SL vs AUS 1st Test Playing 11: Australia will be looking for a victory in sub-continent conditions to carry some winning momentum into the WTC final.
Australia has qualified to the WTC finals and seemed to be quite confident at Galle. The Aussies are set to play a two-match test series against Sri Lanka starting on January 29.
Australia had a good record in the recent test games played against India where they secured a 3-1 win to regain the Border Gavaskar Trophy.
Meanwhile, Sri Lanka has only one victory in the last five test outings played against South Africa and England.
Coming to the present, Australia won the toss and opted to bat. Steven Smith led side has named a debutant Josh Inglis for the opener test. Meanwhile Travis Head will be opening along with Khawaja.
The coin toss has gone Australia’s way, and Steve Smith has elected to bat first here at Galle. #SLvAUS #LionsRoar pic.twitter.com/Si4Y1ZMVTu
— Sri Lanka Cricket 🇱🇰 (@OfficialSLC) January 29, 2025
While speaking at the toss, Smith said, “We’ll have a bat. Unsure at this stage, looks a little tacky this morning, not too sure how it’ll play, we’ll wait and see. Josh Inglis gets his opportunity, he’s been banging the door down in Shield cricket.”
“We’ve got three spinners, Starc as the pacer and Head will open. We have to adapt accordingly and see what’s in front of us. Sri Lanka are a very good team. (On 10,000 runs) Hopefully I can tick that off.”
Meanwhile Dhananjaya said, “I wanted to bat first as well. Three spinners and one fast bowler, Angelo Mathews will bowl.”
SL vs AUS 1st Test Playing 11
Australia 11: Usman Khawaja, Travis Head, Marnus Labuschagne, Steven Smith(c), Josh Inglis, Beau Webster, Alex Carey(w), Mitchell Starc, Matthew Kuhnemann, Nathan Lyon, Todd Murphy
Sri Lanka 11: Dimuth Karunaratne, Oshada Fernando, Dinesh Chandimal, Angelo Mathews, Kamindu Mendis, Dhananjaya de Silva(c), Kusal Mendis(w), Prabath Jayasuriya, Nishan Peiris, Jeffrey Vandersay, Asitha Fernando
