Lyon tames long-time foe in duo's final duel

Nathan Lyon's maiden Test wicket, on debut as a self-confessed naïve 23-year-old at Galle in 2011, is enshrined among the Australian game's more legendary moments.

Bowling at then-top-ranked Test batter Kumar Sangakkara and with a paltry four first-class matches to his name, Lyon famously spun his initial offering far enough to take the Sri Lanka hero's outside edge with Michael Clarke completing a stunning catch at slip.

What has become lost amid the mists of time is the identity and nature of Lyon's second victim at the highest level, but it's perhaps even more instructive given events that unfolded at the same venue yesterday evening.

Wicket number two in a tally that has since stretched to 552 was another emerging talent, 24-year-old Angelo Mathews playing his 14th match in an ongoing Test tenure that currently stands at 118 appearances for Sri Lanka.

Lyon's 79th delivery in Test company floated on a full length, and Mathews attempted an awkward sweep shot that found him way outside off stump and unable to prevent the ball crashing into leg peg as it slid past beneath his bat.

It was another ill-advised sweep that brought to a finish Mathews' latest – and possibly last – Test innings for his country just as he had seemed to put Sri Lanka within hope of a most unlikely victory push.

Mathews had watched on in an obvious state of agitation as fellow senior batters Dimesh Chandimal (12) and Kamindu Mendis (14) gifted their wickets to Australia's most successful-ever finger spinner, soon to be the nation's second-greatest Test bowler.

Chandimal spanked an ambitious drive to deepish mid-off to become Lyon's milestone 550th scalp, while left-hander Kamindu played an even more reckless heave against the prevailing spin to suffer an identical fate as the Australian's 551st.

As the latter batter hung his head in embarrassment, Mathews' discontent was palpable and he turned his back on his partner to ponder a scoreboard that showed Sri Lanka 4-81 and still 76 runs shy of forcing Australia to bat a second time.

But Mathews, who was 29 not out at that moment, had been fighting his own battle with his long-time adversary both on pitch and during the lengthy and mostly friendly chats they've engaged in throughout this series.

"That's two old heads going at each other," Lyon said at day's end, with Sri Lanka ahead by 54 runs and Australia needing two wickets before they begin their pursuit of a series clean sweep.

"It's good fun and a good battle."

It's safe to assume Lyon has found greater fun in the duel than has his rival, given he had captured Mathews' wicket in each of the preceding three innings of this two-match campaign for scores of 7, 41 and 1.

He might have had him for just five today, with the first ball he bowled at the right-hander – at which Mathews aimed another of those unconvincing sweeps – yielded a top-edge that fell not far from the grasp of Mitchell Starc at deep backward square.

Then, through an engrossing battle that encompassed 10 overs in a span of three hours, the pair of "old heads" engaged in a game within the game.

Of the 60 deliveries Lyon bowled at Mathews yesterday, 35 of them produced no run.

The 25 that Sri Lanka's most senior player was able to score from brought 23 singles, and the only more productive stroke was a mishit attempt at a lofted drive that floated tantalisingly over Travis Head at mid-wicket and added two to Mathews' total.

The anomaly in that almost exclusive set of binary dots and perpendicular dashes was the aberrant five penalty runs added to Sri Lanka's sundries when a fizzing Lyon off-break beat both the batter and Australia 'keeper Alex Carey, and crashed into the spare protective helmet that lay on the turf.

So it came entirely against the run of play, and contrary to the spirt of an individual contest so grimly fought, when Mathews decided – with less than half an hour of play remaining, and his team bravely back in the game – to bring out his not-so-trusty sweep.

Not only did his team's position at 5-198 and holding an overall lead of just 41 – with their last recognised batters (himself and Kusal Mendis) having forged the innings' most productive partnership of 70 – demand both men make it safely to stumps.

But the risk factor in that stroke was compounded by Australia skipper Steve Smith's field setting, with perhaps his most reliable all-round catcher Beau Webster stationed almost on the boundary at backward square precisely for such an occurrence.

Unlike the combatants' initial duel, Mathews managed to make contact with this sweep but made no effort to hit it along the ground and almost seemed to have directed it at Webster, as if a training drill.

The dejection Mathews clearly felt as he dropped his head before trudging off for 76 while demonstrating, maybe for the benefit of equally disheartened Sri Lanka fans, what he had been hoping to achieve was intensified in the subsequent five overs.

In that time prior to stumps being drawn on day three, the home team lost a further two wickets for the addition of 13 more runs to leave their hopes of levelling the series solely in the hands of Kusal Mendis who resumes today on 48.

"I thought Ange showed his experience there in the innings he played," Lyon magnanimously said of his fellow veteran last night.

"I thought he actually batted pretty well in those conditions, didn't let me get him on the front foot defending, so hats off to Ange.

"It's been a hard toil today … but I'm very proud of our bowling group.

"There's a big job to do in the morning, but we'll rest up, recover and go again tomorrow."

Should tomorrow also prove the finale for Mathews' remarkable career that's netted him 8,167 Test runs at 44.6 as well as 33 wickets at 54, with whispers Sri Lanka officials have suggested he consider retirement, it will conclude an equally memorable individual contest.

In addition to being Lyon's second Test wicket almost 14 years ago, Mathews was his 199th, 204th, 206th and 209th (during Australia's 2016 tour of Sri Lanka), his 429th (three years ago in Galle) and his 540th, 544th, 549th and 552nd in this series.

Across his 136 Test matches for Australia, the only rival batter he's got the better of more regularly than the 10 times he's defeated Mathews is India's Cheteshwar Pujara whose scalp he claimed on 13 occasions.

The others to have fallen to Lyon 10 times are Pujara's India teammate Ajinkya Rahane, England allrounder Moeen Ali and New Zealand tailender Tim Southee.

Given their respective ages and the reality Australia and Sri Lanka are not drawn to play each other in Tests after the current ICC Future Tours Program expires in 2027, it's clear the pair's paths won't cross again in the international arena.

But Mathews' presence in and around Lyon's milestone moments since they first lined up against one another at Galle – with Australia's Usman Khawaja the only other participant in that match still playing Test cricket – makes for an enduring and endearing bond.

Not that Lyon, who finished yesterday's shift with 3-80 from his 25 overs, is considering the finishing line anytime soon.

"It is something I'm extremely proud about," Lyon said after becoming the third Australia bowler after Shane Warne (708 wickets) and Glenn McGrath (563) to reach 550 in Tests.

"And to do it here at Galle, which obviously holds a pretty special memory for me and my career, is a very special moment.

"Looking back at my debut, I was pretty raw and didn't really know what I was doing.

"I just remember (then captain) Ricky Ponting and Mike Hussey coming up and saying 'just have fun, trust your skill and bowl your best ball'.

"And they’re three things that have stuck with me throughout my whole career, and I'll keep doing that until the day I retire.

"But that's a long way away.

"So I'll keep enjoying it, keep trusting it and keep bowling my best ball and see how we go."

Qantas Tour of Sri Lanka

First Test: Australia win by an innings and 242 runs

Second Test: February 6-10, Galle (3.30pm AEDT)

Sri Lanka Test squad: Dhananjaya de Silva (c), Dimuth Karunaratne, Pathum Nissanka (subject to fitness), Oshada Fernando, Lahiru Udara, Dinesh Chandimal, Angelo Mathews, Kamindu Mendis, Kusal Mendis, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Sonal Dinusha, Prabath Jayasuriya, Jeffrey Vandersay, Nishan Peiris, Asitha Fernando, Vishwa Fernando, Lahiru Kumara, Milan Rathnayake

Australia Test squad: Steve Smith (c), Sean Abbott, Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cooper Connolly, Travis Head (vc), Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Matt Kuhnemann, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Nathan McSweeney, Todd Murphy, Mitchell Starc, Beau Webster

First ODI: February 12, Colombo (3.30pm AEDT)

Second ODI: February 14, Colombo (3.30pm AEDT)