Australia’s decision to play four quicks and bowl first at the SCG appeared questionable at stages throughout day one but, by stumps, Jackson Bird and Mitchell Starc had guaranteed the home side the upper hand in the third Test against Sri Lanka.
This was the Test supposed to be over inside three days, but Sri Lanka showed plenty of fight to be all out for 294 just before stumps from 87.4 overs as both sides suffered their fair share of frustrations.
Australia won the toss and unleashed their pace weapons on a green wicket, fully expecting to roll through the wounded tourists like they did on Boxing Day.
But Sri Lanka courageously bounced back from their MCG humiliation to let Australia know they’re in a contest despite being 2-0 down in the three-match series.
Sydney products Bird and Starc starred with the ball.
Bird finished with four wickets, Starc three and Peter Siddle two, but Australia’s bowlers would be disappointed they didn’t strike a killer blow earlier in the day.
Australia will still be confident of batting well and securing a series clean-sweep but, so far, it hasn’t been a stroll in the park.
Typifying the Sri Lankans’ bravery was batsman Lahiru Thirimanne.
The 23-year-old only arrived in Australia to join the injury-stricken squad on Tuesday, yet fell agonisingly short of a maiden century when he holed out for 91.
Skipper Mahela Jayawardene also dug deep to get himself out of a form slump and make 72 in his final Test as Sri Lankan captain and, in the process, moved into eighth place on the Test run-scorers’ list.
But Sri Lanka’s batsmen threw away a golden opportunity to put themselves in a dominant position.
Australia’s bowlers didn’t knock over the top order as quickly as they would have liked, but rallied in the final session to take 5-72 and reclaim the advantage.
Selecting four quicks gave Michael Clarke little choice but to back his arsenal and bowl first.
But the other argument is Australia could have used the toss win as a chance to bat Sri Lanka out of the match on what turned out to be a good run-scoring pitch.
Controversially rotated out for the Boxing Day Test, Starc responded with 3-71 – including the big breakthrough of Jayawardene caught at first slip in the middle session.
Unwanted by NSW as a young fast bowler, Bird has gone on to star in Sheffield Shield cricket with Tasmania and is doing the same two matches into his international career.
Bird (4-41) removed openers Dimuth Karunaratne and Dilshan before knocking over tailenders Rangana Herath and Suranga Lakmal for his first four-wicket Test haul.
Siddle (2-46) toiled away well, but Mitchell Johnson (0-58) and Nathan Lyon (1-69) battled.
Thirimanne combined with Jayawardene and Mathews for important half-century partnerships before the Test rookie threw his wicket away to be caught by a diving David Warner off Lyon late in the day.
It looked as though Australia would have to face a few overs at the death, but tailenders Lakmal (5) and Nuwan Pradeep (17no) put on a 21-run stand that lasted long enough to ensure there was no time for Australia to bat on the opening day.
