17th over: Sri Lanka 47-3 (Chandimal 9, Mendis 14) Mitchell Starc opens Australia’s attack from the other end. Straight away he slides a sweet nut past Mendis’s edge. Wry grins from batter and bowler. Beautiful bowling at 144kph. Starc is wearing long inner sleeves under his shirt today, perhaps a birthday present for turning 35 yesterday? Starc is full and focused on that channel outside off. Mendis survives but can’t score.

16th over: Sri Lanka 47-3 (Chandimal 9, Mendis 14) Mendis shucks off the rust with a little dab through square leg. Chandimal’s first attempt at a run is much dicier as Lyon tosses one down outside off and finds steep bounce. It leaps past the batter’s throat and goes over Alex Carey’s helmet. We are away!. Players are on the field and Nathan Lyon is at the top of his mark awaiting Kamindu Mendis, a man with five centuries and four fifties from his last 10 Tests! Let’s go….

Don’t forget the Women’s Ashes Test is happening at the MCG, with Australia looking good. Phoebe Litchfield and Annabel Sutherland are in the midst of a 76-run partnership and Australia are cruising at 93-1 in pursuit of England’s 170. Martin Pegan has out live coverage bubbling here…. Kamindu Mendis and Dinesh Chandimal will resume Sri Lanka’s innings today unbeaten on 13 and 9 respectively. For the home side, their torment in the final session was slightly alleviated by rain, hence the start time of 3.21pm AEST today.

There is more rain predicted for the afternoon but so far things look clear for play to begin on time. For those who came in late, here’s a report on day two…. Greetings sports fans! Welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of day three in this first Test between Australian and Sri Lanka at Galle International Cricket Stadium. Australia are bossing this Test match. An Usman Khawaja double-century 232, Steve Smith’s 141 and Josh Inglis’s 102 on debut have set Sri Lanka the mountainous total of 654 (dec) – a new Australian record for Tests played in Asia. Sent in for an hour in the final session, Sri Lanka collapsed to 44-3!.

Can the home side conjure a miracle and pull this Test out of the fire? They still have Dinesh Chandimal at the crease – his glorious double-century in 2022 led Sri Lanka to a comeback victory and a squared series. And his current partner Kamindu Mendis is no slouch either, having scored 1000+ Test runs last year at an average nudging 75. But the road to another 610 runs and parity is long, winding and steep. It is also deadly, with Australia’s triple-threat spin cartel of Nathan Lyon (1-7), Matthew Kuhnemann (1-26) and Todd Murphy already developing an appetite for destruction.