Dinesh Chandimal scored an unbeaten 63 as Sri Lanka struggled to 136 for five at lunch Friday in response to Australia’s imposing first innings of 654 for six declared. A rain-curtailed morning session on Day 3 of the first test did little to ease Sri Lanka's woes,

Persistent rain halted the third day of the first Test between Australia and Sri Lanka, with Australia leading by a significant margin of 518 runs. Sri Lanka, struggling at 136-5 by lunch, saw Dinesh Chandimal fighting at 63 not out while Starc and Lyon kept up the pressure.

Australia may be about to enter a new era of overseas Test cricket on free-to-air television as Seven prepares to broadcast the Sri Lanka series starting this week, a harbinger of future bidding for matches in India and elsewhere.

Australia had Sri Lanka three down after opener Usman Khawaja’s first double century and a ton on debut by Josh Inglis helped the tourists to 654-6 declared in the first match on Thursday. Sri Lanka were 44-3 by stumps on day two at Galle with senior batsmen Dinesh Chandimal,

Travis Head will replace Sam Konstas as Usman Khawaja's opening partner in the first test against Sri Lanka at Galle on Wednesday, Australia's stand-in captain Steve Smith said on the eve of the match.

With Australia in a commanding position during their opening innings against Sri Lanka, Inglis arrived at the crease with no intention of taking things slowly.