have something about him for the selectors to throw him in for a debut here. His first class numbers don’t exactly demand Test selection but then again, as we’ve seen from us Poms recently, that seemingly matters increasingly less in this day and age.

One hour done, honours about even I reckon. Time to re-hydrate.

13th over: Sri Lanka 45-1 (Karunaratne 21, Chandimal 8) Kuhnemann isn’t getting the same amount of turn as Lyon. He’s worked away by both Karunaratne and Chandimal and there’s five runs off the over with a minimum of risk.

An email plops into the OBO mailbag courtesy of Daniel McDonald. It is entitled ‘Vandersay Cry Baby Cry’

“Leave your home

Change your stance

Make a fifty

Then get dropped

Vandersay crybaby cry

Oh, the Galle pitch’s a spinning

There’s still no surprising you

Vandersay crybaby cry

Starc is a-swinging

I’ll explain everything to the cricinfo geeks”

Lovely stuff. This’ll be up your strasse, Daniel:

12th over: Sri Lanka 40-1 (Karunaratne 18, Chandimal 6) Lyon whirls away with a man catching on the ‘45 and with a short leg in place. Karunaratne swats past the man at Boot Hill as a poor ball is sent to the fence.

11th over: Sri Lanka 34-1 (Karunaratne 13, Chandimal 5) Starc is whipped out of the attack by stand in skipper Steve Smith but there’s no sign of a nerve settling early bowl for debutant Cooper Connolly - Kuhnemann is going to start a new spell from the opposite end to his first. A single to each batter, no alarms and no surprises.

10th over: Sri Lanka 32-1 (Karunaratne 12, Chandimal 4) Beautiful cover drive from Karunaratne, pings Lyon through the covers for four. Scratch that, maybe it’s a batting paradise…

9th over: Sri Lanka 24-1 (Karunaratne 8, Chandimal 4) Four runs off the over as these two batters rotate the strike nicely. I’d wager every run is going to almost be worth double in this Test, plenty of sharp turn and bounce already and the bone dry pitch is only going to break up as the match progresses. We might well see a low scoring thriller, my favourite.

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8th over: Sri Lanka 24-1 (Karunaratne 7, Chandimal 1) Dinesh Chandimal is the new batter. He rocks back and takes a single off his second ball to end a successful over from the visitors.

Bowled him! Lyon strikes in his first over – It’s not great batting from Nissanka as he gets waaay too far across his stumps and attempts a lap sweep, the ball turned right past him and clips the leg bail. Australia have their first of the Test.

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7th over: Sri Lanka 18-0 (Nissanka 10, Karunaratne 7) Starc hares in with two slips and two gullies in place. Beaten! Nissanka goes for a booming drive but connects only with fresh air. A deft open faced glide from the next ball is the only run off the over. Nathan Lyon is coming on for a bowl in place of Kuhnemann, he’ll get some more spin and bounce out of this surface with his prodigious over spin.

6th over: Sri Lanka 18-0 (Nissanka 10, Karunaratne 7) Shot! Karunaratne flicks a straight ball off his pads with sublime timing and the ball races away across the outfield at a decent lick.

5th over: Sri Lanka 11-0 (Nissanka 10, Karunaratne 3) Starc is up at 145 clicks – 90MPH in old money. A decent effort in what looks a very hot and humid Galle. The cameraman throws a few drone shots of the coast and fort into my tv footage, I’m completely fine with it as the London chill seeps through my front room window. Completely fine, I’m probably getting loads of Vitmanin D off this draught.

Nissanka stands tall and punches into the off side for two runs, nice looking stroke, he rode the bounce well.

4th over: Sri Lanka 11-0 (Nissanka 8, Karunaratne 2) Kuhnemann to Dimuth Karunaratne, the batter leans on a full ball and takes the single down the ground. There isn’t huge turn for Kuhnemann but he is getting the ball to shoot and skid, he’s making the batters play every ball and it doesn’t look comfortable out there.

3rd over: Sri Lanka 10-0 (Nissanka 8, Karunaratne 1) Streaky from Nissanka as a thick outside edge sees him get four just wide of the slip cordon. Starc is on the money the entire over, there’s some decent carry through to Alex Carey behind the stumps and Nissanka does well to jam down on a toe breaking yorker. Australia looking threatening from both ends so far.

2nd over: Sri Lanka 5-0 (Nissanka 4, Karunaratne 1) Matt Kuhnemann from the other end. He serves up a full bunger to Karunaratne as a final Test gift to get off the mark. The batter swats away to the sweeper on the leg side boundary and will be glad to get down the non-striker’s end by the looks of it.

Kuhnemann looks dangerous right away! The new ball skids along the surface and pins Nissanka on the pad. Big appeal but it was missing leg… Even bigger appeal! This looks closer – struck on the back pad this time! Australia review but Nissanka survives – just – the ball was hitting leg stump but it was umpires call so the on field decision of not out stands.

Don’t go anywhere.

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1st over: Sri Lanka 4-0 (Nissanka 4, Karunaratne 0) Starc goes full in search of some early movement with the new nut. If there’s any it won’t be in existence for long. Nissanka is forward and defending off the front foot, there is a hint of movement back in. Shot! Starc is pummelled through the covers by Nissanka for four! What away to start the Test match for him. Starc pull his line back and scude a couple past the outside edge, just to let him know he won’t have it all his own way. Eventful first over!

Righto, time for play. Mitchell Starc has the ball in hand. The pitch is baked hard and white but scattered with cracks. Pathum Nissanka will be on strike for the first ball.

Lovely scenes in a sun soaked but breezy Galle as Sri Lanka’s players, a bunch of local school children and fellow players from Dimuth Karunaratne’s side – Sinhalese Sports Club – make a guard of honour for him as he takes the field and heads to the crease in his hundredth and final Test match. The Aussies get involved too.

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Sri Lanka leaving out Jeffrey Vandersay seems a harsh call after he made a plucky maiden fifty and bowled well in the last Test. Ramesh Mendis has been in fine fettle in Sri Lankan domestic cricket with bat and ball, he has 69 Test wickets from his fifteen Test matches so far, he might offer a bit more penetration with his off breaks on this surface. He’ll be hoping he has a day or two before he even has to turn his arm over.

Confirmed Teams:

Sri Lanka Dimuth Karunaratne, Pathum Nissanka, Dinesh Chandimal, Angelo Mathews, Kamindu Mendis, Dhanajaya de Silva (capt), Kusal Mendis (wk), Ramesh Mendis, Prabath Jayasuriya, Nishan Peiris, Lahiru Kumara

Australia Usman Khawaja, Travis Head, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith (capt), Josh Inglis, Alex Carey (wk), Beau Webster, Cooper Connolly, Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Matthew Kuhnemann

The first ball is about 15 minutes away, are we going to see some raging turn from the off? Get your spinning loins girded I reckon.

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Sri Lanka skipper Dhanajaya de Silva doesn’t hesitate to lock in batting first in Galle after Australia put on 654/6 in the first innings in the first Test.

Steve Smith is confident that Australia can still win in a different way as he confirms Cooper Connolly’s debut in place of Todd Murphy.

Cooper Connolly will make his Test debut and has been handed his first baggy green capby Simon Katichas Australia select a fifth red-ball debutant of the summer. Todd Murphy is the player to make way from the XI that was so dominant in the opening Test.

Connolly is an exciting middle-order batter and was the third leading run-scorer in the recent BBL season, but it is his left-arm spin that was likely key to the selection in Galle. The 21-year-old is yet to take a wicket in four first-class matches or as many white-ball internationals, but will be out to change all of that in the second Test.

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Geoff Lemon has prepared a scene setter for your delectation:

So the second Test depends on Sri Lanka showing up this time and it also depends on what the ground staff deliver. At a guess that is more likely to be a pitch that spins from day one, given the new track already looked ready to play on four days out from the start. It’s not that Sri Lanka showed any aptitude against Australia’s spin, but at least a severely turning track would level out any advantage from the toss. Australia have prepared for those conditions too and, with the run-fest banked, it would be much more entertaining and instructive to see how they combat difficulty.

Hello and welcome to the first day of the second Test match between Sri Lanka and Australia from Galle*.

Australia pummelled the home side in the first game, running out winners by an innings and 242 runs to inflict Sri Lanka’s heaviest defeat in their Test history. What to do in response to such a shellacking? The home side seem to be turning to spin to help them get something out of this two match series – by all accounts the surface for this game is drier than the bottom of a parrot’s cage.

The conditions could well see 21-year-old left-arm spinner Cooper Connolly make his Test debut for Australia and we’ll definitely witness the 100th and final Test of Sri Lanka’s 36-year-old opening batter who goes by the full name of Frank Dimuth Madushanka Karunaratne.

Play begins at 10am local time, 3.30pm AEDT. I’ll be back shortly with news of the teams and toss. As ever, do get in touch on the email linked at the left hand side of this page if you are tuning in. Your company and comments are always appreciated.

* By way of a sofa in south London. You can’t have it all.