Sri Lanka v Australia: second men’s cricket Test, day three

Key events

Righto, the players are out there. Prabath Jayasuriya is going to start proceedings with the second new ball fresh in his mitts. Play!

The sun is beaming down in Galle, the tv footage cuts to a drone hovering along a beautiful coastline complete with shimmering sea and lightly puttering flags on top of the fort. Wish you were here? Yeh probably, although I’ve got clanking radiators and a light trickle of condensation inside my windows, so you know, feeling blessed too.

Dedication’s what you need…

Here’s Alex Carey, after having batted for most of yesterday & still unbeaten on 139, the first man out as always to go through his 40-minute wicket-keeping drills. Speak of discipline & dedication #SLvAus pic.twitter.com/oo79dB8Ja2

— Bharat Sundaresan (@beastieboy07) February 8, 2025

We’re about ten minutes away from the start of play on day three, just enough time to catch up on yesterday’s action:

Preamble

James Wallace

Hello and welcome to day three of the second Test from Galle. ‘Moving Day’ is what they often call the third day’s play of a Test match and we might well see plenty of moving and shaking over the coming hours.

Australia are firmly in command in the match and series – sublime centuries from Steve Smith and Alex Carey on day two saw the visitors finish with a lead of 73 runs with seven wickets still in hand.

Coming together at 91 for 3, Smith and Carey put on a masterclass of batting in sub-continent conditions, using every ounce of patience, skill and stamina to rack up 239 runs and counting. Movement you say? What movement? Well, if a breakthrough does come then there’s still plenty in this pitch to give the spinners hope, it’s also a tough one to get started on. I have a sneaking feeling the game could go into hyperdrive if the wickets start to tumble.

Play begins at 10am local time, 3.30pm AEDT and an eye-bag cultivating 4.30am here in the UK. Join us!