SL vs AUS 1st Test: Stand blown away with strong wind at Galle; Day 2 start delayed

No spectators were in the stand at the time of collapse on Thursday morning.

The strong wind has also blown away the roof on a makeshift grandstand at the stadium. (Twitter)

The scheduled start of the Day 2 of the 1st Sri Lanka-Australia Test at Galle International Stadium has been delayed due to heavy rain. The strong wind has also blown away the roof on a makeshift grandstand at the stadium.

No spectators were in the stand at the time, with Australia’s team only just arriving at the ground.

Don’t think there’ll be any play before lunch. Having said that, the ground staff here are pretty efficient. But rain has to cease. The wind’s strong too. One temporary stand has been blown away. pic.twitter.com/7JyZigyGJf

— Rex Clementine (@RexClementine) June 30, 2022

Rain also continued to fall past the scheduled start of play of 10 am local time, with ground staff struggling to keep the entire outfield covered amid the gusts of wind.

Bad weather at Galle 🌧️

The start of day two of the first Test has been delayed due to rain.

Watch #SLvAUS Test series LIVE on https://t.co/CPDKNxoJ9v (in select regions) 📺#WTC23 pic.twitter.com/403EoilLmd

— ICC (@ICC) June 30, 2022

Earlier on Wednesday, Nathan Lyon took his 20th five-wicket haul to bowl Sri Lanka out for 212 before Australia reached 98-3 at stumps on the opening day of the first Test.

Lyon went past former New Zealand great Richard Hadlee’s wicket tally of 431 to position himself 12th on the list of highest test wicket takers.

The series is being played for the Warne-Muralitharan Trophy, named after the two top bowlers in Test history with 1,508 combined wickets. This is the first series for the trophy after Australian great Shane Warne died in March from a heart attack while vacationing in Thailand.

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