Marnus Labuschagne on Friday said he and Steve Smith had been due for big scores after the pair gave Australia opening day honors against a Covid-19 hit Sri Lanka in the second Test on Friday.
Marnus Labuschagne on Friday said he and Steve Smith had been due for big scores after the pair gave Australia opening day honors against a Covid-19 hit Sri Lanka in the second Test on Friday.
The visitors came to 298 for five at stumps after choosing to bat first in their bid to secure the two-match series in Galle.
Smith, on 109, and the wicket-keeper batter Alex Carey, on 16, were batting at the close of play after debutant left-arm spinner Prabath Jayasuriya took three wickets.
Smith and Labuschagne made a 134-runs partnership, and Smith that remained the highlight of the day’s play.
“Both of us felt like we’d left some runs out there for the last few Tests. So it was nice to cash in when we got an opportunity,”
Labuschagne told reporters.
“From last week I was very disappointed. Probably just going away from my process rather than the dismissal.
“And Smudge got run out (in the last Test). The boys said this morning when he rocked up to the ground, he was in the Smudge (Smith) headspace and he looked locked in.”
Smith was run-out for six in the first game, while he smashed pacer Kasun Rajitha for a breaking cover drive to raise his 28th Test hundred as he upraise his bat to a hailing dressing room.
It was Smith’s first hundred since January last year during the third Test against India in Sydney.
Labuschagne could only manage to score 13 in the first Test, recorded his seventh Test hundred, and first away from home in an attacking knock before Jayasuriya got him stumped at the stroke of tea.
“Nice to get that one off the back,”
said Labuschagne, whose previous six tons came on home pitches.
“Obviously, it’s the first one away from home and to contribute and put the team in a position like we did today was very nice.”
Jayasuriya took his spin-charge into the final session to get Travis Head bowled for 12, and Cameron Green caught lbw for four.
Labuschagne feels their spinners Nathan Lyon and Mitchell Swepson will get “more turn” on this wicket.
“They have a lot of experience. They don’t let a bowler settle. They try to break a bowler’s rhythm,”
said Jayasuriya.
“That’s what they tried to do and you need to be smart as a bowler.”