Australian fans could watch on with pride on home soil as the men’s Test team wrapped up an emphatic innings and 242-run victory over Sri Lanka in Galle… mere seconds after the women’s team completed a remarkable Ashes whitewash with their own innings victory to dismantle England at the MCG.
Remarkably, barely a minute separated the two matches’ finish – first, at 8:31pm (AEDT), Alana King had Lauren Filer caught in close, fittingly by player of the match Annabel Sutherland, to complete the innings and 122-run rout that wraps up a 16-0 women’s Ashes hiding with four more points for the Aussie total to go with their six from 3-0 sweeps of the T20I and ODI matches.
80 seconds later, at 8:32pm, Matt Kuhnemann ended Jeffrey Vandersay’s dogged rearguard effort when the Sri Lankan tailender skied a catch to Mitchell Starc at point for 53.
To add to the coincidence, both Kuhnemann and King completed nine-wicket hauls with the final blow.
However, Seven’s coverage of the twin matches wasn’t quite so neat, with criticism rife of the network’s frequent channel changes throughout the Test.
During Days 1-3, viewers nationwide have seen the men’s Test shunted to 7mate (channel 73) from the primary channel in favour of programs such as The Chase, Border Security, long-running soap Home and Away and the nightly news.
The women, meanwhile, have been frequently move to 7Two (channel 72), which is standard definition only.
Perhaps the most unfortunate example came with Nathan Lyon’s wicket on the stroke of lunch on Day 4 to have Dinesh Chandimal caught at short leg via a DRS review, with the moment coming amid a channel change and forcing viewers to scramble to see the results.
The channel change controversy wasn’t lost on Australian women’s captain Alyssa Healy, who took a cheeky dig at the network during her victors’ interview at the MCG.
“Hopefully they just don’t bump us to 7mate next time – we’ll watch instead of the boys,” Healy quipped, before quickly adding ‘just kidding!’
“I’m just kidding, Jonesy [commentator and women’s cricket legend Mel Jones], don’t take it to heart!”
Lankans rue first-day failure
Sri Lanka have been left to rue missed opportunities in a record-breaking Test match loss to Australia.
But coach Sanath Jayasuriya points to recent history for evidence the hosts can level the series when the second match begins in seaside Galle on Thursday.
Australia recorded their largest-ever total on the subcontinent in the series opener (6d-654), before skittling Sri Lanka (165, 247) twice either side of a rare follow-on.
“They outplayed us, they played positive cricket and they got runs on the board. That was the key,” Jayasuriya said.
The loss was Sri Lanka’s largest in Test history, eclipsing a painful defeat to India by an innings and 239 runs in 2017.
But things could have been different had the hosts taken their chances on a dominant first day of Australian batting.
Usman Khawaja (232) was dropped twice and survived Sri Lanka’s decision not to review a caught-behind chance as he made his way to a 16th Test century.
Stand-in captain Steve Smith was put down by Prabath Jayasuriya from his own bowling on one run, and would go on to add 140 more.
Sri Lanka had earlier declined what would have been a successful lbw review on Travis Head (57) and missed a run-out chance on Marnus Labuschagne (20), though those errors proved less expensive.
Matt Kuhnemann celebrates after taking the wicket of Jeffrey Vandersay. (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)
“We can’t control (losing) the toss but we should’ve controlled the first session of the game,” coach Jayasuriya said.
“It would’ve been a different story altogether if we got some wickets. That was the key. Then they batted really well, Khawaja and Smith both.
“You need to take your half-chances, even the review, if you think it’s a half you have to go for it. We missed those.
“We are capable of doing the change. (In 2022) they lost badly in the first game, they came back and they did well. We have to do well.”
Sri Lanka are hoping to make at least one change to their XI for the second Test with opening batter Pathum Nissanka a chance to recover from a groin issue.
“If he’s fit, definitely Pathum is in. We haven’t decided anything else now,” Jayasuriya said.
‘Turned to gold’: Selectors praised as bold calls vindicated
Cricket fans have been quick to voice their frustration – or enjoyment – following Sri Lanka’s stunning pair of collapses on day four.
As the wickets fell, comments rained in on social media not just on the stunning speed of the capitulation, but the approach of the Aussies in Galle – when some even apologising to Australia’s selectors for perceived criticism of their choices heading into the match.
Chandimal sole silver lining despite rare case of deja vu
In every metric, the numbers make for dire reading if you are a Sri Lankan fan.
However, even as the side hopes for the rain to break, the efforts of former skipper Dinesh Chandimal have been praised – his 72 runs in the first innings accounting for nearly half of the Sri Lankan total.
While he was unable to replicate the heroics in the second innings, his 69-run partnership with Angelo Mathews helped stem the regular flow of wickets, eventually being dismissed just before the lunch break by Nathan Lyon for 31 – the second time Lyon had dismissed him that innings.
While Chandimal will leave Galle with his form somewhat unscathed, the same cannot be said for incumbent captain Dhananjaya de Silva.
Everything that can go wrong has gone wrong for the skipper, missing two opportunities on review, putting Usman Khawaja down when he was on 54, and throwing his wicket away in both innings to Kuhnemann.
with AAP