Seventeen wickets tumble on low-scoring day

It was a helter-skelter start to a crucial Test match. Sri Lanka's nightmare end to the opening Test at Galle was swiftly forgotten as Muttiah Muralitharan raced to 500 wickets and Australia slumped to their lowest ever-total against Sri Lanka. But Australia's capitulation was followed by an even more spectacular Sri Lanka collapse in the evening that left the match balanced on a knife-edge.

Australia had won the toss and bravely elected to bat first on a fresh-looking surface, after resisting the temptation to go into the match with three quick bowlers. But they were bowled out for just 120 in 42.2 overs, before Michael Kasprowicz hit back with three wickets with new ball and Shane Warne teased out three middle-order wickets to leave Sri Lanka precariously placed on 92 for 7 at the close.

Sanath Jayasuriya (1) started Sri Lanka's procession when he was trapped lbw fourth ball. Rain forced an extended tea interval, after which Avishka Gunawardene was also adjudged lbw for 13, somewhat unfortunately as the ball had pitched outside leg (34 for 2).

Kasprowicz and Jason Gillespie, their tails well and truly up, turned the screws even further. Marvan Atapattu (9) gloved a leg-side catch off a rising delivery and Kumar Sangakkara (5) was too slow on his hook stroke against Gillespie, the ball ballooning up to Andrew Symonds at square leg (49 for 4).

Shane Warne's entry into the attack was predictably dramatic. Once again he was able to lure one of Sri Lanka's batsman in a moment of sheer madness. This time Mahela Jayawardene was the guilty party as he danced down the track and tried to loft a delivery that pitched outside leg stump. Symonds was presented with a straightforward catch at point. Next ball, Tillakaratne Dilshan was pinned lbw (67 for 6).

Hashan Tillakaratne averted a total meltdown with a typically gritty 16 from 60 balls, as Sri Lanka edged a little closer to Australia's meagre total. But Warne struck again just before the close, leaving Chaminda Vaas unbeaten on 16 at the close.

The afternoon had belonged to Muralitharan. He had started the match with 496 wickets, and stole the limelight as he bowled Kasprowicz through the gate to become the third bowler in history to reach the 500-mark. It came in just his 87th match - 21 matches quicker than Shane Warne, who reached the milestone at Galle, and 42 games faster than Courtney Walsh.

But while Muralitharan's 4 for 48 was valuable, Nuwan Zoysa was the real catalyst of Australia's demise, grabbing 4 for 54 from 16 overs of probing, incisive left-arm seam bowling. Zoysa, back in the side after two years on the sidelines, was a revelation, darting the ball both ways and extracting sharp bounce.

In the morning, despite the pitch having sweated under the covers for the previous 36 hours, Ricky Ponting elected to bat first. That suited Sri Lanka to a T - they would have almost certainly have batted had they won the toss. The decision was certainly a gamble and Matthew Hayden and Justin Langer survived the first hour by the skin of their teeth.

Hayden battled particularly hard. He was dropped on 11 at slip and fortunate to be reprieved on 14 when television replays indicated that he ought to have been given out lbw. Meanwhile Langer gritted it out at the other end, playing and missing frequently as he scored just three runs in 39 balls. But the innings turned after the first drinks break, as Langer shouldered arms to a big Zoysa inswinger and was plumb lbw (25 for 1).

Zoysa started to tire as he entered his eighth over and Ponting capitalised, starting his innings with two glorious straight drives. But Tillakaratne recalled Vaas into the attack with immediate success. Ponting smiled in shocked disappointment after taking a big stride forward, but Dave Orchard rightly raised his finger (47 for 2).

Sri Lanka sealed their morning when Damien Martyn (1) sunk deep into his crease to play a Muralitharan offbreak defensively and was pinned lbw. Then, on the stroke of lunch, Darren Lehmann shuffled across his stumps and was bowled leg stump for the second time in the series (60 for 4).

Australia woes continued after the break. Zoysa continued his spell and quickly accounted for Andrew Symonds (6), brilliantly caught at the third attempt by a juggling Tillakaratne, and Adam Gilchrist, who nicked his second ball to Kumar Sangakkara behind the stumps (84 for 6).

Muralitharan then took centre stage. Now cheered on by hundreds of screaming schoolchildren, who had been coached in by the cricket board and armed with congratulatory placards, Muralitharan finally dislodged Hayden with a delivery the pitched on line and straightened (86 for 7).

Jason Gillespie (8) was snapped up with a wrong'un, which he edged low to Mahela Jayawardene at slip, and then Kasprowicz brought up the 500 as an offbreak, delivered from around the wicket, jack-knifed back between bat and pad. Muralitharan was ecstatic, and immediately mobbed by his team-mates.

Shane Warne clumped three fours in his 18, the second-highest score in the innings, but Australia were not able to lift themselves past their previous lowest score against Sri Lanka - the 140 they were bowled out for at the same venue in 1999. They lost that game by six wickets, but they have a real chance of winning this one.