Sri Lanka head coach Sanath Jayasuriya ripped into the team's batting order after a horror show in the first Test match vs Australia. Sri Lanka fell to a record defeat in Galle on Saturday, February 2, after losing the opener by an innings and 242 runs.

Jayasuriya's batters played terrible shots in both innings and lost 15 wickets on Day 4 at the Galle International Stadium on Saturday. The Sri Lanka batters got starts but perished at the hands of Nathan Lyon and Matthew Kuhnemann, who were rewarded for their accuracy and patience.

This was Sri Lanka's worst defeat against Australia in their history of Test cricket. In fact, this was Australia's biggest victory on the entire Asian continent since they started to travel for red-ball tours.

Jayasuriya blamed the shot selection after the loss and said that senior players failed to handle the situation correctly. Sri Lanka were already out of the World Test Championship Final race but wanted to finish off the cycle with good results. Given that senior Australia pacers Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood were not in the squad, this presented them with a good opportunity to test Australia.

"We cannot blame the wicket because we saw how the wicket behaved. This was a very good wicket. For a long time, we haven't seen such a good wicket in Galle, on the third and fourth days. So there was a serious problem with shot selection as well as handling situations. I don't think that certain players have handled the situation well. They're experienced players and they have to be more mature in handling these situations. Because they've played enough cricket to take control of these kinds of situations. Such situations shall be handled in a more professional manner than this," Jayasuriya told the press after the conclusion of the first Test match.

Dinesh Chandimal was the standout performer in the first innings, scoring 72, while Jeffrey Vandersay, batting at number nine, played a counterattacking knock in the second innings, making an aggressive 53 off 47 balls. His knock was a clear reminder that the pitch demanded the hosts to weather tough phases of play.

Earlier, Australia put on a remarkable display with the bat in their first innings. Usman Khawaja, Steve Smith, and Josh Inglis all scored centuries. Khawaja registered the first double hundred of his Test career, while Inglis marked his debut with a century.

Stand-in captain Steve Smith also scored a century, reaching the prestigious milestone of 10,000 Test runs during the match. This victory further solidifies Australia's dominance in the Test format. After defeating India in the recently concluded Border-Gavaskar Trophy, Australia has qualified for the 2025 World Test Championship final, where they will face South Africa.

"The biggest problem is the batters who are getting a start, are not going on to play a long innings. This is something I mutter always. We saw Khawaja, Smith, and Inglis, all three of them took a good start and they converted them to big hundreds. This conversion must be there. We're not consistent in that. Our players should know that these are our conditions and we must make use of these conditions. There were lots of opportunities but we didn't make use of them," Jayasuriya concluded.

The second Test match of the series starts on February 6. Australia will also play 2 ODIs after that in preparation for the Champions Trophy.