Galle: “Happy birthday!” used to be the cry of Les Favell as he ran down the wicket to belt spin bowlers when captain of South Australia.
That sort of buccaneering spirit was channelled by another Croweater, Travis Head, during a brutal innings that cleared the way for Usman Khawaja (147 not out) and Steve Smith (104 not out) to sculpt centuries on a domineering day for Australia against Sri Lanka in Galle.
Travis Head bats in Galle.Credit: Getty Images
Watched by a crowd that appeared to be composed largely of Australian tourists for the first overseas Test match played in January by Australia since 1970, Head wasted absolutely no time wresting momentum for his team, in sharp contrast to his struggles on this ground when playing more tentatively in 2022.
He tore into the home side’s bowlers from the first over of the match, cuffing 13 from the seamer Ajitha Fernando, instantly putting the Australians on the front foot, much as the national selectors had hoped he would. Head’s 50 arrived in 35 balls.
By the time Head (57, 40 balls) clumped one down the ground to be caught at long on, Australia had 92 runs on the board inside 15 overs, and against spread fields Khawaja and Smith were ruthless in exploiting that start.
Sri Lanka spurned a bevy of chances to get into the game, and it took until the final session for the captain Dhananjaya de Silva to try more readily to clamp the scoring rate. A tally of 2-330 when rain brought an early stumps, left the tourists well and truly in control of the match.
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