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So teenage wonderboy Sam Konstas has been dropped after two Tests and Scott Boland’s run of bad luck continues, also dumped after winning man of the match honours in his last Test. Again.
Konstas makes way for Travis Head to open the batting with fellow Asian wicket specialist Usman Khawaja and Boland will shine the pine to allow specialist spinners right-armer Todd Murphy and leftie Matthew Kuhnemann to return to the line-up.
An interesting challenge now awaits Konstas who seemed assured of playing in the Ashes but whose rollercoaster rise has now been suddenly derailed. If Josh Inglis, a fine player of spin, takes his chance in the middle order this series and Head excels at the top and decides to stay there, Australian cricket’s Next Big Thing might be left waiting for Usman Khawaja to retire if he’s to dust off his baggy green.
It’s nothing Geoff Lemon didn’t see coming…
Teams
Final XIs have been confirmed and it’s a case of ‘Come in spinner!’ as both sides plump for triple-threat spin attacks.
Australia XI: 1 Usman Khawaja 2 Travis Head 3 Marnus Labuschagne 4 Steven Smith (capt.) 5 Josh Inglis 6 Beau Webster 7 Alex Carey (wk) 8 Mitchell Starc 9 Mathew Kuhnemann 10 Nathan Lyon 11 Todd Murphy
Sri Lanka XI: 1 Dimuth Karunaratne, 2 Oshada Fernando, 3 Dinesh Chandimal, 4 Angelo Mathews, 5 Kamindu Mendis, 6 Dhananjaya de Silva (capt.), 7 Kusal Mendis (wk), 8 Prabath Jayasuriya, 9 Nishan Peiris, 10 Jeffrey Vandersay 11 Asitha Fernando
Josh Inglis is confirmed to play and has received baggy green cap No 470 from redoubtable former Test opener Geoff Marsh whose son Mitchell was dropped for this series. The English-born, Australian-raised Inglis completes the Australian cricket holy trinity, having already played 26 ODIs and 29 T20s in the green and gold.
Australia have won the toss and will bat first
Good toss to win for Steve Smith. Australia will bat first and bowl last on what is traditionally a fiercely spinning Galle wicket.
As Australia’s men get their series under way today, Australia’s women are preparing to play the Ashes Test against England at the Melbourne Cricket Ground tomorrow. Australia are unbeaten in the series so far and, if Beth Mooney’s fighting words today are any indicator, there’s plenty more pain for the English to come.
Since 2007-08, Australia and Sri Lanka have played for the Warne-Muralitharan Trophy, named for the two titans of spin bowling from either nation. The trophy itself is a beauty, with the magic hands of both men cast in bronze and gripping match balls.
With final XIs pending here’s how the squads line up for this series…
Sri Lanka: Dhananjaya de Silva (c), Dimuth Karunaratne, Pathum Nissanka, Oshada Fernando, Lahiru Udara, Dinesh Chandimal, Angelo Mathews, Kamindu Mendis, Kusal Mendis, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Sonal Dinusha, Prabath Jayasuriya, Jeffrey Vandersay, Nishan Peiris, Asitha Fernando, Vishwa Fernando, Lahiru Kumara, Milan Rathnayake
Australia: Steve Smith (c), Sean Abbott, Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cooper Connolly, Travis Head (vc), Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Sam Konstas, Matt Kuhnemann, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Nathan McSweeney, Todd Murphy, Mitchell Starc, Beau Webster.
Australia enter this series without spearhead and captain Pat Cummins, who has sent his superhero cape to the dry-cleaners and stayed home for the birth of his second child while plotting the next step in Australia conquest of the cricketing world.
With Josh Hazlewood also sidelined, the bowling attack Australia’s selectors go with here in Galle is the subject of heated conjecture. Veterans Mitchell Starc and spinner Nathan Lyon seem certain to play. But who partners each?
Will people’s hero paceman Scott Boland get a chance alongside Starc with the new ball? Or does uncapped NSW firebrand Sean Abbott get his opportunity at last? Perhaps the medium pace of SCG Test hero allrounder Beau Webster is promoted up the bowling order?
Given the dry spinning wickets here in Galle, it’s also possible Australia could opt for a three-prong spin attack. Will Todd Murphy, Matthew Kuhnemann or rookie Cooper Connolly partner Lyon? Or will Australia pick just one of that trio and trust the part-time tweak of Travis Head who took a handy 4-10 to clinch the first Test for Australia in 2022?
There is risk with all three spinners, with Murphy not having played a Test in over a year, left-armer Kuhnemann recovering from thumb surgery and Connolly a veteran of just four first-class games.
The playing XIs for this match will be confirmed shortly, with plenty of debate over who will start and where they’ll bat/ bowl if picked.
Australia dropped a bombshell yesterday by confirming Travis Head will replace Sam Konstas as opener. Will the 19-year-old Boxing Day Test hero move down the order or drop out of the XI entirely? If the latter, who fills that vacant middle-order spot? Will Nathan McSweeney – a specialist No 5 at home – be recalled? Or are local reports on the money saying dynamic wicketkeeper-batter Josh Inglis is set to win a Test debut a month shy of his 30th birthday?
Feel free to drop me an email with your tuppence worth at any stage today. Or simply rhapsodise about Konstas in prose or poetry so we can get under Barney Ronay’s skin ahead of the Ashes…
There is deep intrigue surrounding this series, with key personnel missing from both squads, several stars believed to be playing injured and a host of fresh faces bracing for baptism in the pressure cooker of Test cricket.
Both sides had a good 2024, with Sri Lanka boasting a 6-4 win-loss record and Australia 7-2-1. However, Australia still have their tail up after defeating India 3-1 to win back the Border-Gavaskar Trophy for the first time in a decade, whereas Sri Lanka finished the year with a 2-0 away loss to South Africa, losing both Tests by hefty 233-run and 109-run margins.
Here’s how Geoff Lemon previewed the first Test…
Preamble
Angus Fontaine
Greetings cricket fans! Welcome to the Guardian’s over-by-over coverage of the opening day in the first Test between Australia and Sri Lanka at Galle International Cricket Stadium. Angus Fontaine here with you for the opening stages before Rob Smyth takes you home to stumps.
These two nations have been playing Tests against each other since 1983. In the 33 Tests over those 42 years, Australia has won 20 to Sri Lanka’s five, with eight draws. Overall, in 14 series, Australia has won 11 and Sri Lanka just two, with their sole triumphs coming at home in 1999 and 2016. However, the pendulum has swung back to Sri Lanka of late. Of the seven Tests contested in the past decade, Sri Lanka lead 4-3 (no draws).
If you’re looking for a form guide for 2025, look no further than the most recent two-Test showdown in 2022, the only drawn series ever staged between these countries, both played at Galle, today’s battleground.
Australia won the first Test by 10 wickets inside three days, with Nathan Lyon taking nine scalps and Travis Head 4-10 in the second innings. Sri Lanka then staged an epic fightback in the second Test. After Marnus Labuschagne (104) and Steve Smith (145) led Australia’s to 364, Dinesh Chandimal (206) swept Sri Lanka to 554 before Prabath Jayasuriya (6-59) rolled the visitors for 151 to seal victory by an innings and 39 runs.
It was a stunning reminder of how formidable Sri Lanka can be at home and why Australia are wary. Despite beating India 3-1 in the home summer and securing their berth at the World Test Championship in July, the No 1 Test side in the world somehow enter this 2025 series as underdogs.
The stage is set, the fuse is lit, and action gets under way at 3.30pm AEST.
