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SL vs AUS | I see this game as even, but there's still a lot of work to do: Nathan Lyon

Nathan Lyon shined with his spin by scalping a five-wicket haul in the ongoing-first Test-match against Sri Lanka. By this, the Aussies could restrict the hosts to 212 at the Galle stadium. But they have hit back at them by scalping three wickets on day one, where their score stands at 98. 


"We always talk of the importance of trying to knock over the tails as quick as we can, and you look at the way Dickwella played. He played an incredible inning, and he put the pressure right back on us as bowlers,” 


“I was proud of the way we came back after tea and stuck to our plans, and we were able to get the late rewards and knock them over. So saying that I see this game as even; there's still a lot of work to do," Lyon said to ESPNcricinfo on bowling out the hosts after they took tea at 191-6.


With Lyon bagging his 20th five-wicket haul in the red-ball format, his fellow spinner was too good with the ball and had successfully scalped three wickets to hinder the opposition's batting. 


Lyon praises Mitchell Swepson for his performance on Day 1


In addition, Swepson was on a hat-trick, snaring Dhananjaya de Silva and Dinesh Chandimal off consecutive balls. And the experienced Aussie spinner has heaped praises on Swepson.


"I'm extremely proud of Sweppo. You talk to him, and he didn't have the series he wanted in Pakistan, but to be honest, I still thought he was learning and learning how hard Test cricket is to play," said Lyon of the up-and-coming wrist-spinner who took two wickets in his recent debut series in Pakistan.


Lyon also mentioned one of his strengths from his wide-variety spin bowling, the extra bounce. 


"(Extra bounce) is one of my biggest weapons, and there's no secret about that. It's something I'm very excited to see. Obviously, spin and bounce are good signs," Lyon stated. 


"It's about me asking different questions in different variations. Whereas in Australia, I will probably stick to my strength which is my stock ball and trust in that. When you come over here, you have about three or four different variations that you can trust and know you're going to get some assistance off the wickets," he added.


Chris Silverwood speaks on Day 1 performance against Australia


After Sri Lanka's first innings, Sri Lanka's head coach, Chris Silverwood, had his say.


"We would have liked more runs in the first innings after winning the toss. We lost wickets in clumps after the break, something we need to work on. The way Dickwella and Ramesh played was excellent; it put pressure back onto the Australians. All said, come back tomorrow to take quick wickets, then Australia is under pressure." Sri Lanka coach Chris Silverwood said. 


The Australia team, led by Pat Cummins, is trailing by 114 runs in the ongoing Test in Galle, with seven wickets remaining in their first innings. The last five overs of the day were dominated by spin, with the ball frequently beating the bat. Fortunately for Australia, Usman Khawaja and Travis Head survived the period and were unbeaten at stumps on day one.