A remarkable 21 wickets fell as Sri Lanka finished day two of the second Test in complete command. Buoyed by Rangana Herath's hat-trick, the Lankans despatched Australia for a paltry 106.
Sri Lanka then took their lead well past 400, folding up for 237 to some aggressive Aussie bowling. Dilruwan Perera, after taking four wickets earlier in the day, shone with the bat too, scoring 64.
But Australia were staring down the barrel at the close of play at 25/3, needing 388 to win. With three full days of play left to play, they have to pull off a miracle. With the Lankan spinners running on the rampage, it looks highly unlikely.
The only silver lining for the visitors was Mitchell Starc, who recorded the second best figures by a visiting pacer in Sri Lanka; he finished with 11 wickets for 94 runs, next only to Pakistan's Mohammad Asif, who also took 11 wickets, but for 71 runs, in 2006.
Herath continued to make mincemeat of the Australian batsmen. Adam Voges, Peter Nevill and Starc were the spinner's hat-trick victims, making him the oldest cricketer to achieve the feat.
Starc gave his side early breakthroughs in Sri Lanka's second innings too, after which the script followed a familiar pattern as the middle order stood its ground once again. One of the big stories of this series is the manner in which the Sri Lankan lower order batsmen have contributed. Dilruwan Perera was well supported by Dhananjaya de Silva and Herath.
And then, there was no respite in the second innings for Australia as three wickets fell by close of play. David Warner (22 not out), who yet again got off to a solid start, is standing firm, however.
Brief scores
Sri Lanka 281 (Kusal Mendis 86, Angelo Mathews 54, Kusal Perera 54; Mitchell Starc 5/44) and 237 (Dilruwan Perera 64, Angelo Mathews 47; Mitchell Starc 6 for 50) lead Australia 106 (David Warner 42; Dilruwan Perera 4/29, Rangana Herath 4 for 35) and 25 for 3 (David Warner 22 not out; Dilruwan Perera 2 for 9) by 387 runs.
