Dinesh Chandimal produces valiant effort to keep Australia at bay in Galle

Dinesh Chandimal’s unbeaten half-century and persistent rain in Galle delayed Australia’s push for victory in the opening test against Sri Lanka on Friday.

Only a 27-over session was possible on day three with Sri Lanka losing two wickets and slumping to 136-5 before rain stopped play.

Chandimal was batting on 63 with Kusal Mendis on 10 at the other end.

Sri Lanka are still 518 runs behind and will need a Herculean effort to avoid the follow-on even though more rain is forecast for Saturday.

Australia seized control of the contest after declaring their first innings on a mammoth 654-6 and made a couple of inroads when play resumed on Friday.

Kamindu Mendis (15) fell to a wayward delivery from Mitchell Starc, which the batter tickled down the leg side to be caught behind.

Dhananjaya de Silva (22) also threw away his wicket as the Sri Lanka captain came dancing down the track against left-arm spinner Matthew Kuhnemann only to miss the ball.

Australia wicketkeeper Alex Carey had all the time in the world to collect the ball and whip off the bails.

Chandimal hit Nathan Lyon for three fours in an over and has looked comfortable.