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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
Sport
Adam Collins & Geoff Lemon

Australia win second Test against Sri Lanka and series 2-0 – as it happened

Mitchell Starc
Mitchell Starc ripped into Sri Lanka, taking four wickets before lunch and adding a fifth to end the tourists’ innings. Photograph: Ryan Pierse/Getty Images

And here’s your match report:

That’ll do us. As Tim Paine holds up the Warne-Murali Trophy and the Australians collect their medals, this is a good time to wrap up the OBO for the Australian international summer. On behalf of Geoff, JP, Sam and myself, thanks for your company throughout. We’ll talk to you soon, I am sure. Bye for now!

Tim Paine speaks: “It’s great to get some reward for the effort we have been putting in. We were 3/30 in both innings and Travis in particular, and Burnsy, dug us out of trouble and put us in a good position. We bowled beautifully as a team that really allowed Starcy to attack. For our group to get some belief out of this is really good.” He adds his personal thanks to Sri Lankan team, Australian fans and sponsors. “The last 12 months has been a really difficult time. We started this summer trying to win back respect so thanks for sticking with us.”

Dinesh Chandimal speaks. “We were outplayed in all departments so credit to Australia who played outstanding cricket all series. The last six months we didn’t have the right combination for our best XI but that is part of the game. If you get the chance to play for your country you have to take that with both hands. We have a young team and we are always learning, especially in these tough conditions.”

Pat Cummins, Player of the Series, speaks. “Yeah, I’m pretty happy with how the whole summer went. We had a couple of weeks off as bowlers (after the India Tests) and it came out well. I’m always happy to get the ball swinging around at the Gabba, it’s always good, with the pink ball. The way we bowled as a group was brilliant building up pressure. Our quicks stuck to our aggression and it paid off. We have six months to the Ashes and we have plenty to take to that.”

Mitchell Starc, Player of the Match, speaks. “I just tried to come here this week and bowl as fast as I could. It was a great week for the group. A few of us played the Shield game this year and it was a fair bit flatter so we knew what we were coming into. But we knew if we stuck to our plan from Brisbane, Patty has been great and Jhye was great last week. It has been the game we have been searching for all summer with four centurions. For a young and inexperienced group, we have plenty to take from it moving forward.”

I neglected to mention, Australia also regain the Warne-Muralitharan Trophy for their work here, which they lost in 2016 in Sri Lanka. Stick with the OBO for the presentation to hear from the captains and the man of the match, who we assume will be Starc but could end up Joe Burns or Travis Head for the work they did when the hosts were in strife on the first morning.

AUSTRALIA WIN BY 366 RUNS! WICKET! Fernando b Starc 0. (Sri Lanka all-out 149, Rajitha 2*)

Starc straight through the No11! It took six balls, one of those brushing the off stump without taking the bails, but the big quick gets it done to make it ten for the match with his second five-wicket bag here at Canberra. A lovely way to finish the summer for the attack-leader, Australia winning the series 2-0.

Updated

50th over: Sri Lanka 148-9 (Rajitha 1, Fernando 0) Cummins gets five balls at the No11, setting him up with the bumper but unable to quite sneak through when directing back at the woodwork. Fernando does the shuffle out to square leg for the final ball, getting his bat down just in time, nearly returning a second catch to Cummins for the day but it is not. Starc gets another chance!

WICKET! D Perera c Paine b Cummins 4 (Sri Lanka 148-9)

One to go now, Cummins putting one just outside the off stump at Perera to begin the new over, winning another conventional edge through to Paine.

49th over: Sri Lanka 148-8 (D Perera 4, Rajitha 1) A packed cordon for Starc to Rajitha, who beats him four times in a row without an edge. Five slips and a gully but they aren’t required. Might Starc miss out on this tenth? Stiff.



Updated

48th over: Sri Lanka 148-8 (D Perera 4, Rajitha 1) Cummins to try and finish it off, charging in at Rajitha. He’s accurate but the tailender is up to the task, getting off the mark with halfway reasonable technique, fending a ball off his chest. Perera cops a bouncer to finish and does well to just get his head out of the way. Phew.

47th over: Sri Lanka 147-8 (D Perera 4, Rajitha 0) Good news for people who like milestones, Starc is back on now in an effort to claim his tenth of the match with a second bag of five. He can’t get it done here but that doesn’t stop Paine from going upstairs in the hope that Perera has tickled one to him down the legside. In the third umpire’s chair, Umpire Erasmus (or Umpire The Rasmus, as I prefer) confirms the not out decision taken by Umpire Gough. As a result of the challenge, the over goes for so long that I almost forgot that Perera began it by slashing the left-armer behind point for four.



46th over: Sri Lanka 143-8 (D Perera 0, Rajitha 0) Rajitha gets through the last couple of balls in the successful Cummins over, defending with a nice, straight bat.


WICKET! Karunaratne c Paine b Cummins 22 (Sri Lanka 143-8)

Start the car! Fourth ball back into the attack from the southern end, Cummins wins a tiny little edge from Karunaratne, taken easily by Paine.

WICKET! Mendis c Patterson b Labuschagne 42 (Sri Lanka 143-7)

Labuschagne really did deserve that wicket. Having sent down a tidy set at Mendis, Paine brought the field in for the final delivery. In response, the leggie sent it a touch wider and the right-hander took the bait, smashing a catch straight to Kustin Patterson at shortish cover.

45th over: Sri Lanka 143-7 (C Karunaratne 22)


44th over: Sri Lanka 143-6 (Mendis 42, C Karunaratne 22) Mendis pulls it back a touch against Lyon, defending conservatively before taking one behind square. That ends an eventful third hour of the fourth day, these two putting on 46 along the way. Drinks.

43rd over: Sri Lanka 142-6 (Mendis 41, C Karunaratne 22) Labuschagne sends down an over like that and it is easy to arrive at the conclusion that he is more than a part-time option with his wrist spin. He’s right on top of Mendis here, the set including a ball that turns a mile to beat the outside edge.

42nd over: Sri Lanka 141-6 (Mendis 40, C Karunaratne 22) Nearly an amazing catch on the deep midwicket boundary, Mendis taken by Burns right on the rope, throwing it back mid-air to try and find Richardson who was racing over for the alley-oop but not quite arriving in time. Karunaratne has a pop too, smashing Lyon over midwicket for another boundary. Sure enough, it prompts another round of chat from the men around the bat, making life as difficult as possible for the man on debut. 18 runs have been added in the last two overs!

41st over: Sri Lanka 128-6 (Mendis 31, C Karunaratne 18) Spin twins, with Labuschagne given his first stint of the second innings, having claimed a wicket with a lovely delivery yesterday. He deserves one here too, Khawaja dropping Karunaratne at slip! It came quick, the edge from a lavish drive, but he did get a good look at it up to his right hand, nearly dragging it down, and getting close diving for the rebound. Earlier, a gorgeous legbreak beat Mendis and a full toss got the treatment from Karunaratne. All happening!

40th over: Sri Lanka 123-6 (Mendis 30, C Karunaratne 14) Singles from each to bookend the over, Karunatarne’s via a genuine edge. Between times, the ball hit Mendis on the lid at the non-strikers’ end due to an errant throw back to Lyon. Fun and games. “Get him before Cummo comes back!” roars Paine, who is having a ball.

39th over: Sri Lanka 121-6 (Mendis 29, C Karunaratne 13) Mendis takes one to square leg first up off Starc, Karunaratne - growing in confidence - doing likewise. The more experienced man sees off the rest. I note that there is a bit more cloud cover now from the west over near the Black Mountain Tower. It’s a long shot, but if Sri Lanka can find a way to bat for another hour or so, well, who knows.

38th over: Sri Lanka 119-6 (Mendis 28, C Karunaratne 12) Mendis has a crack at Lyon first ball and is nearly caught by Richardson at long on, running back with the flight and diving at full stretch. Paine is into him for the shot, in keeping with the theme of this Test. The Aussies are certainly having a nice time, even when a fat edge goes over the catcher at first slip via Karunaratne to finish for a couple, enjoying a laugh. “They have an early flight,” adds Alyssa Healy on TV.

37th over: Sri Lanka 114-6 (Mendis 25, C Karunaratne 10) What a way to advance into double figures! Karunaratne shows why he is batting No8 on debut, nailing Starc though extra cover like Damien Martyn! Who needs footwork when you can hammer shots like that. Earlier in the over he edged four through the cordon, but all is forgiven after the shot to finish.

36th over: Sri Lanka 106-6 (Mendis 25, C Karunaratne 2) Some classy cricket to end this Richardson over, finding Mendis’ edge with a beautiful bit of outswing (reverse?), the Sri Lankan gun responding next ball with one of the shots of the entire match, a classical on-drive that races down to the rope. Swoon.



35th over: Sri Lanka 101-6 (Mendis 21, C Karunaratne 1) Mendis again takes one from the first ball of the over, again behind point as well. That makes 100 for Sri Lanka in this messy second innings. Karunaratne is under pressure throughout due to the pace and angle Starc is generating from round the wicket, but he’s off the mark in Test cricket from the final delivery, clipping off his pads. Nicely done.

34th over: Sri Lanka 99-6 (Mendis 20, C Karunaratne 0) Mendis takes one from the first Richardson ball, which exposes Karunaratne, the man on debut who is on a pair after the first dig. He builds in confidence through the over, getting behind a compact forward defensive stroke to finish after some dancing around the crease.

“Oi, mate!” If it isn’t Paris Bob Wilson! “You waxing satirical about the inconstant admirers of Starc? One day you’re up, next you’re down (and vicey-versey). I was giving him the love when you couldn’t give him away - ie yesterday. I’m a moral limpet. Forget that, I still think Siddle could do a job (he’s the gears that make all parts of the mechanism glide smooth and true). Where oh where is my long-lost vegan Pete?”

My view is that Starc’s inconsistency makes him dangerous. You can’t have an attack full of blokes like him, but with Richardson/Hazlewood/Cummins (/Siddle) so accurate, that batsmen never know what they are going to get from the quickest of them all has to be to some advantage. The positive from today is that he’s moving the ball again, which hasn’t been the case that often this summer.

33rd over: Sri Lanka 98-6 (Mendis 19, C Karunaratne 0) Well, for what little it is worth at this stage, Mendis is looking alright against Starc. He defends solidly before taking a single behind point, leaving the new man Karunaratne a couple of balls to deal with. He gets under the first - just - before blocking the last.

We have an unorthodox solution to the over rates issue on email in from Abhijato Sensarma. I’ll paste in full before coming to my (similar!) thought.

“Players are humans, and one look at the footage of the yesteryears shows that they play with much more intensity than before. In the domestic tournaments, over-rates are almost always met (or met with harsh penalties), however it’s played with admittedly lower intensity. Unlike a Jadeja who can rush through his overs, today’s regular international cricketers should not be able to stand on their legs once a day’s play is done. With modern strategies being more complex and field setting perhaps a touch sophisticated too, they can get a bit of slack. The only issue is that a reduction in minimum overs per day will create even slower games because players want to rest as much as possible.

Here’s my idea, which I’ll present irrespective of whether you call me a Brexiter or a Trump supporter - we should play with the pink ball even in regular Test matches (the pink ball is a work in progress but good enough). We can take a ten minute break at the end of the third session, and return to bowl as many overs as possible under the lights in a ‘fourth session’. Longer playing hours should attract more people during the evening, while neither of the playing sides should mind this added session, because they were supposed to play out that many overs anyways.

The fourth session will happen only when there are left-overs (pun intended) from that day, with a maximum of ten overs being bowled. It will give bowlers more time to relax during the regular sessions, and create more thoughtful cricket all around. The other three sessions can be shorter in duration by around ten minutes each to ensure significant play happens in the fourth one, with the players recharged and at the top of their games more frequently than what a Test’s current format allows. The final day’s fourth session will have a maximum of fifteen overs to cover all the overs still remaining during the entire game. Even if the session lasts for a handful of overs, it will make for ‘tricky’ and dynamic passages of play which will draw crowds rather than turn them away in my opinion. What will be yours?”

I like the starting point: using the pink ball to help overcome bad light. This is how I would do it, written on one of the dreary days in Sydney during the India series.

WICKET! Dhananjaya c b RIchardson 6 (Sri Lanka 97-6)

Richardson is into the book, or ruining Starc’s 9fa as I’d prefer. Not a good shot at all from Dhananjaya, set up by a couple of inswingers at the stumps then chipping to Head at mid-on. No footwork to speak of, it is a soft dismissal.

32nd over: Sri Lanka 97-6 (Mendis 18)




31st over: Sri Lanka 93-5 (Mendis 18, Dhananjaya 2) Starc attacking the stumps of Mendis right away, the right hander digging out the second delivery to point for one. Dhananjaya gives the strike back with a push to square leg, Mendis hammering a cut shot high on the balls of his feet behind point for four. To finish he’s dropped at short leg, which is very Harsh on Harris under the lid who had no time to move before the ball crashed into his leg. “They stick or they don’t,” as Mike Hussey says on TV. But, in theory at least, they could have been Starc’s fifth.

Thanks, Geoff. Just two days ago, Mitch Starc was under more pressure than any player in Australia. Now, he’s a worldbeater once again. Something like that. Bowling the way he was before the lunch break, it is unlikely that this will take long. Umpires Illingworth and Gough are now on the field, followed by Paine’s men, Kusal Mendis (13) and Dhananjaya de Silva (1). Starc has the ball in his end from the Manuka Pool End, in pursuit of his tenth wicket of the match. Indeed, if it all went well, he theorhetically has a 9fa on the shelf here. We’ll see. PLAY!

Lunch – Sri Lanka 87 for 5, trailing by 429

That’s the break: Australia’s session again, as all but perhaps the first session on day one have been. Five wickets in it, four of them to Starc, who is all but guaranteed a ten-wicket match. A tonic for him. Cummins has the other wicket to fall. Sri Lanka have their last two recognised batsmen at the crease, with only the opportunity to do something special on a personal basis and build a good score. The keeper has already batted so there are only the four bowlers to come.

That’s it from me for the day and for the Test summer. No doubt there will be some one-day games and so on as Australia tours India and the UAE later this month and into March and April. Then of course the World Cup and the Ashes from England. But as far as the Australian home season goes, thanks for your company and for all your messages – it’s been a lot of fun. Up next, it’ll be Adam Collins.

Updated

A couple of new contributions to the Jason Holder debate. Richard Ley emails in a hypothetical.

“Your side bowls out mine in a session (two hours - sad!) and again after batting. Included in each are a number of lengthy reviews initiated, with reasonable basis, by both sides. To what extent are delays that are within the conditions of the game and outside the fielding side’s control accounted for in decisions about a slow over rate? Should things like high frequency of change of batsman - and the attendant time that takes - and the lengthy reviews - and the time those take - affect the calculation of the over rate? I’d argue that the match duration shouldn’t be discounted completely when considering the over rate if batting collapses and the like have an effect.”

I think they are taken into consideration though, Richard, which is why we see comparatively few actual warnings or sanctions in Test cricket. Basically match referees will find whatever reasons they can to give leniency. The West Indies bowling must have been slow even taking that into account, thanks to the four-man pace attack and its success precluding the need to turn to spin. Roston Chase didn’t bowl any spin in the second innings in Antigua. But then, the innings was done in 42 overs, so does it really matter how slow they were?

Robert Wilson offers a different perspective. “Geoff, I’m not that bothered about the quasi-legal ins and outs of the Jason Holder decision. It just seems a remarkably tone-deaf response to the two-Test lesson in rigour, discretion and likeability he gave us. It was old school grace. Typical cricket self-harming. Christ.”

And there is, along with arguments that rules must be consistent and unbending, that.

30th over: Sri Lanka 87-5 (Mendis 13, Dhananjaya 1) Lyon with the last over before lunch, and it’s a quiet one, Mendis working a single away to leg before DDS sees Sri Lanka safely through to the break.

29th over: Sri Lanka 86-5 (Mendis 12, Dhananjaya 1) With about six slips and a short leg, Dhananjaya de Silva just defends the ball past Starc and can take a run. There’s no mid off or mid on. In classic Starc fashion, there’s also a wide in the same over that he was on a hat-trick.



Updated

But no hat-trick for Starc

...as Dhananjaya de Silva defends stoutly back up the pitch. Not this time.

WICKET! Kusal Perera c Paine b Starc 0, Sri Lanka 83-5

He’s on a hat-trick! Starc is doing it again in the second innings. We had a double Kusal partnership for all of one ball, but it’s over. Kusal Perera was brave (or ill-advised) to bat after his horrible head knock yesterday. Perhaps luckily for him, his second knock doesn’t last. Feels for a ball outside off and edges it.

Updated

WICKET! Dickwella b Starc 27, Sri Lanka 83-4

That’s a beauty from Starc! Left-arm over to a left-hand batsman. Angled in with the arm and then straightened a touch off the pitch. Should have hit middle but hit off instead. Dickwella was nowhere near it, jabbing his bat down and hoping for a touch. Not to be. Bails off.

Updated

28th over: Sri Lanka 81-3 (Dickwella 25, Kusal Mendis 11) Lyon is bowling very nicely. Over the wicket to the right-hander, around the wicket to the left. They’re both working singles into gaps though. Short leg, slip and leg slip in for Mendis, who still clips with the turn. Dickwella is angling the face of the bat to deflect runs of his own. Hasn’t gone for any glory shots over cow against the turn.

27th over: Sri Lanka 77-3 (Dickwella 23, Kusal Mendis 9) Starc returns to try and blast out another before lunch. Dickwella turns the attempted yorker into a single. Mendis didn’t have too much trouble against Starc in 2016, when he made 176 in Pallekele and 86 in Galle to set up two wins. He cuts a shorter ball quite nicely, straight to point, but a fumble lets him through for a run.

26th over: Sri Lanka 75-3 (Dickwella 22, Kusal Mendis 8) Lyon continues. Mendis sweeps for a single. Not to be outdone, Dickwella reverse sweeps. For none. Tries the regulation sweep instead and gets one. Mendis nearly pops up a catch to short leg, but Labuschagne can’t quite get across in time as the ball was going back down the wicket, and he ends up face down having taken the ball on the half-volley.

Updated

25th over: Sri Lanka 73-3 (Dickwella 21, Kusal Mendis 7) Come on, Niroshan! He goes for an uppercut against Cummins but then bails out. Surely you’re out there to play uppercuts at everything. Even yorkers. Mendis can be the more circumspect one, politely knocking away short balls for singles.

24th over: Sri Lanka 72-3 (Dickwella 21, Kusal Mendis 6) Lyon won’t mind that. He likes bowling to lefties, given he can spin the ball away, so he’d love to see Dickwella playing through cover. Even the batsman lathers that particular attempt for four.

And that’s why! After a couple of singles, Lyon lands one on a good length. Dickwella is hesitant in getting to the pitch and stabs at the in-between length. Big outside edge goes just fine of the slip catcher for three runs. Lucky for some.

“Top bowling!” yells a very loud and lonely man below us in the stands. And it was, even if the over went for 10. There are not many people here on a Monday morning in the public service capital of the nation, I can ell you. Maybe a thousand, tops, by my guess?

23rd over: Sri Lanka 62-3 (Dickwella 13, Kusal Mendis 4) There’s an album by Urthboy titled Distant Sense of Random Menace. That’s what Pat Cummins has as a bowler. Always a sense of threat, even if you’re not sure how it will manifest. He’ll get you in the end.

Kusal Mendis is next in, Sri Lanka’s best batsman even at the tender age of 23. Or he might have just turned 24, I think his birthday is around now. He’s unfazed by a Cummins bouncer first ball, and straight-drives the next for four.

WICKET! Thirimanne c & b Cummins 30, Sri Lanka 58-3

The line at the body works. Cummins keeps banging away at the ribcage, then goes shorter at the head, and Thirimanne fends away the ball without any timing. Splices it, hanging in the air, and Cummins has time to sprint down the wicket and dive to take a very good catch.

22nd over: Sri Lanka 57-2 (Thirimanne 30, Dickwella 12) It only takes one mistake. Lyon drags down, and Thirimanne is quickly in position for a late cut. Timing, and the outfield has sped up after a few days drying in decent sunshine. The ball skids away for four.

21st over: Sri Lanka 53-2 (Thirimanne 26, Dickwella 12) Cummins, around the wicket to the left-handed duo now. Into the body, cramping them up, as he does. Two slips, two gullies, and a point. They know where Thirimanne likes his runs. Which makes it a bit puzzling that Cummins keeps going at the ribcage, letting the batsman jab a single to leg. There is a short leg catcher under the lid, I suppose, if that shot goes awry.

For Dickwella though, third man drops back from gully for the uppercut, while the two slips move into a steeper alignment. There’s no roadblock, instead moving to backward square leg. Then there’s a long leg as well. Field set for the pull shot. As I speak, the backward square moves into the deep as well. Cover and midwicket are open. None of this stops Dickwella going at the short ball, but he doesn’t connect.

20th over: Sri Lanka 50-2 (Thirimanne 23, Dickwella 12) Sri Lanka need 516 runs to win. Is the Dickwella promotion about getting them as quickly as possible? Throws the bat again, edging Lyon past slip for three. Along with some ODI single-taking, they end with seven from the over. The team 50 arrives.

19th over: Sri Lanka 43-2 (Thirimanne 20, Dickwella 8) Four for Dickwella! I’m not going to say that was a good shot in the traditional sense of the word, but it was effective. Full from Cummins and Dickwella shovels across the line and away through wide long-on. Lots of bottom hand, lots of risk if he missed, but he didn’t. A proper slap shot, in the sense of having an ice hockey vibe. Now to toss gloves and throw some haymakers.

And then here’s Gary.

Which is also true, but I’m not sure it’s about a premeditated advantage. It’s about someone like Holder seeing that he’s smashing England by bowling them out with his quicks, so why would he change that and risk letting an opponent back into the game? It’s more a case of doing what’s working and hoping that it all turns out ok in the end.

There’s a lot of debate on my Twitter feed about the Jason Holder suspension. I can’t copy it all over, but we’ll bring in a few bits.

First, Karan from earlier. “On the Jason Holder slow over rate issue; surely a team must be given shouldn’t be penalised when the game finishes within three days. Surely there’s an argument out there that teams should be given the benefit of the doubt when the match doesn’t last the whole five days.”

I can see the appeal of this argument, but also it makes it a gamble for captains as to whether they’ll be suspended. Take the risk of a slow rate and get away with it as long as there’s an outright result. Or go slow all game and end up costing overs on day five, and only then will you be punished if it’s a draw. That doesn’t quite stack up for me.

18th over: Sri Lanka 39-2 (Thirimanne 20, Dickwella 4) Nearly got him! Lyon spears a flatter ball through, and Thirimanne thought it was a nice short one to cut, but it skipped past his attempted shot. Nearly the edge, then nearly takes off stump. Lyon does his best disbelief face.

17th over: Sri Lanka 39-2 (Thirimanne 20, Dickwella 4) Cummins gets his first gallop in a double change. The Sri Lankans are happy to take things easy against him at first. Let’s see what he’s got. Just a single from the over.

16th over: Sri Lanka 38-2 (Thirimanne 19, Dickwella 4) Home Town Hero™ time, as Nathan Lyon comes on for his first frolic of the day. Thirimanne can’t decide whether to defend or attack. Tries both without notable success. Survives the over though, despite jabbing a single just past short leg at the end.

15th over: Sri Lanka 37-2 (Thirimanne 18, Dickwella 4) Another quick single from Starc, and this time Cummins does hit the woodwork, but Dickwella has made it. I wouldn’t want to be batting with Thirimanne, especially. I’d take him over Inzamam, but you get my drift. Starc gets some drift of his own, way down leg, and Paine does a Superman to save four byes, getting a hint of webbing on the ball to keep the extras to one.

Karan Dhamija emails in. “I can look into Manuka Oval from my apartment balcony but it’s been devastating not being on Canberra during the test due to work but thanks to you and others and allowing me to vicariously experience this momentous occasion (including renditions of Great Southern Land which would have definitely woken me up every morning if I was in Canberra) for cricket in Canberra.”

At least it’s 10:25 before the Icehouse stuff gets a spin, Karan. As opposed to the 85 versions of I Still Call Australia Home that Qantas got them to play at 7:30am on the first day. (I am also staying just over the road, but not at your house as far as I know.)

14th over: Sri Lanka 34-2 (Thirimanne 16, Dickwella 4) Thirimanne gets a single first ball. He wants to see the Dickwella show. And the keeper obliges with a rasping pull shot against Richardson for four! Richardson is so rattled that he bowls a wide, which is a tough ask in Test cricket. Dickwella is freeeeeee.

13th over: Sri Lanka 28-2 (Thirimanne 15) The wicket falls from the last ball of the over, just after Thirimanne had played a nice straight drive off Starc for three. And who’s this walking out at No4? It’s not Kusal Mendis. It’s not Kusal Perera. It’s Niroshan Dickwella! The wicketkeeper. Batting at two wickets down. Free to express himself at last. Sri Lanka’s Independence Day will be Dickwella’s Independence Day. He has got to get him one alien.

WICKET! Chandimal c Labuschagne b Starc 4, Sri Lanka 28-2

Today, Chandimal is French for Chandibad. I’m not sure that he’s a No3, but he’s insisted on playing there. Goes with hard hands defensively at a ball on a good length, into his body, and it takes the shoulder straight off to second slip. Chandi hangs around for a while to see if the catch carried, but the soft signal is out and the replay does nothing to dispel that idea.

Updated

12th over: Sri Lanka 25-1 (Thirimanne 12, Chandimal 4) The captain is proceeding serenely by waiting for balls on his pads and then working them for singles. Thirimanne faces most of the Richardson over, circumspect throughout this time, running a single away on the off side to end the stanza.

News just in – Kusal Perera will bat today

That’s very unexpected, but the man who was staggering off the ground dizzy and bent double yesterday morning will apparently bat when required later today. That doesn’t tally with anything I know about concussion protocols, so it would be interesting to hear what the full story is there. Anyway, that’s all we’ve been told.

11th over: Sri Lanka 23-1 (Thirimanne 11, Chandimal 3) Starc again to Chandimal, who knocks a single to leg. Thirimanne lets a few good balls go, then chases a very wide one that he can’t get near. There’s another wayward one past leg stump as well.

Well... I don’t know about that. Keeping to a bowler who hits 150 kph and has a tendency to spray high bouncers and leg-side accidents, Paine is standing about 30 yards back from the stumps. In the time that a batsman whacks a ball straight to mid-on, can he realistically be over the stumps before the throw back is unleashed? Doubt it.

10th over: Sri Lanka 22-1 (Thirimanne 11, Chandimal 2) Richardson to Thirimanne, who leaves most of the over alone before hitting one uppishly through midwicket. Loves that airborne stroke, this man.

We did get an extra rendition of that particular song this morning because today is the National Day of Sri Lanka, commemorating their independence day in 1948. And we got two goes at Advance Australia Fair at the Gabba because our own national day highly dubiously remains on January 26. Two Tests, four anthems. How lucky we are.

9th over: Sri Lanka 20-1 (Thirimanne 9, Chandimal 2) Normal service resumes, with Starc swinging one down leg side. That’s no problem at all when he’s also bowling the wicket-taking ones. Chandimal, the skipper, is now at the crease. He opens his account by working two runs through square.

WICKET! Karunaratne b Starc 8, Sri Lanka 18-1

Got him! Starc was knocking over Karunaratne for fun in Sri Lanka back in 2016, but hasn’t been able to replicate that in Australia. Now he does, left-arm over to a left-hander, a bit of shape in perhaps, looks like a slight inside edge but perhaps there wasn’t even that. It clips leg stump after stating outside off stump, and off go the bails as the ball flies down to the fine leg boundary.

Updated

8th over: Sri Lanka 18-0 (Karunaratne 8, Thirimanne 9) Jhye Richardson commences from the Manuka Church end, beneath our window. Great view here. He gets some early swing into the pads, and Thirimanne bats out a maiden.

7th over: Sri Lanka 18-0 (Karunaratne 8, Thirimanne 9) Starc is starting us off for the day, having regained the confidence of his captain. He didn’t start with the ball yesterday morning. Away we go, and there’s nearly a run out second ball! Thirimanne drives straight to Cummins but runs anyway, and Australia’s gun misses the throw at the striker’s end that would have done for Karunaratne. The dicey single is all they get, as Starc cranks up the speedometer and the short ball in the first over.

Twitter certainly has its downsides, but it also offers things like this.

That Final Word podcast (episode 10) is here, if you’re interested.

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This has been a good Test for Australia in terms of finally getting some tangible results for individual players who needed them. Obviously the circumstances of a lower-ranked opponent facing all kinds of injury difficulties in foreign conditions mean that players have a much better chance to do well. But it still matters to make the most of that chance.

Usman Khawaja has, getting his first hundred of the summer and hopefully a bit of spring back into his step after some injury hassles and during some ongoing off-field dramas. Joe Burns made a huge one when it mattered in the first dig, as did Travis Head, and Kurtis Patterson followed up with his own hundred once the ascendancy had been won. Mitchell Starc then grabbed five wickets, even if at times in strange and fortuitous ways. So they’re all on the board.

Marcus Harris, on the other hand, has followed a decent series against India with a poor one against a much more placid bowling attack. He’s got out to very loose shots each time, which doesn’t bode well for England. And Marnus Labuschagne couldn’t make a run in Canberra after a good knock on his home ground in Brisbane.

Drop us a line

As always, you can make your own contributions to the OBO: thoughts, questions, considerations. Find me on Twitter at @GeoffLemonSport or email me at geoff.lemon@theguardian.com.

A lot of angst on the timeline this morning about Jason Holder’s suspension from the final West Indies Test hosting England. He’s been an inspirational leader in this series and got his team to 2-0 up, and now he’s been banned for bowling too slowly. Well, for his team bowling too slowly, not for his own figures on the speed gun. Which might have been an issue earlier in his career.

A lot of arguments (these are the rules) and counter-arguments (how can your over rate be too slow when you’ve won in three days). I have some sympathy for both sides of it. Slow over rates are annoying. But then, if a team is winning with four fast bowlers coming off long run-ups and taking lots of wickets, why should they have to stop just to get through more deliveries an hour?

Perhaps the line below is the most compelling argument. Not sure what the solution is, but it’s not the one we have at present.

The surface is starting to look a bit blotchy and worn, but it’s played very truly so far. Decent bounce throughout for both teams, which has helped bring about catches behind the wicket. (As have some horrible shots, mind you.) The footmarks might start to be a factor for Nathan Lyon today, who picked up a couple of wickets on his home(ish) ground here in Canberra.

Preamble

Counting down, and we are ready to start day four of the inaugural Test at Manuka Oval. And we can call the experiment a success. Crowds so far of 8556 on the opening Friday, then 11,388 on the Saturday, and 8397 on the Sunday. Pretty good going in a small ground, and it has felt full and cheerful throughout.

Barring a lot of rain or a Sri Lankan batting performance for the ages, it should end today. The visiting team hasn’t lost a wicket yet, reaching 0 for 17 after Australia declared for the second time in the match late on the third day. But they’re missing a batsman, with Kusal Janith Perera concussed by Jhye Richardson in the first innings, and that first innings showed that once a wicket fell, a few tended to follow.

Sri Lanka’s opener Dimuth Karunaratne also retired hurt in the first innings after being hit on the back of the neck, which was a frightening moment for everyone. Not least for Pat Cummins, who had bowled that ball. But Karunaratne was cleared at hospital of any damage, and was able to resume his innings the next day and raise a half century. He’ll resume again today in his second dig on 8 not out.

Sri Lanka need 516 to win, or to bat for two full days to draw. There was some rain forecast but the day has cleared to be sunny with some high and distant cloud.

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