Lakmal takes five but Head, Labuschagne give Australia advantage

Travis Head and Marnus Labuschagne added 166 runs for the fifth wicket to take Australia to a position of strength on day two of the first Test in Brisbane.

Australia were bowled out for 323 runs in their first innings on Friday, 25 January, leading Sri Lanka’s 144 by 179 runs. In reply, Sri Lanka finished day two of the pink-ball Test on 17/1, trailing the hosts by 162 runs with nine wickets in hand.

Pat Cummins got Dimuth Karunaratne (1) caught behind on the last ball of the day to give Australia the perfect finish and leave Sri Lanka without their best batsman of 2018.

Australia began their day on 72/2, only 72 runs away from Sri Lanka’s first-innings total, but lost both the overnight batsmen, Marcus Harris and nightwatchman Nathan Lyon, inside the first five overs of the day.

At 82/4, Sri Lanka seemed to be making inroads, with runs hard to come by early on, but Labuschagne and Head dug in. They guided Australia past 150, with a 50-run stand off 97 balls taking them to tea at 159/4.

Courtesy : Srilankasportsnews