On Saturday, Australian batsman-wicketkeeper Alex Carey became the first member of his squad to reach the 150-run milestone in Asian conditions, surpassing the record set by the great Adam Gilchrist.
Carey accomplished this feat in Galle during the second Test match against Sri Lanka.

In the 87th over of Australia’s first innings on the third day of the match, Carey paddle-swept a ball from Prabath Jayasuriya to reach 150 runs, marking the first time he had ever reached the milestone in first-class cricket.

In the 93rd over, Carey lost his off-stump while trying to sweep, and Prabath cleaned his stumps. With 15 fours and two sixes, Carey was dismissed for 156 in 188 balls. 82.98 was his strike rate.

Adam Gilchrist, who hit 144 runs apiece in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, his only hundreds in these two countries, in addition to two tons in India, formerly held the record for the highest score by an Australian wicketkeeper-batter in Asia.

Aside from Gilchrist, Carey is now the second Australian wicketkeeper-batter to get a century in Asia.

Prior to the game, Sri Lanka chose to bat first after winning the toss. Sri Lanka reached 257 in 97.4 overs thanks to half-centuries from Kusal Mendis (85 in 139 balls, with 10 fours and a six) and Dinesh Chandimal (74 in 163 balls, with six fours and a six).

The leading wicket-takers for Australia were Nathan Lyon (3/96), Matthew Kuhnemann (3/63) and Mitchell Starc (3/27).

Australia struggled at 91/3 after losing Travis Head (21), Marnus Labuschagne (4), and Usman Khawaja (36) early in the first innings. But at the conclusion of day two, Australia was up by 73 runs at 330/3 thanks to centuries from Smith (120* in 239 balls, with nine fours and a six) and Alex Carey (139* in 156 balls, with 13 fours and two sixes).

Australia’s advantage in the first innings has already surpassed 100 runs.