Sri Lanka trailed Australia by only two runs with nine wickets at the close of play on Day 3 in the third and final Test match in Colombo. Having begun the day with their team at 141/1, Australia's Steve Smith (119) and Shaun Marsh (130) were in control for large periods of the day and amassed a 246-run stand for the second wicket. However, Sri Lanka's veteran left-arm spinner Rangana Herath soon put the breaks on Australia with yet another six wicket haul.
Smith and Marsh came with a plan against Sri Lanka's bowlers, who looked rattled for large spells during the day. It did not help that captain Angelo Mathews put down a sharp chance off Marsh. The batsmen kept the strike ticking and brought up their respective centuries.
Suranga Lakmal got the much-needed breakthrough as he bowled Marsh with the Australian score on 267. That triggered a collapse in the visitors' ranks as barring Mitchell Marsh (53), Australia collapsed from 267/1 to 379 all out.
Mitchell Starc got the customary early breakthrough for Australia. Sri Lanka's top order woes continued, despite promoting Kusal Perera up the order as they finished the day on 22/1.
Brief scores:
Sri Lanka: 355 (Dhananjaya de Silva 129, Dinesh Chandimal 132; Mitchell Starc 5 for 63, Nathan Lyon 3 for 110) & 22/1 (Kusal Perera 8; Mitchell Starc 1 for 19) trail Australia 379 (Shaun Marsh 130, Steve Smith 119; Rangana Herath 6 for 81) by 2 runs.