Australian spinner Ashton Agar was on Saturday ruled out of the second Test in Sri Lanka after failing to recover from an injury.
The visitors took 1-0 lead on Friday after defeating Sri Lanka in the opening Test by 10 wickets.
Left-arm spinner Ashton Agar, who suffered a side strain in the one-day internationals last month, will likely to be replaced by Jon Holland in the squad for the final Test, which begins on Friday.
What Cricket Australia said about Agar
“Agar sustained this injury during the white-ball leg of the tour three weeks ago. Jon Holland, who was part of the Australia A side on the tour, has been named as Agar’s replacement in the 17-man squad,” said the official release from Cricket Australia.
“He has been undergoing rehabilitation in an effort to be available for the Test series. But has not recovered in time for the second match.”
His likely replacement, Holland is a left-arm spinner, who has played four Tests so far and took 9 wickets. He made his debut during Australia’s 3-0 loss to Sri Lanka in 2016.
Australia decided to keep Mitchell Swepson as Lyon’s main partner due to the absence of Agar. Swepson, Lyon, and part-timer Travis Head run rings around Sri Lanka’s batting order and dismiss them for just 113.
Australia’s skipper Pat Cummins lauded the bowler after his impressive performance in the 1st Test match, saying he was quite pleased with the way the bowler bowled.
“A couple of key breakthroughs in the first innings and then [on Friday], top-order wickets. Really valuable. He controlled the tempo of the game, he had some batters come really hard at him. I thought he bowled beautifully.”
The visitors defeated the hosts in the 1st test of a 2-match series very easily by 10 wickets. The second Test will take place on July 8 at the Galle International Stadium, Galle.
