Day 1: Poisoned Kandy

Following a remarkable days cricket in Kandy upon which 17 wickets fell both Australia and Sri Lanka sit in an evenly poised position as bad light forced stumps on Day 1.

Upon winning the toss with a call of heads Ricky Ponting's wish to bat was granted on a grassy wicket in the mountains of Sri Lanka as the Australians encountered a lush outfield for the first time on tour.

Thilan Samaraweera was ruled out of the match courtesy of a groin strain, while Nuwan Zoysa and Avishka Gunawardene returned to Test cricket following lengthy sabbaticals. Kashual Lockuarachchi was added to the starting XI in place of Upul Chandana.

Australia began their innings in particularly slow fashion as they reached just 25 by the 14th over on a wicket that offered encouragement to the left arm pace attack of Chaminda Vaas and Zoysa.

Justin Langer continued his struggles on sub-continental wickets as he fell for just 3 from a painstaking 39 deliveries LBW to Zoysa - his first Test wicket since 2002 as he finished the innings with 4/54.

An unfamiliar collapse soon came into fruition following the loss of Ricky Ponting and Damien Martyn in quick time (both LBW) while Matthew Hayden continued to stand firm.

Zoysa then returned to the crease for a devastating spell of aggressive bowling with wickets of Darren Lehmann, Andrew Symonds and Adam Gilchrist is quick succession.

Symonds' wild slashed to Hashan Tillakaratne raises eyebrows, while Gilchrist's duck offered little respite for his sub continental curse.

Muttiah Muralitharan trapped Hayden LBW with a doosra for 54 left the side struggling at 7/86 - and the master spinner on 498 Test wickets.

As Jason Gillespie edged to slip, Murali reached thwe summit of 499.

The inevitable 500 came up on the first ball of the days 40th over, bowling Michael Kasprowicz through the gate from around the wicket to join Courtney Walsh and Shane Warne in the club.

Once Shane Warne held out to mid off for 18 Australia had slumped to their lowest total since 1997 in 120, despite a surprising amount of resistance from Stuart MacGill who made 8*.

Murali finished the innings with 4 wickets.

Yet the Sri Lankans started in checked fashion a sadly out of form Sanath Jayasuriya was trapped LBW to Kasprowicz from just the 9th ball of the innings. Following the tea break the probing spell of the strapping Queenslander claimed Gunawardene and Marvan Atapattu to leave the Australians well in contention as the hosts slipped to 3/39.

Captain Ponting continued to bowl his pacemen well into the afternoon session as Jason Gillespie's long spell claimed the wicket of a pulling Kumar Sangakkara with a neat Andrew Symonds catch.

Despite bowling an unusual amount of full tosses early in his spell, Shane Warne was able to produce typical magic in his second over of the innings when he beat Mahela Jayawardene through the air and trapped Tillakaratne Dilshan in front in successive deliveries.

The dismissal of stumbling block Hashan in the second last over before light ended play gave the spinner 3 wickets as the Sri Lankans fell to 7/92 upon stumps.

Progress Score: Stumps Day 1

Australia 120 (M Hayden 54; M Muralitharan 4/48, N Zoysa 4/54, C Vaas 2/14)

Sri Lanka 7/92 (C Vaas 16*; S Warne 3/15, M Kasprowicz 3/33)

Posted by Andre