Sri Lanka have been described as a cricket “minnow” after being crucified for a “pathetic” display that saw them slump to a record defeat as Aussie spinner Nathan Lyon broke an Australian record held by Shane Warne. The ruthless Aussies wrapped up victory in the first Test in Galle with a session and a whole day to spare, handing the hosts an innings and 242-run thrashing that is the worst in their history.

The carnage for Sri Lanka was highlighted by a disastrous opening session of the fourth day that saw the hosts lose a staggering 7-15 across two innings. Incredibly, their best batter Dinesh Chandimal, who made 71 in the first innings, was dismissed twice in the same session as Australia skittled the hosts for 165 before enforcing the follow-on.

The seven wickets that fell for Sri Lanka in that hour of calamity was more than Australia lost over the opening two days after declaring on 6-654, following a double ton to Usman Khawaja and centuries to Steve Smith and debutant Josh Inglis. Sri Lanka did put up more of a fight in their second innings but were eventually bowled out for 247 before the tea break as Australia completed the record rout.

Veteran off-spinner Lyon took three wickets in the first innings to move past the legendary Warne’s mark for the most wickets by an Aussie against Sri Lanka in their own backyard. The 37-year-old then grabbed another four wickets in the second innings for good measure to jump above Indian great Ravi Ashwin as the bowler with the most Test wickets against Sri Lanka in the country (42 wickets from 17 innings).

Lyon (3-57, 4-78) was beautifully supported by left-arm off-spinner Matthew Kuhnemann (5-63, 4-86), who finished the match with nine wickets. The spinning duo combined for a staggering 16 wickets for the match to inflict the bulk of the damage with the ball for Australia.

“It was almost a near flawless performance,” stand-in captain Steve Smith said about his team’s win. “The way we started was great and we had plenty of partnerships throughout to get to 650. Then the spinners bowled beautifully in tandem.”

Matt Kuhnemann stuns woeful Sri Lanka after injury scare

Kuhnemann’s display was even more impressive considering he dislocated the thumb on his non-bowling right hand in the BBL less than two weeks ago and was under a cloud to even feature in the match. His heroics and the epic first innings withe the bat, led by player-of-the-match Khawaja, saw Australia score its biggest ever Test win in Asia, eclipsing the innings and 198-run victory over Pakistan in 2002.

For the hapless Sri Lankans though, it was their largest defeat in Test history, eclipsing the innings and 239-run loss to India in 2017. And the home side only had themselves to blame for some absolutely diabolical Test cricket that has come under fire from around the cricket world.

The wicket had begun to deteriorate by the time Sri Lanka were batting, but the hosts nevertheless came up with some embarrassing batting on home soil. “The shot selections were not the best,” said Sri Lanka coach Sanath Jayasuriya. “We have experienced players so they’ll have to adjust themselves. We’re playing against the No.1 team and the world. We know they’re tough.”

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The Aussies haven’t won a Test series in Sri Lanka since 2011 and many would have expected the home side to put up a far more competitive showing than they dished up. The farcical nature of the defeat was summed up when veteran Dimuth Karunaratne (0) completely left a Todd Murphy (0-28, 1-57) delivery that clattered into his off-stump in the second innings.

Fellow opener Oshada Fernando (6) came up with an absolute howler of an lbw review by sending a Starc (2-13, 1-4) in-swinger upstairs. Balltracker showed it was hitting his middle stump, with the pair of brain-snaps leaving Sri Lanka in trouble at 2-6 in the second innings.

But it was Kuhnemann’s breakthrough wicket in the opening session on Saturday that opened the floodgates for Australia when he had Kusal Mendis (21) caught at square leg. The wicket triggered a collapse of 5-9 that left Sri Lanka all out for 165 in 26 balls, after they’d begun the day at 5-136 and there was ultimately no coming back for the hosts after the scarcely believable scenes.