This was published 1 year ago
Thanks for joining today.
Steve Smith and Usman Khawaja have guided Australia to a commanding position at the end of day one.
Showed their class in spades. Khawaja broke a century drought spanning 33 innings, while Smith reached 10,000 Test runs before bringing up his 35th century in style.
Keep an eye on our mastheads for all the latest news and analysis from Dan Brettig in Galle.
I’m signing off for tonight. I’ll be back in the blogging chair tomorrow to do it all again.
Question from Mick: “How often would Khawaja have a higher strike rate than Smith when they both made tons?”
TD: Great question. I’ve just looked up the times when it’s happened. This is the only time.
“The perfect day for Australia”.
Simon Katich sums it up perfectly as Usman Khawaja and Steve Smith come off the field due to rain in Galle.
There are still 8.5 overs that are supposed to be bowled but that’ll depend on how much is behind this storm.
These two have put on 195 runs. It’s been batting of the highest order against slow bowling.
Khawaja is on 147, while Smith is 104.
In other news, as Usman Khawaja belts a reverse sweep for four, a bloke smoking a durry has been taken from the field.
Australia 2-327 with less than 10 overs remaining in the day.
There it is.
Steve Smith needed one run for 10,000 in Tests. He got there.
Then he was dropped on one.
Now he has 100 runs for an overall tally of 10,099.
He brings up his 35th Test century with a backfoot punch for three through the off side. Smith moves to No.7 on the list of Test century makers, surpassing Sunil Gavaskar, Younis Khan, Mahela Jayawardene and Brian Lara.
As Australia reaches 300 and breaks a 100-ball boundary drought, Dan Brettig answers a reader question.
Question from Dave: “How high can Steve Smith climb on the all-time run-scorers list? Let’s assume he bats for another two Ashes series, how many more runs is he likely to score?”
Wonderful batting. Beautiful players of spin. However, they have had their luck today. Things could have been very different had Sri Lanka taken their chances.
Just 22 runs have come from the last 10 overs. Might be time for a little bit of chocolate or some ice cream.
Australia 2-287 off 72 overs
As the dots pile up and the pace of the game slows down, let’s take a few questions. Fire away.
It’s been 68 balls since Australia last scored a boundary.
Australia 2-278 (Khawaja 128, Smith 72)