Sri Lanka v Australia: first men’s cricket Test, day four – live

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WICKET! Sri Lanka 114-5 (Mathews c Head b Lyon 41)

Australia are rushing towards an innings victory. Mathews tries to reverse sweep Lyon, gets a top edge onto his shoulder and is well caught by Head at short leg.

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25th over: Sri Lanka 114-4 (Mathews 41, Dhananjaya 0) Six wickets in the match now for Kuhnemann; he’ll want a few more before the game is over.

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WICKET! Sri Lanka 114-4 (Kamindu c Starc b Kuhnemann 32)

Kamindu Mendis’s skittish cameo of 32 from 26 balls comes to an end. After thumping four more over the bowler’s head, he was beaten in the flight and belted Kuhnemann straight to wide long on. I’d argue that Kamindu is better than that, but I guess a Test average of 68 brooks few arguments.

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24th over: Sri Lanka 108-3 (Mathews 41, Kamindu 26) Lyon screams for LBW when Mathews misses a reverse sweep. Smith decides not to review, though I must say it looked pretty close. Mathews may just have been outside the line.

Nope – replays show Mathews would have been out had Australia reviewed. They’ll regret that when he brings up his 300.

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23rd over: Sri Lanka 103-3 (Mathews 40, Kamindu 22) Mathews tucks Kamindu through midwicket for four to bring up Sri Lanka’s hundred.

Meanwhile, at the MCG, a genius by the name of Alana King is spinning Australia to an historic whitewash.

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22nd over: Sri Lanka 97-3 (Mathews 35, Kamindu 21) Kamindu reverse sweeps Lyon for four more. He’s playing some brilliant attacking strokes but it all feels a bit skittish. He he has a moment of fortune when an edge deflects off Carey and just short of Smith of slip.

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21st over: Sri Lanka 91-3 (Mathews 35, Kamindu 15) Kamindu Mendis is on the attack. He reverse sweeps Kuhnemann deftly for four, then wallops a slog-sweep for six. Kamindu has such a pure technique that it’s easy to forget how destructive he can be; he’s already his 23 sixes in his short Test career.

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20th over: Sri Lanka 79-3 (Mathews 34, Kamindu 4) Kamindu Mendis has had a lean trot by his standards, five Test innings without a fifty. He’s still averaging 71. A reverse sweep off Lyon is well blocked by slip, then an orthodox sweep doesn’t beat short third man. Another maiden.

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19th over: Sri Lanka 79-3 (Mathews 34, Kamindu 4) Kuhnemann replaces Murphy and troubles Mathews with a couple of deliveries that spit more than expected. A maiden.

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18th over: Sri Lanka 79-3 (Mathews 34, Kamindu 4) Kamindu Mendis is up and running straight away after lunch, slapping his third ball for four.

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Play continues in the Women’s Ashes Test, with England 62 for 1 in their second innings, still 208 behind. Jonathan Howcroft has the latest.

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Lunch: Sri Lanka trail by 414 runs

Australia are seven wickets away from a crushing victory in Galle. They took eight in the morning session, including seven in 45 balls across both innings, with Matt Kuhnemann collecting his second Test five-for.

Dinesh Chandimal and Angelo Mathews held them up for a while in a partnership of 69 before Chandimal fell for the second time this morning to Nathan Lyon, a bowler he has previously dominated.

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WICKET! Sri Lanka 75-3 (Chandimal c Head b Lyon 31)

Steve Smith’s hearing is in tip-top shape! The ball brushed Chandimal’s glove, hit the thigh and looped into the hands of Travis Head. A perfect way for Australia to end a brilliant session.

Travis Head catches Dinesh Chandimal to leave Sri Lanka 75-3 at lunch on day four of the first Test.
Photograph: Robert Cianflone/Getty Images
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17.2 overs: Sri Lanka 75-2 (Chandimal 31, Mathews 34) Lyon has successive appeals turned down against Chandimal, the first for LBW and the second for a bat-pad catch at short leg. Lyon didn’t seem too interested in the second – but Steve Smith heard something and went for the review without even talking to Lyon.

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17th over: Sri Lanka 75-2 (Chandimal 31, Mathews 34) Mathews hits three successive boundaries off Murphy, an edge wide of slip followed by two empathic, almost disdainful sweeps. Have some of them apples.

Sri Lanka’s hopes of saving the first Test lie with veteran Angelo Mathews – and the Galle weather. Photograph: Buddhika Weerasinghe/Getty Images
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16th over: Sri Lanka 63-2 (Chandimal 31, Mathews 22) Lyon switches back over the wicket to get Chandimal and gets one to turn sharply from outside off stump; Chandimal manages to drop it safely on the off side. Australia would love to pick up one more before lunch.

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15th over: Sri Lanka 61-2 (Chandimal 30, Mathews 21) Murphy replaces Kuhnemann, who bowled a relatively untidy spell of 3-0-10-0, and is fiddled wide of slip for two by Mathews. He isn’t playing with the same fluency as Chandimal but he knows how to make ugly runs. Talking of runs, Sri Lanka trail by 428.

“Are we allowed to make them follow on again?” asks Dan Harrison. “Win the game by two innings and x number of runs?!”

Only if you tell Mitch Starc he has to put his bowling boots back on.

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14th over: Sri Lanka 57-2 (Chandimal 29, Mathews 18) Apologies, we’re having one or two technical problems. You aren’t missing much – Chandimal in particular looks in control and is milking singles with minimal risk. Fifteen minutes until lunch.

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13th over: Sri Lanka 53-2 (Chandimal 26, Mathews 17)

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12th over: Sri Lanka 52-2 (Chandimal 26, Mathews 16) ”Why are the boundary ropes so far inside the ground?” wonders Sarah Sherman. I’m not certain but I think that’s fairly common in these six-hitting days.

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11th over: Sri Lanka 49-2 (Chandimal 24, Mathews 15) Mathews cuts Kuhnemann into the ground behind the stumps. The ball loops up off Carey’s boot and is brilliantly caught by Webster, diving forward from slip. The umpires go upstairs to check both the catch, which was clean, and whether the ball hit Carey straight on the foot. Alas for Australia, it didn’t; it bounced a fraction short and then looped up on off the boot. Lovely catch though.

Sri Lanka’s Angelo Mathews looks on as Beau Webster swoops to catch a ricochet. Photograph: Robert Cianflone/Getty Images
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10th over: Sri Lanka 47-2 (Chandimal 23, Mathews 14) A double bowling change, with Nathan Lyon on for Murphy. Mathews scuffs a reverse sweep just past Carey for four.; Smith, standing at slip, had moved to his right in anticipation of a catch. I doubt he’d have been able to reach it even if he’d stayed still.

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9th over: Sri Lanka 39-2 (Chandimal 21, Mathews 8) Matt Kuhnemann replaces Starc, who bowled a classy new-ball spell of 4-1-11-1. His first ball drifts outside leg stump and is dragged round the corner for four by Chandimal; another errant delivery later in the over goes for four leg-byes.

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8th over: Sri Lanka 28-2 (Chandimal 15, Mathews 7) There’s an umpire review for a stumping when Chandimal is beaten by an arm ball from Murphy. His back foot stayed grounded behind the line. Batting is starting to look a bit more comfortable for Sri Lanka, though it would be still be a surprise if this game goes to a fifth day.

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7th over: Sri Lanka 25-2 (Chandimal 12, Mathews 7) Chandimal, who has looked in fine touch all game, drive Starc for successive boundaries. Starc responds with a growling inswinger that hits Chandimal somewhere around the stomach and then a yorker that is well defended. It’s an engaging contest.

Dinesh Chandimal is again trying to dig Sri Lanka out of trouble in the first Test at Galle. Photograph: Ishara S Kodikara/AFP/Getty Images
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6th over: Sri Lanka 16-2 (Chandimal 3, Mathews 7) Mathews skids back to cut Murphy and is beaten. The rest of the over is milked for five runs, a reminder that while this pitch it’s spinning, it’s far from a bunsen.

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5th over: Sri Lanka 11-2 (Chandimal 1, Mathews 4) Starc has two slips and a leg gully for Chandimal, ensuring he can threaten both edges as well as that inviting front pad. Chandimal scrunches a single into the covers to get off the mark.

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4th over: Sri Lanka 10-2 (Chandimal 0, Mathews 4) That was Todd Murphy’s first Test wicket since dismissed Jimmy Anderson (remember him) at The Oval 18 months ago.

The new batter Angelo Mathews is hit on the body after missing pull, then reverse sweeps for four to get off the mark.

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WICKET! Sri Lanka 6-2 (Karunaratne b Murphy 0)

Well at least he didn’t get out to Mitchell Starc. But this is a horrible dismissal for Karunaratne, who offers no stroke to a ball that runs straight on to hit the off stump. Sri Lanka have now lost seven wickets for 15 in the last 45 balls.

Mitchell Starc congratulates Todd Murphy on the wicket of Sri Lanka’s Dimuth Karunaratne for 0. Photograph: Eranga Jayawardena/AP
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3rd over: Sri Lanka 6-1 (Karunaratne 0, Chandimal 0) Dinesh Chandimal is back at the crease barely 40 minutes after his first-innings dismissal. Starc enquires for LBW after another inswinger thumps into the pad; that time it was missing leg.

Starc is almost uniquely menacing when he gets the new ball to swing back into the right-handers.

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WICKET! Sri Lanka 6-1 (O Fernando LBW b Starc 6)

Classic bowling from Mitchell Starc, a full-length inswinger to the right-hander that traps Fernando plumb in front. He reviews, don’t ask me why; it was hitting middle a third of the way up.

Mitchell Starc celebrates the wicket of Oshada Fernando as Australia draw first blood in the second innings. Photograph: Robert Cianflone/Getty Images
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2nd over: Sri Lanka 6-0 (O Fernando 6, Karunaratne 0) The bespectacled offie Todd Murphy takes the new ball, a slight surprise given Kuhnemann’s success with the new ball in the first innings. Murphy starts around the wicket to the right-handed Fernando, with two slips and a short leg waiting to do some business.

Fernando misses a reverse sweep and is beaten by the bounce. He gets hold of it next ball, fetching the first boundary through extra cover.

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1st over: Sri Lanka 1-0 (O Fernando 1, Karunaratne 0) Early swing for Mitchell Starc, who smiles broadly after being Karunaratne first up. He has an outstanding record against Karunaratne, having dismissed his nine times in Tests at a head-to-head average of 17. Since 2016 the head-to-head average is barely over 10.

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Australia enforce the follow on

And frankly you’d hope so with a lead of 489 runs. They’ve been far too good for Sri Lanka, whose last five wickets disappeared in the space of 26 balls.

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WICKET! Sri Lanka 165 all out (Vandersay c Starc b Kuhnemann 4)

Five wickets for Matt Kuhnemann! Vandersay hacks him high into the cover, where Starc takes a simple catch. Kuhnemann smiles a little sheepishly and his teammates charge across in celebration; they could barely be happier for him. He leads Australia off, raising the ball to the crowd after finishing with excellent figures of 18.2-3-63-5. He’ll be bowling again very soon.

Australia’s Matthew Kuhnemann holds the match ball up to the Galle crowd after taking five wickets.
Photograph: Ishara S Kodikara/AFP/Getty Images
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52nd over: Sri Lanka 161-9 (Vandersay 0, A Fernando 0) Now Lyon has seven men plus the keeper around the bat for Asitha Fernando, woh edges his first ball along the ground to second slip.

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WICKET! Sri Lanka 161-9 (Peiris c Inglis b Lyon 5)

Nathan Lyon makes short work of the left-handed Nishan Peiris, who slashes a boundary before bat-padding a defensive stroke to short leg. Josh Inglis moves smartly to his right to take the catch.

Australia’s spinners have skittled Sri Lanka’s feeble lower order on day four of the first Test.
Photograph: Buddhika Weerasinghe/Getty Images
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51st over: Sri Lanka 157-8 (Vandersay 0, Peiris 1) There are six fielders round the bat for the new batter Peiris: short leg, gully, slip, leg slip, leg gully and short leg. An inside-edge lands just short of leg gully.

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WICKET! Sri Lanka 156-8 (Jayasuriya st Carey b Kuhnemann 0)

Another one. Jayasuriya runs past a lovely delivery that pitches on middle and growls past the edge; Alex Carey does the rest. Sri Lanka have lost three for none in 13 balls and Matthew Kuhnemann is one wicket away from his second Test five-for.

Prabath Jayasuriya is about to see himself stumped by Alex Carey as Sri Lanka crumble on day four. Photograph: Robert Cianflone/Getty Images
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50th over: Sri Lanka 156-7 (Jayasuriya 0, Vandersay 0) There’s surely no doubt Australia will enforce the follow-on when the time comes. It’s not like they need to give the seamers a break, or that there’s any risk of them losing the game with a lead of almost 500.

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WICKET! Sri Lanka 156-7 (Chandimal LBW b Lyon 72)

The change of angle works for Nathan Lyon, who has dismissed Chandimal for only the second time in Tests. Chandimal missed a reverse sweep and was hit on the back thigh by a lovely delivery that curved onto off and middle and turned sharply.

Chandimal reviewed, mainly because he’s the last remaining batter, but it was hitting leg stump and he’s on his way for a punchy 72.

Australia appeal successfully for the wicket of Dinesh Chandimal on day four of the First Test. Photograph: Robert Cianflone/Getty Images
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49th over: Sri Lanka 156-6 (Chandimal 72, Jayasuriya 0) There’s isn’t much Sri Lankan batting left – Prabath Jayasuriya, the No8, has a Test average of 8.41 – so one wicket could bring five. Jayasuriya is beaten by his first two deliveries, both of which rip off the stumps to beat the edge.

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WICKET! Sri Lanka 156-6 (Kusal Mendis c Murphy b Kuhnemann 21)

Kusal Mendis falls into the trap. Australia were happy for him to slog-sweep against the spin, knowing he could easily top-edge it. That’s exactly what happened and Todd Murphy took a excellent running catch at deepish midwicket.

Australia’s Matthew Kuhnemann celebrates the wicket of Sri Lanka’s Kusal Mendis on day four. Photograph: Eranga Jayawardena/AP
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48th over: Sri Lanka 156-5 (Chandimal 72, Kusal Mendis 22) A great stat from the host broadcaster. Chandimal has a head-to-head average of 221 against Nathan Lyon in Test cricket. Make that 223 after a couple of singles in this over. Lyon has moved around the wicket to Chandimal but not Mendis.

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47th over: Sri Lanka 152-5 (Chandimal 70, Kusal Mendis 19) Mendis fetches Kuhnemann from well outside off stump, slog-sweeping through midwicket for four. Australia won’t mind that with the ball turning away from the bat.

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46th over: Sri Lanka 145-5 (Chandimal 68, Kusal Mendis 14) Mendis lunges at a beautiful delivery from Lyon that zips past the edge. Carey has the bails off in a flash but Mendis’s back foot stayed grounded. It feels like a wicket is imminent.

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45th over: Sri Lanka 144-5 (Chandimal 67, Kusal Mendis 14) Kuhnemann is getting bounce as well as turn and has started very well. Chandimal, surprised by a ball that spits from middle stump, does well to soften his hands and drop it short of the fielder who has just been moved to silly point.

Sri Lanka’s Dinesh Chandimal bats on day four of the First Test against Australia at Galle Stadium. Photograph: Robert Cianflone/Getty Images
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England Women have had a better morning at the MCG, taking the last five Australian wickets for nine runs. They are miles behind, though, and there’s every chance Australia will complete a whitewash today.

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44th over: Sri Lanka 143-5 (Chandimal 66, Kusal Mendis 14) Nathan Lyon’s first ball induces a top-edged sweep from Chandimal that lands safely. Mendis then crashes a pull into the left knee of Head at short leg. Oof, that looked painful.

Lyon has a slightly different field: slip, short leg and leg gully.

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43rd over: Sri Lanka 138-5 (Chandimal 64, Kusal Mendis 11) Kuhnemann starts around the wicket, with two slips and a short leg for both batsmen. There’s some turn straight away, albeit relatively slow, and Chandimal and Mendis take a single apiece. A low-key start.

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Nathan Lyon talks to our own Adam Collins

We can’t do anything about the weather. But we’ve rocked up here today and there’s some sunlight and some heat coming out of the ground. It’s gonna be a challenging morning and an exciting one.

We hope the pitch will deteriorate, you expect that on the subcontinent. Hopefully we’ll get a full day in today.

I’ve played against Dinesh [Chandimal] for a long time now – he’s a class player, isn’t he? Hopefully we can create some more problems for him to solve.

[On Matt Kuhnemann and Todd Murphy] Our preparation has been pretty spot on. We thoroughly enjoyed our time in Dubai. Their young, they’re learning, they’re asking questions. It’s a pretty amazing group to be working with.

I’ve got nothing but love for the ground here at Galle. The Sri Lankan culture and people… it’s an amazing place to tour.

Nathan Lyon will be trying to spin Australia to victory over Sri Lanka on day four of the first Test. Photograph: Eranga Jayawardena/AP
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Less than ten minutes until play resumes. It looks a beautiful sunny day in Galle. There’s a small chance of rain this afternoon but apart from that the radar looks clear.

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Weather permitting, there should be plenty of time for Australia to force victory in this game, almost 200 overs. That’s roughly a wicket every 13 overs on a pitch that is already offering a fair bit for the spinners.

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The Women’s Ashes Test is about to resume at the MCG. Jonathan Howcroft is on duty for that one.

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Preamble

Rob Smyth

Morning folks. Shall we try that one again? Only 27 overs were possible on the third day in Galle but the forecast is much better today and Australia should be able to push towards victory. All things being equal, there should be a sighting of an endangered tactic: the follow-on.

Sri Lanka will resume on 136 for 5, still a mildly terrifying 518 runs behind, with Dinesh Chandimal on 63 and Kusal Mendis on 10. Expect an early blast from Mitchell Starc and then spin, lots of spin.

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