Skipper feels the heat of testing subcontinent

Steve Smith will doubtless endure less fruitful days in what is expected to be a lengthy tenure as Australia's Test cricket captain.

There will be times – as was the case today when Sri Lanka remorselessly ground his bowlers into the chalky brown dust that the Colombo pitch is rapidly becoming – when wickets remain elusive for hours, for sessions, for full days at a time.

But it might be a hefty stint before the 27-year-old, whose first 11 Tests as a skipper brought him no defeats and a gleaming gilded mace recognising his effort in leading a team from the hurt of their fourth consecutive away Ashes defeat to the top of the world rankings, is more frustrated.

An annoyance that anyone with high aspirations recognises when matters beyond their immediate sphere of influence spin out control.

And an irritation that would only have been partially salved by the unbeaten 61 Smith compiled in conjunction with Shaun Marsh (64no) in his team's most productive batting session of this series leading into stumps on day two.

Quick Single: Smith, Marsh lead strong fightback

That's because from 43 minutes before the day one lunch break at Colombo's SSC Ground until a couple of minutes before the scheduled tea break, Smith's usual state of perpetual motion was stretched to incorporate new offerings in hand-wringing gestures, regular bouts of the 'double teapot' and – ultimately – hands-on-head exasperation.

A sure sign that his agitation was rising with the ambient temperature that rarely pushes much above low 30s Centigrade but feels infinitely hotter because of the clawing humidity and lack of soothing breezes in the tropical swelter.

As the opponent he saw pinned to the wall at 5-26 – a position from which no Test team had previously recovered to surpass 350 – heaped humiliation  upon heartache for his tireless bowlers as they batted and batted and batted.

And might well be still batting if their redoubtable number nine batsman Rangana Herath, the 38-year-old tailender who has scored more runs than any specialist Australian batter other than Smith in the series to date, had not had his innings prematurely ended by a low blow.

It was more than the frustration of Sri Lanka's sixth pair not only finding a means to survive but dominate to the point of posting the second-highest partnership for any wicket in a Test against Australia.

Which was only 19 runs shy of the all-time high watermark set at the same venue 24 years ago by Arjuna Ranatunga – Sri Lanka's World Cup winning skipper whose name adorns the main gates to SSC – and Asanka Gurusinha.

Against a team that included Allan Border and Dean Jones (both of whom were present on day two to relive some painful memories).

It was the sight of 24-year-old Dhananjaya de Silva in his third Test piling on an unruffled maiden century, while his senior partner Dinesh Chandimal extended his stay on the dusty track to almost eight hours.

Around three hours longer than any of Australia's four innings in the series to that point had lasted.

The mounting frustration of his bowlers as they struggled for footholds on the crumbling crease line just as surely as they battled to find an edge or beat a bat meant Smith had to employ every means in his dwindling sphere of control to change the day's course.

Well not quite everything.

Seam-bowling allrounder Moises Henriques was not among the six bowling options employed by the skipper even though the Australians were required to bowl more overs than any first innings of a Test match since their similarly gruelling 2014 series against Pakistan in the UAE.

When eight bowlers were used, heightening perceptions that Henriques has been selected in this Test as a specialist batter.

"The fact that they (the SSC ground staff) fill the holes (on the crease) with not much, it was still wet this morning and it has been after each innings that we've bowled through the series," Australia's best and fastest bowler Mitchell Starc said of his troubles in finding a safe foothold on the bowling crease.

"And the fact that they (Sri Lanka) have bowled probably 15 overs of pace through the whole series, it's a bit easier for the spinners to land on the stuff than it is for our quicks.

"Yes, I understand that the wicket is what it is and both teams play on that but the actual bowling crease has been pretty disappointing this Test match."

But most galling for Smith, who is obsessive about training, about perfecting his exquisite skills as a batter and close catcher, about being the first into the practice nets and the last to depart, was the two slips catches that dribbled through his cupped hands as Australia craved for a wicket.

The first being a low offering from Chandimal shortly after he posted his century and edged a peach of a delivery from Jon Holland past ‘keeper Peter Nevill's gloves but close enough to Smith for him to get underneath it as he tumbled to his left but was never in danger of sticking.

Knowing just how tough it is to create chances in these physically and mentally conditions, Smith returned to his fielding position and berated himself for the speed at which he moved, the position in which he found his hands and the brief lapse in the anticipation he so prides himself on.

Chandimal went on to score a further 32 which is more than Herath profited by when Smith shelled another one when the Sri Lankan spinner was on 25.

But this catch prompted even greater distress in the Australia skipper because he didn't have to reach as far, he had longer to sight it and get into position given it flew off the bowling of seamer Mitchell Marsh, and it came after he'd willed himself to make amends for the earlier blue.

Quick Single: Smith beats Ponting to milestone 

While some who drop a catch will pull a hat over their eyes, stare at a patch on the ground or simply pretend they are somewhere else and the game around them doesn't exist, Smith was, as always, searching for answers.

Turning to study the big video screen as it replayed (and then replayed again) both of his spilled opportunities for the benefit of the local crowd, and to the frustration of the Australian who seemed bereft of reasons why neither chance had been taken.

It's the sort of scrutiny that comes with the territory of being Australian captain, certainly when the team is struggling in foreign conditions for which they have been purpose-prepared, and a feeling that others who have held that office know too well.

Which is why Smith can be grateful he was on the field and not near his phone at that time, when his predecessor Michael Clarke took to social media to air a few of his thoughts on why his former team was once again struggling in Asia.

"Are we doing the right training/ preparation?" Clarke offered up at one point as the Australian bowlers searched for the final Sri Lankan wickets.

"Use your feet (back and forward) rotate strike," was another when asked how he would counter the wily Herath's left-arm spin.

And cheekily, when quizzed on how Australian players might be better drilled for Asian conditions, "Send them to my academy" wrote the founder and director of the Michael Clarke Cricket Academy.

Quick Single: Pakistan triumph sees England series drawn

But Clarke had just one word for the series' leading wicket-taker Mitchell Starc who today collected his third five-wicket haul in as many Tests – "outstanding".

And Starc, who will spearhead Australia's next Asian campaign (fitness willing) when they head to India for the four-Test series next February, believes the experiences of the past three weeks – including the escalating frustrations of today – will be of huge benefit when that rolls around.

"I think we're making good steps forward, it's just happened too late in the series," Starc said at day's end.

"It's pretty slow and not much carry but yesterday was as good a day as we've had with the ball, being able to control the scoreboard and to take wickets early.

"The consistency for all the bowlers through (Sri Lanka's) innings has been really good and where we want to be for Test cricket over here in Asia.

"Once this Test match is over it's just sitting back and learning as much as we can from what we've done through this series, and then taking that into the big series that we've got later in the cricket year for us, in India.

"I guess we've started to turn that around in this Test match – but obviously it's two Tests too late."