Category: Sri Lanka Cricket

• Sri Lanka 257 and 231; Australia 414 and 75-1 in four days
• Spinners Lyon and Kuhnemann take seven wickets each

Australia have capped off a brilliant summer with a nine-wicket defeat of Sri Lanka that confirms their first clean sweep of a subcontinent Test series in almost 20 years.

Chasing just 75 runs in sunny Galle on Sunday, Australia (75-1) secured victory in the second Test and two-match series when Marnus Labuschagne (26 not out) hit the winning run to square leg just before lunch on day four.

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• Sri Lanka 257 and 211-8;Australia 414 after day three
• Tourists only trail by 54 runs in the second Test

Australia need only two wickets and a bit of gusto from the top order to defeat Sri Lanka and claim their first series whitewash on the subcontinent in nearly 20 years.

Sri Lanka went to stumps on day three of the second Test only 54 runs ahead of Australia in their second innings, with Kusal Mendis (48 not out) their last recognised batter. Australia could seal the win in the morning session on Sunday, but won’t want the run chase getting out of hand given the tricks the Galle pitch played early on day three.

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• Sri Lankan hopes snuffed out by partnership of 239
• Tourists are 73 runs ahead with pitch wearing fast

Unbeaten centuries for Steve Smith and Alex Carey have put Australia on course for a series whitewash of Sri Lanka after the second day of the second Test in Galle.

On a dusty wicket tipped to soon become very tricky for the batsmen, Smith (120 not out from 239 balls) and Carey (139 not out from 156) forged a potentially match-winning 239-run stand that ripped momentum back in Australia’s favour.

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• Australia 654-6 dec; Sri Lanka 165 and 247 in four days
• Spinners Lyon and Kuhnemann inflict bulk of damage

Australia have recorded their biggest Test win on the subcontinent, trouncing a hapless Sri Lanka by an innings and 242 runs in the series opener in Galle.

Australia took a staggering 15 wickets either side of enforcing the follow-on during day four, wrapping up the series opener by tea. Veteran Nathan Lyon (three for 57, four for 78) and left-arm off-spinner Matthew Kuhnemann (five for 63, four for 86) inflicted the bulk of the damage, the latter barely two weeks after dislocating his thumb playing Big Bash League.

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• Usman Khawaja’s 232 helps tourists declare on 6-654
• Bowlers reduce hosts to 3-44 on second day in Galle

Usman Khawaja played the greatest innings of his Test career to help Australia tighten the screws on Sri Lanka in a series opener fast slipping away from the hosts.

Khawaja (232), Steve Smith (141) and debutant Josh Inglis (102) made life hell for Sri Lanka in Galle, as Australia declared on 6-654, their largest total for any innings on the subcontinent.

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• South Africa 358 & 317; Sri Lanka 328 & 238 | South Africa win by 109 runs
• Proteas need to win just one of their remaining two Tests to reach final

Spinner Keshav Maharaj took five wickets as South Africa secured a 109-run victory over Sri Lanka on the last day of the second Test at St George’s Park and a 2-0 sweep of the series. Maharaj finished with figures of 5-76 as South Africa took 70 minutes to dismiss Sri Lanka for 238.

The game had been set up for a thrilling finale as both teams required a win to keep them in contention for a place in next June’s World Test Championship final.

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England wicketkeeper, who enjoyed a successful six games, is part of a side that has quickly changed

For England, this has been a summer of transition and transformation. Compared with the team that beat Australia at the Oval in the last home Test of 2023, the side that lost to Sri Lanka at the same venue on Monday was, on average, five and a half years younger.

In the intervening period, Jimmy Anderson, Stuart Broad and Moeen Ali retired, and with Mark Wood and Ben Stokes injured, England went from a team that had taken 2,008 Test wickets to one with 332, from 38,417 Test runs to 22,128 (56% of them scored by Joe Root) and from a wicketkeeper who had done the job in 147 first-class games to one wearing the gloves for the 25th time.

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There’s praise for Joe Root, Jamie Smith and Pathum Nissanka, but doubts still remain about Ollie Pope

By Gary Naylor for the 99.94 Cricket Blog

Ollie Pope: 191 runs at 31.8; one catch
His embrace of captaincy duties from the crucial No 3 slot at a time when murmurs were beginning to burble about his form, showed admirable commitment to the team, but may not have been in the very best interests of himself or the group. The value of his 154, anchoring the first innings at the Oval, was demonstrated by the fact that nobody aside from Ben Duckett made 20. Even then, he needed a good helping of luck as he oscillated in and out of form almost from ball to ball, the cogs of his once classic defensive technique screeching. His trust in his charges led to some fine individual performances, but also an almost comically inept use of DRS, trusting advice from those better able to see and hear. But he kept the feelgood Stokes vibe going and delivered the series win, but the collective end-of-term indiscipline evident throughout the third Test will have done him no good in the long run. Grade B-

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Pathum Nissanka completed a fantastic century to guide Sri Lanka to an eight-wicket win that meant they lost the three-match series 2-1

Righto, Gus Atkinson has the ball and we’re ready. England need nine wickets, Sri Lanka need 125 runs.

Oof madone dept: *RA Smyth advises me there’s a new Sopranos doc on Sky and it’s glorious.

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