LunchSri Lanka 8 for 0 trail Australia 364 (Smith 145*, Labuschagne 104, Jayasuriya 6-118) by 356 runs
The second morning’s play took place against the backdrop of major anti-government protests at the ongoing economic crisis in the country. Protesters were prevented from travelling to Colombo as the government blocked public transport and fuel sales.
Australia had resumed on 298 for 5 and initially, it appeared they were tracking well towards 400 as Smith and Alex Carey extended their partnership to 77. However, that changed when Carey top-edged a reverse sweep to be taken deep on the off side and none of the lower order could stay with Smith for a substantial amount of time.
That was soon followed by a superb catch at slip by Kusal Mendis to remove Mitchell Starc, after an outside edge flew very quickly, which gave Jayasuriya his fifth wicket.
Smith largely tried to farm the strike with No. 11 Mitchell Swepson for company but Sri Lanka were able to end things before it became too frustrating. The final wicket went to another debutant, Maheesh Theekshana, who opened his account by removing Swepson lbw when there was one ball of the over to survive.
Sri Lanka’s openers, Pathum Nissanka and captain Dimuth Karunaratne, negotiated three overs of pace before the break.
Andrew McGlashan is a deputy editor at ESPNcricinfo
Source: ESPN Crickinfo