SL vs AUS: Birthday boy Mitchell Starc registers huge milestone, joins Shane Warne in elite list

SL vs AUS: Birthday boy Mitchell Starc registers huge milestone, joins Shane Warne in elite list
SL vs AUS: Birthday boy Mitchell Starc registers huge milestone, joins Shane Warne in elite list

New Delhi: Australia dominated day 2 of the opening Test match against Sri Lanka at the Galle International Stadium on Thursday, January 30. The visitors declared their first innings after scoring 654/6. Steve Smith and Co. got off to a flying start after opting to bat first as Travis Head and Usman Khawaja forged a 92-run partnership for the opening wicket. Prabath Jayasuriya removed Head on 57 runs while Vandersay dismissed Labuschagne on 20 runs. But Steve Smith and Usman Khawaja forged a stunning 266-run partnership for the third wicket.

Smith notched up his 35th Test hundred while Khawaja also scored a brilliant double century to put Australia in a commanding position. Josh Inglis also didn’t waste much time and scored a brisk hundred on Test debut to make things worse for the hosts. The Sri Lanka fielders dropped many catches and allowed the Aussies to reach such a massive first-innings total.

In reply, Sri Lanka got off to a poor start as Mitchell Starc and Matthew Kuhnemann removed the openers early while Nathan Lyon dismissed Angelo Mathews. With three more days remaining in the first set, the Aussies are in the dominating position in Galle.

Mitchell Starc’s special feat

The fast bowler dismissed Karunaratne and became the fourth Australian to take 700 wickets in international cricket. Starc joined the elite list of Aussie bowlers which so far only had Shane Warne (999 wickets), Glenn McGrath (948 wickets) and Brett Lee (718 wickets). Warne also picked up two wickets for ICC World XI and has 1001 international wickets in total.

PlayerMatchesWicketsBBIAverageEconomy
Shane Warne3389998/7125.532.98
Glenn McGrath3759488/2421.752.92
Brett Lee3227185/2226.664.06
Mitchell Starc287*7006/2825.784.11
Mitchell Johnson2565908/6126.653.9
Nathan Lyon166*5708/5031.183.03
Pat Cummins2145036/2324.393.76

Australia break multiple records in first Test vs Sri Lanka

Australia declared their first innings on 656/6 and surpassed their highest total in Sri Lanka (617 for 5 in 1995) and their highest in Asia (617 all out in 1980 vs Pakistan). Usman Khawaja became the first Australian batter to score a double hundred in Sri Lanka and it is also the highest individual score for Australia against Sri Lanka.

Khawaja also became the second-oldest Australian batter to score a double hundred after Don Bradman while Josh Inglis also scored the second fastest hundred (90 balls) on Test debut after Shikhar Dhawan’s 85-ball century.

 Australian fast bowler registered a massive milestone in the first Test against Sri Lanka at the Galle International Stadium on Thursday, January 30.  Cricket Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today