Read our day two report here:Thanks for your company and comments, I’ve got to dash off but the match report from day two, a thumping day for Australia in Galle, will be along and posted here very shortly.Just time for a quick word with a not-very-Yorkshire-sounding Josh Inglis as he reflects on notching up a century on Test debut in front of his proud ma and pa in the crowd:Josh Inglis:I don’t reckon it has quite sunk in… It’s a really special day, something I’m really proud of.Getting a boundary first ball is always nice! I’ve been around this group for a while now and it’s always nice to have your family around.Mum and dad made a quick dash over! A Hundred on debut is special, so I’m really happy.”That’s it for now, we’ll be back tomorrow with all the action from day three.

Goodbye!Scratch that, drizzle starts to fall in Galle as it has threatened to all afternoon and the umpires decide it is heavy enough to require the covers to be summoned.That is more than likely stumps and Sri Lanka’s batters can breathe a sigh of relieg that the rain saved them from having to negotiate three or four nervy overs before the official close.14th over: Sri Lanka 44-3 (Chandimal 9, Mendis 13) Lyon is round the wicket to Chandimal who gets off strike with a poke into the off side.Mendis blocks out the rest.Todd Murphy is coming on to replace Kuhnemann, we’ve ten minutes or so to the close of play – Sri Lanka really can’t afford to lose another wicket before then.

13th over: Sri Lanka 43-3 (Chandimal 8, Mendis 13) Kamindu Mendis decides he isn’t going to revert completely into his shell, a length ball from Kuhnemann is slapped high and long over midwicket for SIX.The left-handed (but both really) batter sweeps fine to pick up four off the final ball of the over.More than one way to skin a cat y’see.12th over: Sri Lanka 31-3 (Chandimal 8, Mendis 1) Back to back maidens as Sri Lanka drop anchor before the close.11th over: Sri Lanka 31-3 (Chandimal 8, Mendis 1) Kuhnemann with a maiden to Mendis.

10th over: Sri Lanka 31-3 (Chandimal 8, Mendis 1) The impossibly talented Kamindu Mendis is the new batter,He racked up 182* against the Kiwis in Galle at the end of last year,He needs to do the same if not more here,He gets off the mark with a nudge to leg,What a grab by Travis Head! Lyon gets one to spit off the pitch, Mathews gets a glove on it and the ball loops away in the air, Head anticipates and dives full stretch to his left to pluck the ball out of the air one handed! The Aussies are cock-a-hoop!9th over: Sri Lanka 30-2 (Chandimal 8, Mathews 8) Another probing over from Kuhnemann in fading light.

Sri Lanka clinging on somewhat, oohs and aaahs from the Aussies after every delivery.8th over: Sri Lanka 28-2 (Chandimal 7, Mathews 7) Lyon bowls a maiden but there is drama as Mathews plays one onto his stumps and the bails refuse to fall! The ball flicked his pad and trickled back onto the stumps but too gently to do the business! A life for Angelo.7th over: Sri Lanka 28-2 (Chandimal 7, Mathews 7) Drop! A tough chance is shelled by McSweeney in the gully as Chandimal flashes a drive to a length ball from Starc and a thick outside edge flies away at pace.The fielder got a good piece of it but couldn’t cling on, tipping it over the bar and getting a sore finger for his efforts.6th over: Sri Lanka 25-2 (Chandimal 5, Mathews 6) The first glimpse of Nathan Lyon in the Test match.

He trots and whirls under the evening sun.Close! Turn and bounce from Lyon, Mathews flicks away off his hip and narrowly gets it past leg slip, but he does and it trickles away for a boundary.5th over: Sri Lanka 20-2 (Chandimal 5, Mathews 1) Angelo Mathews joins Chandimal in the middle and the latter unfurls a crunching drive through cover to keep Starc grounded.That was a delicious looking stroke.Sri Lanka need a days worth of them… and no further wickets this evening.

Noooooo! Sri Lanka lose their second wicket as Karunaratne fences a short ball through gully where sub fielder Nathan McSweeney parries the catch up then shows good awareness to dive and cling on a the second attempt.Trouble brewing for the home side.4th over: Sri Lanka 15-1 (Karunaratne 7, Chandimal 1) Kuhnemann has men around the bat but fluffs his lines with a full toss that Karunaratne jumps on and flashes away for a boundary through midwicket.3rd over: Sri Lanka 8-1 (Karunaratne 1, Chandimal 0) Starc stitches five dots together against Karunaratne before the batter gets off the mark with a push through mid off.It’s tough going out there for the home side.

2nd over: Sri Lanka 7-1 (Karunaratne 0, Chandimal 0) Dinesh Chandimal arrives in the middle with a hefty job of work to do.There’s at least thirty minutes to get through this evening and Australia have their collective dander well and truly up.Gone! Australia have their first and it is Matt Kuhnemann with the strike in his first over! The spinner gets one to slide on and Fernando made the mistake of playing back and missing the ball dead in front of middle.He reviews in vain, it was hitting the top of middle.A double loss of judgement as he burns a review for his side too.

1st over: Sri Lanka 1-0 (Fernando 1, Karunaratne 0) Starc has two slips and a wide gully in place,He goes full in search of movement, of which there is a hint through the air,Nearly draws Fernando into a false stroke outside off stump with one that shapes away but the batter pulls out of the shot at the last,We’ll give him the benefit of the doubt,A single off the over to get Sri Lanka underway.

Just 653 more of those will do it chaps,Righto, Dimuth Karunaratne and Oshada Fernando have strapped the pads on and are out in the middle,The sun is back out in Galle, an intriguing and exceedingly tricky (for Sri Lanka) short session in store,Mitch Starc has the new nut in his mitts and a whole lotta runs to play with,“Hi James,”Hello to you, Jake Kimber Thomson.

Here, take my hand…“On the topic of hand holding Victorian greats, as a junior I was coached by the late great Dean Jones, under whose tutelage we focussed almost exclusively on running between wickets,If one was involved in a run out in a match, at the following training both complicit batters had to hold hands for the entire session,”Makes sense,They’ve pulled the pin! Steve Smith waves his side in, there’s no record Test score at Galle but Australia don’t care about that, they want a dart at a weary Sri Lanka under foreboding skies,Sri Lanka forlornly trudge from the field as Smith and some of his men hop onto it to go through their warm up motions.

Yeh that’d get right in my head too.Fabulous batting effort from Australia, they’ve got this game in the palm of their hand.A few quick wickets this evening and Sri Lanka are right in it.153rd over: Australia 647-6 (Carey 45, Starc 13) Vandersay (cry baby cry) replaces Fernando and is worked for a couple into the leg side by Starc.The weather is holding off for now by the way, a bit of sun peeping through the gloomy clouds.

152nd over: Australia 645-6 (Carey 43, Starc 13) Starc clears the front dog and smears Peiris away over cow corner for SIX!Australia rack up the second highest Test score in Galle, do they have the 703 Sri Lanka scored against Ireland in 2023 in their sights? The third new ball is due in 8 overs… which means I’ve got to post this from the great man.Having a conversation re what’s overrated.Our top 5 are1 3rd New Ball2 Holding Hands3 Queuing 4 Lobster5 Gourmet Pizzas What’s yours?Holding hands gets me everytime!151st over: Australia 637-6 (Carey 42, Starc 6) Fernando bangs one in short and Starc flogs it away through the leg side for four.He latched onto that and dismissed it in some style.“Starc won’t tolerate that sort of length” says the commentator on my TV – who turns out to be Simon Katich – which implores me to give this one a spin:Anyone who can re-work Motorcycle Emptiness to include Alec Carey and Asitha Fernando gets a special prize*.

*Respect.That’s it.And I’m sure Nicky Wire follows the OBO too…150th over: Australia 632-6 (Carey 42, Starc 2) Mitchell Starc is the new batter, we might see some humpty with the long handle here.Good grab! Webster is disappointed but has to depart after driving uppishly into the covers where Mendis snaffles the catch in dodgy seeing conditions.Australia in strife*!*It’s a bit of fun.

149th over: Australia 628-5 (Carey 40, Webster 23) Carey adds a single as the rain falls more steadily,148th over: Australia 627-5 (Carey 39, Webster 23) There’s a thin miasma of mizzle falling in Galle,They might not be out there for much longer,Ray Murphy knows my areas! A fine piece of work sir,Don’t hit it any harderOur batsmen are a waitingInnings almost overBowlers get on iceTrying to go the distanceTalking of big sixesOnce upon a boundaryUnder S’Lankan lightWhat was the curried thing you gave to me”This song has a special place in my heart as it used to be one of the only ones my daughter would fall asleep to in the car.

It’d take a few repeats, mind.You’ll try anything after a billion listens to ‘Babyshark’.148th over: Australia 627-5 (Carey 39, Webster 23) Now then! Has a message been sent out? Webster trots out of his crease and flays Vandersay over the leg side for four.Is this Australia putting their foot down in search of a declaration?147th over: Australia 621-5 (Carey 31, Webster 15) Fernando chugs in, a short ball rears up and Webster plays it well under his nose with the full face of the bat.A quick single follows to bring Carey on strike.

Shot! Carey lashes a length ball on the up through the off side! That’s the first boundary in a hundred balls.146th over: Australia 611-5 (Carey 31, Webster 15) More hammering of the popping crease, more dark clouds rolling in.Three singles worked off Vandersay.145th over: Australia 608-5 (Carey 29, Webster 14) Jayasuriya is presumably having a nice long lie down in a cryogenic chamber round the back of the changing room – Asitha Fernando is coming on to bowl.There’s a delay as the groundstaff come out and hammer the loose soil of the popping crease into more solid ground.

There’s probably a metaphor in there somewhere.Three more off the over.Said groundstaff are now getting a bit twitchy with the dark clouds rolling in…144th over: Australia 605-5 (Carey 27, Webster 13) There are some dark clouds building up ominously behind the ground in Galle.I may have tempted fate by dismissing the weather forecasters so crudely.For that, I can only apologise.

Vandesay begins after tea, Webster and Carey are watchful, playing him off the back foot and turning the strike over to collect five runs off the over.Here come the players post tea, how many are Australia going to rack up? There’s only one way to find out.I predict a… century on Test debut!Josh Inglis becomes the first Yorkshireman to score a Test hundred in the Ashes year of 2025 with a debut effort for Australia v Sri Lanka in Galle.Here he is getting a Year 8 sports award from Kaiser Chiefs as a 13-year-old in 2008, two years before emigrating.pic.

twitter,com/WnlXK1SU2WThis is fantastic,143rd over: Australia 600-5 (Carey 25, Webster 10) Australia go to tea sitting pretty on a plump and juicy 600 runs,Jayasuriya sends down his 60th over and then surely departs for a well earned sandwich with a side portion of ice bath,The visitors are ticking along at four runs an over and show no signs of pulling the plug just yet.

142nd over: Australia 599-5 (Carey 24, Webster 10) Vandersay replaces Peiris and nearly clings on to a return catch as Carey bunts one down the ground in the air, it was juuust out of reach for the bowler in his follow through,Vandersay, cry baby cry,It would be remiss of me not to include a reference to The National at least once in this OBO,It can’t all be a Furtado stronghold,The cricket and @TheNational crossover piece that *everyone* has been waiting for https://t.

co/33YrSKMELV pic,twitter,com/dcwVyaloCe141th over: Australia 592-5 (Carey 21, Webster 9) Prabath Jayasuriya is into his 59th over,Sonny Ramahdin isn’t in danger just yet,Murali might be though, he holds the record for the most overs bowled in an innings by a Sri Lankan – 75 overs against India at Mohali in 1997.

140th over: Australia 589-5 (Carey 18, Webster 9) Carey and Webster rotate the strike and tick Australia on towards six hundred.I think Steve Smith is happy to let his side bat and bat and bat some more.There’s a lot of time left in this Test.There are a proposed 40 overs left in the day! 40 overs, I’ll be on my knees! You think this stuff writes itself? Don’t answer that.ChatGPT couldn’t do an OBO to save its artificial life.

Could it?139th over: Australia 584-5 (Carey 14, Webster 8) Jayasuriya rattles through a maiden to Webster.Scoreboard pressure!138th over: Australia 584-5 (Carey 14, Webster 8) Beau Webster pushes for a couple into the covers and his Test batting average goes to 100.Easy game eh?137th over: Australia 579-5 (Carey 13, Webster 4) Jayasuriya wheels away, bright sunshine in Galle, one in the eye for the weather forecasters who said it was going to pelt it down this afternoon.Australia continue to pile em on, albeit with two singles nurdled off the over.136th over: Australia 577-5 (Carey 12, Webster 3) Peiris’ gets some drift and bounce now, beating Webster’s poke forward