The tale was all too familiar as hosts Sri Lanka wrapped up a historic 3-0 whitewash against Australia, romping home by 163 runs against a side that was sitting at the top of the Test rankings when they landed in the country. Spinner Rangana Herath finished with match figures of 13/145, as Australia were bundled out for 160 in the second innings, chasing a target of 324. The Lankans landed their first ever whitewash against Australia.
More than the losses in the first two Tests, it will take some explaining from the Aussies as to how they lost the third match after reducing Sri Lanka to 26/5 in the first hour of the day's play. In reply to the hosts' eventual first-innings score of 355, the Australians, steered by centuries from Steve Smith and Shaun Marsh, were at 267/1 on day three. Yet again, the middle order was out of its depth for the manner in which they countered spin.
While Dhananjaya de Silva and Dinesh Chandimal rescued Sri Lanka from a dire situation in the first innings, it was Kaushal Silva's battling hundred despite suffering an injury that took the game beyond the Australians in the second innings. The target was always going to be out of their reach, but the signs were good at the start with David Warner finding the gaps with ease. Australia, at 77/0, then lost Shaun Marsh, and that was when Herath (7/64) started to run riot. Australia lost a whopping nine wickets in the post-lunch session to succumb to their ninth consecutive loss on Asian soil. The magnificent Herath finished with 28 wickets in the series at a mind-boggling 12.75 a piece.
Brief scores:
Sri Lanka 355 (Dhananjaya de Silva 129, Dinesh Chandimal 132; Mitchell Starc 5/63, Nathan Lyon 3/110) and 347/8 dec. (Kaushal Silva 115, Dhananjaya de Silva 65 not out; Nathan Lyon 4/123, Mitchell Starc 2/72) beat Australia 379 (Shaun Marsh 130, Steve Smith 119; Rangana Herath 6/81) and 160 (David Warner 68, Mitchell Starc 23; Rangana Herath 7/64) by 163 runs.