Sri Lanka vs Australia – 2nd Test
After a surprising loss in the first Test in Pallekele, Australia begin the second Test of three against Sri Lanka in Galle on Thursday knowing if they lose they will have lost the series with a match to spare. On the flip side of that Sri Lanka begin the match sensing history in winning a second match against Australia in a series for the first time ever.
Sri Lanka
Having overturned the odds courtesy of a wonderful bowling performance and a quite remarkable innings from Kusal Mendis and on a ground which suits them a lot more than Pallekele did they will be confident of securing the series at the first opportunity.
We can expect their bowlers to extract a lot of spin here which will be important but they can’t get carried away with winning this match with the ball. They need two very complete batting efforts if they are to set up a win so others around Mendis will need to contribute. In Dinesh Chandimal and Angelo Mathews they have the players for those roles.
Australia
The tourists will have needed to regroup and assess where they went wrong and how they can improve. They head into extremely alien conditions now and will need a strategy that allows them to survive but also to tick the runs over. It might be that attack is the best form of defence although that comes with a risk.
There will be a greater emphasis on the spinners for Australia in this match. There can be no reliance on Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood as once the new ball has gone soft conditions are not likely to offer them a great deal. All eyes will be on Nathan Lyon to see if he can spin Australia to a series levelling win.
Team News
Sri Lanka are likely to be without Nuwan Pradeep for this match so they may well be giving another debut out here. Vishwa Fernando is the man most likely to come into what is expected to be an unchanged side apart from that.
Australia are forced into a change due to the injury to Steve O’Keefe. He is expected to be replaced by the Victorian, Jon Holland, who has been called up from the A squad. Despite not going the best in the previous game Australia’s batting line up is expected to be unaltered.
Galle
History tells us there have been 27 previous Test matches on this ground and Sri Lanka have a very strong record in them. They have won 15 with six draws and just six defeats. That said Australia quite like it here too with two wins and a draw from their three visits.
Sri Lanka have won their last two matches here including an amazing Test against India last year where they gave up nearly a 200 run first innings deficit only to turn it around and into a 63 run victory. Spin is very much in focus on a wicket which is likely to go right from the start.
Betting
I’m tempted to back Sri Lanka at the prices on offer but I would like to see them bat first before I pull the trigger. I’ve a feeling with the flimsy element to both batting line ups the side who bats first in this match is most likely to win.
Until we know that though I will head to the performance markets where it is Nathan Lyon who I will focus on. Lyon made up a total of 125pts in the first Test even though the seamers were more in play in that match than I expect them to be here.
With that in mind I’m a little surprised that we can get Lyon’s performance at 115.5pts here. With O’Keefe out and Holland on debut I’m expecting Lyon to resume the senior role and bowl plenty of overs. He took five wickets in the first Test and a repeat of that combined with a half-decent batting effort should ensure he goes safely past 115.5 at the very least.
Tips
Back N.Lyon’s Performance – Over 115.5pts for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
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