Australia Tour of Sri Lanka Tests June-July 2022: Series Drawn 1-1 — Chandimal 206* (First Sri Lankan Double Century vs Australia), Jayasuriya 12/177 on Debut (4th Best Debut Figures in Test History), Lyon 5/90, Head 4/10, Labuschagne 104

The Australia tour of Sri Lanka Test series in June-July 2022 finished 1-1, both matches played at Galle International Stadium. Dinesh Chandimal was Player of the Series with 219 runs. It was Australia's first Test tour of Sri Lanka since 2016 — a six-year gap. 1st Test Galle (June 29-July 1, 2022): Australia won by 10 wickets in 3 days — SL 212 & 113; AUS 321 & 10/0. Nathan Lyon took 5/90 in Sri Lanka's 1st innings and Mitchell Swepson took 3/55. Travis Head took 4/10 in Sri Lanka's 2nd innings, bowling them out for 113. Australia knocked off the target without losing a wicket. Player of the Match: Cameron Green (77 runs). 2nd Test Galle (July 8-11, 2022): Sri Lanka won by an innings and 39 runs — AUS 364 & 151; SL 554 declared. Marnus Labuschagne scored 104 in Australia's 1st innings. Sri Lanka's 554/d was built around Dinesh Chandimal's 206* off 326 balls (16 fours, 5 sixes) — the first double century scored by a Sri Lankan batter against Australia in Test cricket; the previous highest was Kumar Sangakkara's 192 at Hobart in 2007. Prabath Jayasuriya — a left-arm orthodox spinner — took 6/118 in Australia's 1st innings and 6/59 in the 2nd innings: match figures of 12/177 on his Test debut. His 12/177 were the best match figures by a Sri Lankan on Test debut, the 4th best debut match figures in all of Test history, and only the second time since 1900 that a bowler had taken 10+ wickets on debut against Australia (after Ken Farnes's 10/179 at Trent Bridge in 1934). Player of the Match: Jayasuriya.

Jayasuriya 12/177 on Debut: The Fourth-Best Debut Match Figures in Test History

Prabath Jayasuriya's 12/177 at Galle on his Test debut placed him in the rarest company in bowling history. Only three bowlers in Test history had taken more wickets on debut: Yorkshire's Billy Bates (14/102 at Melbourne, 1882-83), South Africa's Albert Vogler (13/174 at Port Elizabeth, 1906), and West Indies' Alf Valentine (11 wickets on debut, 1950). Jayasuriya's 6/118 in Australia's 1st innings and 6/59 in the 2nd (including the dismissals of Smith, Labuschagne, and Warner across the two innings) were built on the Galle surface's characteristic turn and a pace of left-arm orthodox spin that exploited Australia's 2022 vulnerability against spin in subcontinental conditions. His match figures were also the second-best by any Sri Lankan against Australia in Tests — behind Rangana Herath's 13/145 at Colombo in 2016. Combined with Chandimal's 206* — itself the first double century by a Sri Lankan against Australia — the 2nd Test was one of the most landmark single-match individual performances recorded in Sri Lanka vs Australia Tests.

Chandimal's 206*: Sri Lanka's First Double Century Against Australia

Dinesh Chandimal's 206* in Sri Lanka's 1st innings at Galle — his career-best score — was the first double century by a Sri Lankan batter in Tests against Australia. Kumar Sangakkara's 192 at Hobart in 2007 had been the previous highest; Chandimal surpassed it in a 326-ball innings of 16 fours and 5 sixes that anchored Sri Lanka's 554 declared and set up the innings victory. The declaration gave Sri Lanka a lead of 190 and meant Australia needed to survive without realistic hope of a win. Lyon and Swepson — who had dismissed Sri Lanka for 113 in the 1st Test — took a combined 3 wickets in Sri Lanka's 554, illustrating how different the pitch played in the 2nd Test. Travis Head, whose 4/10 had been the match-changing performance of the 1st Test, took 1 wicket in the 2nd innings. Australia were bowled out for 151 — Jayasuriya's 6/59 completing the innings defeat.