A remarkable five-wicket haul for Nathan Lyon has put Australia in a

commanding position at the end of day two of their opening Test against

Sri Lanka.

Lyon claimed 5-34 off 15 overs, including a wicket off

his first ball in Test cricket, as Sri Lanka crumbled to be all out for

105 in their first innings at Galle.

At stumps Australia were

6-115, a lead of 283, with Michael Clarke dismissed shortly before the

close of play following a well-made 60 off 80 deliveries.

Rangana

Herath (3-51) was the man to get the Australian skipper out when he

top-edged a sweep for an easy catch to wicketkeeper Prasanna

Jayawardene, with Herath dismissing Michael Hussey (15) with the

following delivery.

The Sri Lankan left-arm off-spinner couldn’t complete a hat-trick but did remove Brad Haddin (0) in his following over.

But the day belonged to Lyon, as bowlers dominated to claim 16 wickets across the three sessions.

The

23-year-old off-spinner’s display was his first five-wicket haul in his

short career and is the best bowling performance on Test debut by an

Australian since Jason Krejza’s 8-215 in Nagpur in 2008.

Fellow

debutant Trent Copeland began Australia’s bright day, dismissing Sri

Lanka skipper Tillakaratne Dilshan (4) with just his second ball in Test

cricket.

But Lyon quickly went one better, becoming just the

second Australian since Arthur Coningham in 1894-95 to claim a wicket

with his first ball at this level.

The 23-year-old South

Australian off-spinner got a ball to turn sharply out of the rough to

key Sri Lanka batsman Kumar Sangakkara (10) and captain Michael Clarke

snared the edge off Sangakkara’s bat at slip low to his left.

The

morning was completed for the debutants when Copeland had a hand in the

run-out dismissal of key Sri Lanka batsman Mahela Jayawardene (11) when

Lyon was bowling.

Mitchell Johnson was unlucky not to get

amongst the wickets, trapping Tharanga Paranavitana first ball after

lunch but the Sri Lanka opener reviewed the decision and TV replays

revealed the delivery was a no-ball.

But that decision mattered

little as Shane Watson (3-11) ripped through Sri Lanka’s middle-order

with three wickets in short time, trapping Thilan Samaraweera (26),

Prasanna Jayawardene (0) and Tharanga Paranavitana (29) all LBW.

Lyon

then returned to clean up the tail, ending the innings with an athletic

caught-and-bowled, as Sri Lanka lost their last seven wickets for just

18 runs.