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Australian spinners played a key role in handing a crushing defeat by 10 wickets to Sri Lanka in the first Test of the two-match series in at Galle International Stadium in Galle on third day, July 1, 2022. It was the first Test match win for Australia in Sri Lanka since 2011 and their first-one while batting second in the country. The spin friendly pitch of the Galle worked wonders for the Australian spinners as Nathan Nyon finished with nine wickets, while Travis Head registered his career-best first-class and Test figures (4 for 10). The Sri Lankan batters appeared clueless in front of the turn that the visting spinners were producing, which also had Mitchell Swepson. Such was their spin dominance that captain Pat Cummins, a decorated fast bowler did not bowl a single delivery in the host's second innings.
The pitch provided assistance from the first day ownards to off-spinner Nathan Lyon and leg-spinner Mitchell Swepson in the first innings of Sri Lanka. Lyon bowled very craftily in the first innings of the game, the way he was turning the ball sharply also got the best of Sri Lankan batters. To dismiss Angelo Mathews and Ramesh Mendis, Lyon used the same tactic of bowling from outside the off stump line and letting the pitch do the rest. As a result, both the batter could not anticipate the amount of turn, Mathews tried to go towards the on-side while staying back in the crease, but gave a soft catch to David Warner in the close-in region, while Mendis played deep in the crease and got himself out lbw.
The same can be said about Swepson as dismissed Dhanajaya de Silva and Dinesh Chandimal consecutively. He drifted the ball in the line of middle and leg stump and both the batters got out edging the ball as it turned sharply away from them in the first innings, while Niroshan Dickwella top-scored for Sri Lanka with 58 off 59, helping Sri Lanka go past 200 runs.
Travis Head became impact player with the ball for Australia in Sri Lanka's second innings
Australia took a first innings lead of 109 runs after reaching 321 runs with the help of Usman Khawaja and Cameron Green getting into the 70s. In the second innings of the game - what led to Australian pace spearhead Starc to bowl only two overs and skipper Pat Cummins to not even bowl any overs - was bowling of Travis Head - a player mostly known to jolt the opposition by his batting. In his first over, he dismissed Chandimal and de Silva. Both of them got out in confusion figuring out the amount of turn and Head got the better of them. In his third over, the right-arm off-spinner finished things for Australia, help bowl out Sri Lanka for just 113 runs in 22.5 overs as the tailender didn’t have the answers to the rippers that he bowled.
Even as Australian spinners made such an indelible mark in the game before David Warner needed three balls to chase down the five-run target in the second innings. It was Cameroon Green who got the player of the match award for his batting in the first innings, since it was a difficult surface to bat on.
