Tim Paine dubs Manuka Oval 'brilliant Test wicket'

Manuka Oval curator Brad van Dam is rapt with the venue's first taste of Test cricket and has called on Cricket Australia to bring more of the same to the capital.

The Australian Test side avoided an unwanted slice of history in breaking a century drought via the hand of Joe Burns on day one before the floodgates opened.

Travis Head, Kurtis Patterson and Usman Khawaja followed suit in a spell that left plenty bringing up Manuka Oval's reputation as a batsman's paradise.

But the efforts of the touring Sri Lankans suggests batting wasn't so easy, folding for 215 in the first innings and 149 in the second as Mitchell Starc claimed 10 wickets for the match.

"We were actually talking in the change room, I thought it was a brilliant Test wicket," Paine said.

"It did a bit on day one, it flattened out a little bit and was good for batting. I thought [on Monday] it would have spun and [on Tuesday] stayed a bit low.

"All the chat from all the players and staff in our change rooms was really positive. We thought it was a great Test match wicket, we’d certainly love to come back and play here again.

"Hopefully we can find room in the schedule for Canberra and [Hobart]."

Khawaja says the visitors struggled to adapt to the uneven bounce of the Manuka track, with Dimuth Karunaratne and Kusal Perera both forced to retire hurt after being struck by bouncers.

Niroshan Dickwella found himself at the other end of the spectrum when he had his off stump knocked over by Starc as one kept low.

Van Dam was determined to not only produce an excellent deck for Canberra’s first ever Test but also to win the approval of the ICC pitch-ratings system and he is confident his team can continue to produce top Test wickets.

But for now, his attention turns straight to a nearly sold-out Big Bash League match between the Sydney Thunder and Hobart Hurricanes on Saturday.

"We’re straight into it. The Test match finished an hour ago and we’re starting to prepare for the Big Bash this weekend," van Dam said.

"We had it pretty much spot on. I would have to liked to have the cracks open up a bit more but I think that was conducive with the first day really, it was so cold.

"It may have flattened out a bit earlier on the first day if it was a bit warmer, and if the Sri Lankans had taken a couple more catches it would have been a good Test match.

"It actually ended up being a very good Test pitch, had enough in there for the bowlers, Starc got 10-for and there was four centuries. The Australian team was much better than the Sri Lankans but it was a really good Test.

"Keep bringing Test match cricket back to Canberra, we’ll hopefully produce year in, year out."