Sri Lanka vs Australia, 2nd Test Day 2 Stats: Australia’s lowest totals and Rangana Herath’s hat-trick

Australia have their task cut out to save this Test after being bowled out for 116 in their first innings and failing to dismiss the hosts cheaply on day two of the second Test against Sri Lanka at Galle.

Having begun the day on 54/2, Australia lost both Usman Khawaja and Steven Smith early but the worst was still to come. Just as Adam Voges and Mitchell Marsh were starting to look settled, Rangana Herath came in to bowl his seventh over of the innings and finished it with his first Test hat-trick.

It took an outstanding catch at extra cover to dismiss Voges, Peter Nevill was out plumb in front and Mitchell Starc followed suit with another lbw and just like that Australia were 80/7 after Herath’s hat-trick maiden. Mitchell Marsh stuck around for a while longer but Lakshan Sandakan got him as Australia were bowled out for 106.

Sri Lanka’s openers failed in the second innings as well but Kusal Perera and Angelo Mathews ensured that they comfortably went past Australia’s first innings total. Despite the fall of wickets, the hosts maintained a high scoring rate throughout the day and played positively.

Thanks to a fifty from Dilruwan Perera and cameos from Dhananjaya de Silva and Rangana Herath, Sri Lanka took their lead beyond 400 before they were eventually bowled out for 237 courtesy of Starc’s six-wicket haul.

Chasing 413 for victory, Australia lost three wickets, including opener Joe Burns, Usman Khawaja and nightwatchman Nathan Lyon. They ended the day on 25/3, still needing 388 runs to win the match with David Warner and Steven Smith at the crease.

Here are some interesting numbers from the second day:

0 – No side has conceded more Test hat-tricks than Australia. Rangana Herath’s hat-trick was the ninth that Australia had conceded. With six hat-tricks conceded, England are second on this list.

0 – Never have Sri Lanka registered a lead of over 400 against Australia in Test history before this match.

1 – Mitchell Starc’s match figures of 11/94 is his career-best Test figures. His previous-best was his 8/209 against South Africa at Perth in 2012. It was also his first 10-wicket in haul and his career-best first-class figures beating his previous-best of 9/77.

1 – Starc’s 11-wicket haul is not only the best match figures by a fast bowler at Galle, beating Dale Steyn’s 9/99 in 2014, but also the best figures for an Australian bowler in Sri Lanka, beating Shane Warner’s 10/155 at Kandy in 2004. Only Mohammad Amir with 11/71 has better figures by a fast bowler in Sri Lanka.

2 – Rangana Herath became only the second Sri Lankan bowler to take a Test hat-trick. Nuwan Zoysa managed a hat-trick off the first three balls he bowled in Tests, against Zimbabwe.

3 – Mitchell Starc’s 11-wicket haul is the third-best figures for an Australian fast bowler in Asia. Two fast bowlers,Davidson and Dymock have both taken 12-wicket hauls.

4 – Australia’s 106 was their fourth-lowest Test total in the sub-continent. Their lowest in Asia is the 80 they managed at Karachi against Pakistan in 1956. Their only other two scores lower than this (93 and 105) were both in India.

4 – Dilruwan Perera became the fourth Sri Lankan No.8 to score a fifty against Australia in Tests. It was his second Test fifty and became the first player after Chaminda Vaas, who scored an unbeaten 68 at Kandy in 2004.

9 – Rangana Herath became the ninth bowler and the first Sri Lankan to take a hat-trick against Australia in Tests. The last bowler to do it was West Indies’ Jermaine Lawson in 2003.

11 – In the first session on day two, 11 wickets fell and just 83 runs were scored. This was only the fifth time since 2010 that 11 or more wickets had fallen in a session in Tests.

15 – Australia’s No.3 and No.4 have failed to contribute 100 runs to the team’s score in 15 consecutive innings in Asia. Of the 15, 10 of them saw them not even contribute 50 runs.

21 – The most wickets to have fallen in a day in Asia is 22 at Colombo in the match between Sri Lanka and England in March 2001. 21 wickets fell on day two of this Test.

33 – The 33 wickets that fell on day one and two in this Test is the most wickets that ever fallen on the first two days of a Test in Asia. The previous-best was 32 in the Test between India and South Africa at Nagpur last year.

106 – Australia’s 106 is their lowest total against Sri Lanka in Tests. Their previous-lowest was the 120 they managed at Kandy in 2004. Overall, Australia’s total was their 33rd lowest total in away Tests.

307 – Australia’s highest successful chase in the sub-continent came against Bangladesh at Fatullah in 2006 when they chased 307. If the visitors do chase this down, it will be their record run chase in the sub-continent.

1892 – Herath’s hat-trick was only the second time that a left-arm orthodox bowler had taken one in Tests. The only previous instance was England’s Johnny Briggs against Australia at Sydney in 1892.

1985 – The last time an overseas fast bowler had picked up two five-wicket hauls in a Test in Asia before Mitchell Starc was 1985, when Neil Foster achieved it against India in Chennai.

2015 – Before today, the last Test match which had the fourth innings begin on the second day was the Test between India and South Africa at Nagpur last year.