Josh Inglis made a magical debut century to kick start his Test career and Usman Khawaja made a maiden double hundred that could extend his on a dominant second day in Sri Lanka.
Australia powered to a mountainous score in Galle yesterday and 38-year-old Khawaja shattered records with his breakthrough milestone.
Australia declared deep into the evening session at 6-654, the second-largest score ever made at Galle International Stadium, and then left Sri Lanka in tatters at 3-44 when rain forced another premature stumps.
Khawaja, whose spot in the side for Tests in Australia is still under fire, scored 232 in a stand that lasted more than four sessions. The highest Test score of the emotional veteran’s 14-year stop-start career came more than two years after Australia declared and left him stranded on 195 against South Africa at the SCG.
Inglis arrived at the crease when Khawaja’s 266-run union with Smith — Australia’s highest partnership in Sri Lanka — ended when Smith was trapped lbw by leg-spinner Jeffrey Vandersay.
The West Australian — who was first picked in a national squad three years before he was handed his debut on Wednesday — scored a four off his first ball, then raced to a half century.
In the middle session Inglis became the 21st Australian to pass 100 on debut. The four most recent batters to do it are all West Aussies. His Perth Scorchers and WA coach Adam Voges did it in 2015, former teammate Shaun Marsh in Sri Lanka in 2011 and Marcus North in 2009.
It was the second-fastest Test century by a debutant.
“It probably hasn’t quite sunk in yet, but it has been a great couple of days and I have really enjoyed it,” Inglis told Channel 7. “I probably wasn’t too nervous, I have played a few white-ball games now and been around this group for a while, so I knew what to expect and thankfully there weren’t too many nerves.”
Inglis scored 102 off 94 balls, with 10 boundaries and a six he lifted over long-on.
He said he had worried a defensive approach would bring Sri Lanka’s fleet of spinners into the game.
“I was just trying to get off strike really, get down the other end,” Inglis said.
“Playing a forward-defence is bringing their guys into the game so I’m just trying to use my sweeps and trying to get off strike really.
“I think I was just trying to get to 100 as quick as possible.”
Sri Lanka’s meek bowling attack again hardly troubled Australia’s batters and they leant heavily on left-arm spinner Prabath Jayasuriya, who bowled 60 overs in the first five sessions of the match to dismiss Khawaja, Inglis and Travis Head on the opening day.
They used just four bowlers in their first 150 overs and resisted turning to veteran all-rounder Angelo Mathews.
Spinner Nishan Peiris finished with the ugly figures of 0-189 from 41 overs. Vandersay also took three wickets, at the cost of 182 runs.
Smith fell for 141 — his third century in four Test matches — to Vandersay , who reviewed an lbw call successfully after Sri Lanka’s horrors with the DRS on Wednesday. The stand-in Australian captain had put in a big stride to a ball that straightened into his exposed front pad.
That left Inglis and Khawaja to add another 146 runs before the opener was finally brought down. Khawaja was caught behind on 232, an innings that included 16 boundaries.
The West Aussie got tangled up and a leading edge flew to cover just moments after the high of his hundred.
Alex Carey — the man keeping Inglis out of the wicketkeeping role — continued his summer of batting resurgence by ticking the score along with an unbeaten 46.
Carey was at the crease when Inglis made his hundred and then linked up with second-gamer Beau Webster. Sri Lanka pulled the rate back to the middle-order and the towering all-rounder fell for 23 off 50 balls when Kamindu Mendis took a sharp catch — his second for the match — at cover.
Sri Lanka’s lone paceman Asitha Fernando gave Australia a taste of their own medicine, turning to a bouncer barrage that welcomed tail-ender Mitchell Starc to the crease.
Left-arm spinner Matt Kuhnemann shared the new-ball with Mitchell Starc and made the first breakthrough when Oshada Fernando was trapped on the crease.
The Sri Lankan took an early review with him and was then joined in the pavilion by veteran Dimuth Karunaratne when he square-drove a ball to sub-fielder Nathan McSweeney, who juggled a diving catch.
Angelo Matthews was out for seven, falling to an acrobatic short-leg catch by Travis Head. Dinesh Chandimal (9) and Kamindu Mendis (13) are unbeaten on Thursday night, with Sri Lanka now in a scrap to avoid the follow-on.
Khawaja was plagued by Indian weapon Jasprit Bumrah during the home summer and Inglis’ score adds growing doubt to his place in the side for the Ashes series later this year.
But the veteran’s skill and record in Asia are growing in stature. Only the great Allan Border has more Test centuries than Khawaja on the sub-continent and the left-handed opener has now posted them in India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates.
His score was the highest by a player older than 38 since Bob Simpson came out of retirement during World Series Cricket to score 176 against India at the WACA Ground in 1977 and Sir Donald Bradman — who did it twice — is one of only 11 other men to score a double ton aged 38 or older.
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