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Australia have been under pressure to boycott the Champions Trophy match against Afghanistan in response to the violation of women’s rights in the country under the Taliban regime. Cricket Australia have so far resisted those calls and England will also avoid taking “unilateral” action to boycott their Champions Trophy game against the same opponent, while calling on the ICC to make a more unified stand.
We remain of the view that a coordinated international response by the cricketing community is the appropriate way forward, and will achieve more than any unilateral action by the ECB in boycotting this match.
Australia and Sri Lanka will also meet in a pair of ODIs next week in preparation for the ICC Champions Trophy to be playing in Pakistan and Dubai later this month. It already looks like Australia will take a new-look squad to the tournament with confirmation that ODI stalwarts Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Mitch Marsh and Marcus Stoinis won’t be making the trip.
Cooper Connolly is one player who could force his way into the squad especially with a strong showing in sub-continental conditions in Galle.
Australia turned to ever-effective part-time spinner Travis Head (1 for 31) for eight overs on day one, while left-arm tweaker Cooper Connolly (0 for 12) and seamer Beau Webster (0 for 13) both bowled three. But much of the heavy lifting was done by Nathan Lyon (3 for 78) and Matthew Kuhnemann (2 for 53) who each sent down 30 overs, as well as left-arm pacer Mitchell Starc (3 for 37).
Captain Steve Smith seemed to be short of a fourth frontline bowler suited to the conditions on day one, especially with Todd Murphy dropped for the second Test with all-rounder Connolly preferred. Australia bowling coach Dan Vettori explained the change to the XI after play yesterday.
First-innings runs are going to play a huge role in whoever wins this game. The anticipation that the wicket would probably be slightly more extreme than the first Test match, we thought that the number of overs would come down and maybe batting would come to the fore.
It’s an incredibly tough call on ‘Murph’ because I think whenever he’s come into the team, he’s done a fantastic job. It was just our interpretation of the wicket led us to believe that runs were going to be at a premium.
Australia may have a fight on their hands to seal a rare subcontinent series win against Sri Lanka after a see-sawing first day of the second Test in Galle.
Catch up on the day one report:
Preamble
Martin Pegan
Hello and welcome to live coverage of day two of the second Test between Sri Lanka and Australia.
After being dismantled in the first Test the hosts put up more of a fight yesterday as they reached 93 for one before Australia struck back with Nathan Lyon (3 for 78) and Mitchell Starc (3 for 37) leading the way. Sri Lanka were able to recover from a couple of mini-collapses off the back of half-centuries to Dinesh Chandimal (74) and Kusal Mendis (59 not out) to finish the day on 229 for 9, but will be hoping their keeper can eke out several more runs to lift them to a more competitive first innings total.
Australia’s quartet of spinners found more in the pitch as day one progressed and the batters will be conscious of the need to amass a strong total before conditions deteriorate further. Debutant Cooper Connolly has so far bowled only three overs in the match but could get his chance to impress with the bat at some stage today.
The conditions in Galle are hot but not too humid, with a predicted high of 31C and no signs that rain will interrupt play today or over the next few days.
First ball will be at 10am local time or 3.30pm AEDT. Meanwhile, please keep me company with your thoughts and predictions on email or @martinpegan on Bluesky or X. Let’s get into it!
