The Albany Gazette - Lyon, Swepson strikes hurt Sri Lanka in first Test

Sri Lanka reached 191 for six at tea after wicketkeeper-batsman Niroshan Dickwella counter-attacked with an unbeaten 51 following the hosts' decision to bat.

The left-handed Dickwella was batting alongside Ramesh Mendis, on 22, as the pair added a brisk 52 runs in a fast-moving game at the picturesque venue.

Dickwella reached his fifty off 42 balls, striking five boundaries along the way.

Lyon struck soon after lunch to send back skipper Dimuth Karunaratne after the left-handed batsman's hard-working 28, as David Warner took a sharp one-handed catch at gully.

Swepson struck on successive balls to get Dhananjaya de Silva, for 14, and Dinesh Chandimal, for nought, as Warner held on to a juggling catch after the ball deviated from the wicketkeeper's glove.

Dickwella denied Swepson, a leg-spinner, his hat-trick and hit back with three boundaries in one over from Lyon.

But the off-spinner came back strong in his next over to dismiss Angelo Mathews, for 39, and ended a 42-run stand for the sixth wicket.

The spinners added to the early strikes by the pace duo of Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc, both of whom took a wicket each in a first session that ended with Sri Lanka on 68-2.

The left-handed Karunaratne started cautiously with opening partner Pathum Nissanka but Australian captain Cummins broke through in the fifth over of an incisive spell.

Starc, a left-arm quick, returned to send back Kusal Mendis caught behind for three as Sri Lanka slipped to 42-2.

Australia were unchanged from the team that secured a 1-0 series win over Pakistan in March.

Sri Lanka, who whitewashed the tourists 3-0 in 2016, handed leg-spinner Jeffrey Vandersay his Test debut.

The island nation, which won the preceding one-day international series 3-2, is battling an unprecedented economic crisis, with people across the country struggling to pay for food, fuel and other necessities.

(F.Schuster--BBZ)