Nathan Lyon dominated the Sri Lankan test at Galle and did not stop taking wickets from the first innings. Having occupied a five-wicket haul in the first innings, Lyon took 4 wickets in the second innings and missed out by just 1 wicket to take 10 wickets in a single match.
Nathan Lyon has added his name to the list of “most wickets” in the format of men’s test. The rankings are led by veteran Sri Lankan spinner Muthiah Muralidaran with 800 wickets, followed by Shane Warne with 708 wickets. James Anderson is having 651 wickets (not considering the ongoing match against India), with Anil Kumble on 4th with 619 wickets. Glenn Mcgrath is another retired player in the top 10 with 563 wickets, with Broad (549 wickets). West Indies has one name – Courtney Walsh, taking 519 wickets. India has Ravichandran Ashwin with 442 wickets, followed by Dale Steyn on 9th. Nathan Lyon joins the top 10 with 436 wickets.
Match Preview:
Australia has successfully claimed their first win of the Galle Test series in just 3 days as the overcast conditions have forced the teams to give away their easy wickets, especially the 20 quick wickets lost by Sri Lanka.
Team Australia managed to sweep down to clean the home side of Sri Lanka by the end of 59 overs as the Sri Lanka batters managed to put up a decent score of 212 runs.
Australian skipper Pat Cummins initiated the attack after taking in the first wicket of opening batsman Pathum Nissanka, followed by Starc’s dominant bowling.
Nathan Lyon continued to bowl from one end and managed to get his first wicket after David Warner dived in for a wonderful catch which in no time got viral throughout the social media.
Nathan Lyon continued to strike from one end and Sweepson joined him after he took two back-to-back wickets claiming to take a historical hattrick but failed to achieve it.
Nonetheless, Dickwell managed to score from one and smashed a quick fifty but Sri Lanka’s 4 wickets were dismissed in just 7 overs after the Tea Break.
Sri Lanka has scored 212 in their first innings, allowing Australians to bat for almost 20 overs.
Australia on the other hand dominated their innings with a great start of Usman Khawaja who managed to score 71 runs but David Warner managed to score only 25 runs. Usman unfortunate misunderstanding with Steve Smith forced Smith to walk back early and Marnus too was sent by Ramesh in just 13 runs. Cameron Green saved team Australia from drowning after smashing 77 crucial runs with Pat Cummins ending the innings with some classical hits.
Australia managed to score 321 runs and the Sri Lankans had a tough challenge to face but Australian bowlers did not resist on Day 3 and took the responsibility to cleae off Sri Lanka’s innings in just 22 overs as the hosts got out in 113 runs with skipper Karunarane scoring the highest – 23 runs.
With just 10 runs to win, David Warner smashed Ramesh Mendis for a four and ended with a six.
It was a dominating win by the visiting yellows.