Dinesh Chandimal has scored an unbeaten 63 as Sri Lanka struggled to 136-5 at lunch on Day 3 in reply to Australia's imposing first innings of 654 in the first cricket test.

Mitchell Starc completed an elite feat on Thursday, January 30. Starc overtook Dale Steyn and reached the 700-wicket club in international cricket.

Mitchell Starc became just the fourth Australian to take 700 wickets in international cricket on Thursday, joining Aussie legends Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath and Brett Lee. And it came amid a crazy stat around wife Alyssa Healy, who was captaining the women's Test team on the other side of the world.

He is Australias fourth-highest wicket-taker ever, next to pacers Brett Lee (718 wickets in 322 matches), Glenn McGrath (948 wickets in 375 matches) and late spin great Shane Warne (999 wickets and 338 matches).

Smith, who got off the mark with his 10,000th Test run on day one, still has a fair bit of work to do to catch Tendulkar’s all-time record of 15,921 Test runs, but statistics-based X account CricTracker has revealed that the two greats’ numbers are almost identical at this point of their careers.

Mitchell Starc achieved a significant milestone by taking the important wicket of Dimuth Karunaratne during the second innings of the first Test. This marked the 700th wicket of his international career across all formats.

Australian pacer Mitchell Starc became the fourth Aussie bowler to achieve 700 international wickets during the first Test against Sri Lanka in Galle. This milestone cements his place among Australia's leading wicket-takers across all formats,

Australia have piled up 654/6d in their first innings to which the hosts Sri Lanka are reeling at 44/3 at the end of day's play on day 2 of the 1st Test between both the teams. SL's Kamindu Mendis and Dinesh Chandimal were at the crease and will require to do the bulk of the work when day 3 action resumes in Galle on Friday.

The experienced all-rounder will be sidelined for the Champions Trophy and Australia will be forced to name a replacement player.

Sri Lanka's Dinesh Chandimal was waging a lone battle on 63 with Australia ahead by 518 runs and tightening their grip on the first test before rain forced early lunch Friday.

GALLE, Sri Lanka, Jan 31, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Sri Lanka's Dinesh Chandimal was waging a lone battle on 63 with Australia ahead by 518 runs and tightening their grip on the first Test before rain forced early lunch Friday.

Australia, who last won the Champions Trophy in 2009, will kick off their campaign against arch-rivals England in Lahore on February 22, followed by a clash with South Africa in Rawalpindi on February 25, and their final group-stage match against Afghanistan in Lahore on February 28.