How leg-spin star Alana King left Shane Warne’s former teammate in awe – and England in disarray
Alana King left one of Shane Warne’s former teammates in awe, had the crowd hungry for more and bamboozled England’s batters, as Australia took a major step forward in completing an Ashes whitewash on Thursday.
On a day Ellyse Perry’s involvement in this match came into question after an injury in the field, the new star of Australian women’s cricket delivered a leg-spin masterclass befitting the historic occasion of the MCG’s first day/night Test.
King returned a career-best figures of 4-45 from an epic 23-over spell, broken only by the tea break, delivered, fittingly, from the Shane Warne Stand End, as Australia dismissed England for 170. Offers of a break from Healy were swiftly rebuffed. When in such form, bowlers don’t like having the ball taken away from them.
“Pretty nostalgic,” King said of the Warne connection. “He’s taken plenty of poles on the MCG for fun. All I can say is hopefully he’s smiling down and having a couple of beers and enjoying a few ripping past the outside edge.”
Australia’s top order negotiated the night session, the most difficult time to face the new pink ball, for the loss of debutant Georgia Voll.
On 1-56 at stumps, the Australians know another dominant day on Friday, this time with the bat, will have them commandingly placed to complete the first Ashes clean sweep since the points format was introduced in 2013.
READ ANDREW WU’S FULL MATCH REPORT
Alana King in action at the MCG.Credit: Getty Images
Match report: Khawaja, Inglis and spinners bring Sri Lanka to their knees
By Daniel Brettig
Usman Khawaja made some past selectors look silly by soaring to his highest score and Josh Inglis thoroughly vindicated the current panel with an impish debut century as Australia put Sri Lanka in a deep hole after two days of the first Test.
Batting with great serenity but plenty of run-scoring tempo, Khawaja (232) was the bulwark around which Steve Smith (141) and then Inglis (102) bustled to big scores of their own. Australia’s 6-654 declared was their highest ever on the subcontinent and their biggest in Tests since January 2012.
Matt Kuhnemann (1-26) then struck in his first over after beating a dislocated thumb to play, pinning Oshada Fernando lbw on the back foot. Mitchell Starc (1-10) had Dimuth Karunaratne taken by a juggling substitute Nathan McSweeney in the gully.
Angelo Mathews survived a tough chance for McSweeney off Starc and then a Nathan Lyon (1-7) delivery that rolled off his body onto the stumps and did not dislodge the bails, but could not escape a glove that Travis Head dived to snaffle at short leg. Sri Lanka limped to 3-44 at the close.
The pitch is expected to deteriorate over coming days, as it did last year when the home side passed 600 against New Zealand and won by an innings.
READ THE FULL REPORT FROM DANIEL BRETTIG IN SRI LANKA HERE
Khawaja salutes the crowd after his monster knock.Credit: AP
Who wins these matches?
Hello and welcome
G’day cricket fans.
Buckle up for another cricket super blog on this fine Friday.
It’s Tom Decent locked and loaded in the Coogee bureau, ready to take you through the evening.
We’ve got action in Galle. We’ve got action in Melbourne. No shortage of cricket to gorge on.
Day two of the women’s Test between Australia and England begins at 2.30pm AEDT, while day three of the opening Test between Australia and Sri Lanka kicks off an hour later (3.30pm).
Alyssa Healy of Australia. Credit: Getty Images
