Sri Lanka Cricket could be fined by the International Cricket Council after ICC match referee Chris Broad officially rated the pitch used for the first Test between the islanders and Australia as "poor".

The match at the Galle International Stadium finished inside four days despite the intervention of weather as the dry surface provided excessive spin for bowlers as well as variable bounce.

SLC have 14 days to respond in writing to the ICC's report on the pitch, but face a hefty fine and "a directive for corrective action" if cricket's governing body are not satisfied by SLC's explanation.

The ICC said in a statement: "The ICC's General Manager - Cricket, David Richardson, and the ICC's chief match referee Ranjan Madugalle will now consider all the evidence, including studying video footage of the match and submissions from the host Member Board, before reaching their decision in due course."

Given that the outfield was lush from recent rain, the Galle pitch had clearly been denied water as Sri Lanka looked to gain an advantage for their spinners.

The plan backfired as Australia won the Test by 125 runs to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series, with 40 wickets falling for 841 runs in 289.5 overs.

"If you speak to all the batters that's definitely one of the toughest wickets I've had to bat on in a Test match and that was on day one," Australia captain Michael Clarke said afterwards.

"Day one felt like day five of a Test match, so to scratch out 270-odd were crucial runs, we thought that was a pretty good score.

"It's really hard, I hate to see a Test match result determined by the toss, I hate to see any game of cricket determined by the toss, but that was one of the toughest wickets I've played Test cricket on. No doubt it was prepared for spin bowling, but I think it might've backfired as well."