Khawaja slams maiden double ton as SL toil continues

Usman Khawaja scored his maiden double-century in Test cricket with an unbeaten 204 at Lunch on Day 2 of the first Test in Galle. It is also the highest Test score by an Australian batter on Sri Lankan shores. Australia continued to dominate the Test as they plundered 145 runs in the session losing only the wicket of Steve Smith, who fell for 141. The hosts went to Lunch at 475/1.

Khawaja and Smith carried on from where they had left off on Day 1. The Sri Lankan spinners went back to bowling outside off with the new ball. But the two batters were happy to knock it around and get their eye in once again as Khawaja quickly moved to 150.

The batters were more aggressive against Nishan Peiris, scoring frequent boundaries off him. Steve Smith danced down the track to loft a few boundaries over extra-cover before carving one away to the backward point fence off Jeffrey Vandersay. Sri Lanka missed a run-out chance of Khawaja.

Sri Lanka picked up Smith in the first over after the drinks break. Vandersay had gotten the first ball to sharply spin past his outside edge. He followed it up a couple of balls later which held its line and straightened to rap Smith on the back-leg, trapping him plumb in front of the stumps. It brought the third-wicket stand of 266 runs to an end.

Josh Inglis came to the crease and got off the mark with a flick to the boundary. The runs then began to flow freely for the Australians as they managed to find the boundary in every over, racing past the 450-mark. Khawaja got to his 200 with a single past Prabath Jayasuriya and raised his bat and helmet to soak in the applause from the crowd. The only other half-chance the hosts created was when Inglis played a premeditated reverse sweep and almost chopped it back on to the timber behind him. Inglis and Khawaja have now registered an unbeaten fourth-wicket partnership of 74 runs.

Brief Scores: Australia 475/3 (Usman Khawaja 204*, Steve Smith 141, Travis Head 57; Jeffrey Vandersay 1-93, Prabath Jaysuriya 1-102) vs Sri Lanka