Herath tears through Aussies with hat-trick

Rangana Herath has become just the second Sri Lankan to take a Test hat-trick as Australia collapsed to all but relinquish their world No.1 Test ranking on day two of the second Test.

The left-arm spinner removed Adam Voges, Peter Nevill and Mitchell Starc in consecutive deliveries as Australia lost five wickets inside the opening 45 minutes on the second day in Galle.

Herath joins Nuwan Zoysa (against Zimbabwe in 1999) as the only men from the island nation to take a Test hat-trick. Zoysa's effort was made even more remarkable by the fact he did it with the first three balls he bowled in the match.

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It's only the second time a hat-trick has been taken on Sri Lankan soil; the other instance also came in Galle, when Pakistan's Abdul Razzaq achieved the feat in June 2000.

At the age of 38, Herath is the oldest player in history to take a Test hat-trick.

It is the 42nd instance of a hat-trick in Tests and the first since Stuart Broad against Sri Lanka in June 2014.

Herath was made to wait for his hat-trick to be confirmed due to a lengthy review from the third official after on-field umpire Chris Gaffaney had initially given Starc not out.

The big left-hander had played well forward and while he was hit on his front pad, Gaffaney's call of not out appeared to be vindicated when Sri Lanka skipper Angelo Mathews took an age to ask for a review, seemingly in hope more than any great confidence that the decision would be overturned.

But after waiting an age for the ball-tracking technology to surface, Starc's fate was confirmed and Herath was mobbed by his jubilant teammates in the centre of the Galle International Stadium.

The dismissal of Starc came from the final ball of the 25th over of the innings and reduced Australia to 7-80 in reply to Sri Lanka's total of 281.

Herath had struck with the fourth ball of the over, luring Voges (8) into a lofted drive that was well caught by Dimuth Karunaratne at cover.

Nevill (0) was dismissed the very next ball, trapped in front by a ball from Herath that slid straight on with the arm, becoming the third Australian of the morning to be undone by a straight delivery.

Earlier, the not out batsmen overnight Usman Khawaja (11) and Steve Smith (5) were both bowled when they played back to a delivery that continued on with the arm.

The wicket of Smith was another small milestone for Herath; it was his 314th career wicket, moving him above Mitchell Johnson as the 25th most prolific wicket-taker in the history of the game.

Allrounder Mitch Marsh (27) went down swinging as Australia capitulated to be all out for 106, Herath finishing with with 4-35 from 11 overs.