WHITEWASHED
Aussies humiliated
Rangana Herath bowled Sri Lanka to a 163run win confirming his place amongst the greats of Sri Lankan Cricket, helping them to their first series whitewash against Australia in the third and final Test which concluded at the SSC Grounds in Maitland Place yesterday.
Herath took seven for 64, as Australia folded against the challenge of Sri Lankan spin bowlers as expected, with Dilruwan Perera chipping in with two wickets.
It was Herath’s third haul of five or more wickets in the series, and his tally of 28 wickets tied for the second place on the list of highest wicket takers in a Test series in Sri Lanka – second only to Muttiah Muralitharan, an apt comparison to Herath’s career achievements.
The defeat also meant that Australia dropped down to third in the ICC Test Rankings.
Sri Lanka moved up one place to sixth.
Sri Lanka had chosen not to declare their innings when stumps were drawn on Tuesday and they batted for four and a half overs before deciding to declare.
In those four and a half overs – which the Australian bowlers took more than 35 minutes to bowl, showing no sense of urgency – Dhananjaya de Silva reached his fifty, to go with his century in the first innings.
Two overs later Captain Angelo Mathews declared the innings, setting the Australians a target of 324 to win.
Sri Lanka had a minimum of 83 overs to bowl the Australians out; they needed only 44 and a ball.
Australia’s opening pair gave them every chance possible though with David Warner in particular counter punching the hosts, scoring 37 in 50 balls.
Perhaps it was fear of further damage at the hands of Warner that convinced Captain Mathews that taking both reviews available to him in quick succession, in consecutive balls of the 18th over, was a good idea.
He thought he had Warner caught pad-bat at silly point in the over’s third ball but the appeal was turned down. He reviewed and replays showed the ball was nowhere near the glove or bat, before Kaushal Silva caught it.
The next ball was an appeal for a leg before wicket, and Mathews threw caution to the wind by sending it to the third umpire again. While it looked a good review on replay, the ball tracker showed the ball pitching outside the leg-stump, meaning that Sri Lanka would have to win the match without the help of the review system.
Australia’s perfect start were ruined however, in the over before lunch – having scored 77 runs inside the first 22 overs - when Shaun Marsh gloved Perera to Kusal Mendis at short leg, who took a sharp catch on the second attempt.
It proved to be Australia’s best partnership of the game and only one of significance.
In the second over after lunch, Warner reached his fifty, his first of the
Sri Lanka had a minimum of 83 overs to bowl the Australians out; they needed only 44 and a ball
series, with a boundary over mid-on.
Herath, in typical fashion, then got Sri Lanka back into the game when he took the wickets of Steven Smith and Adam Voges in the space of five balls.
Smith rocked back to play the ball square but misread the turn and missed the ball altogether, which crashed into his off-stump. Voges – as many Australian batsmen had done in this series - played for turn when there was none, and was trapped in front for one.
While Herath was the Aussies’ biggest headache Perera was rewarded for his consistency when he accounted for the wicket of Warner when he lunged forward pad-first to a delivery that came in sharply.
He failed to shield the ball, which went around his legs instead, crashing into his stumps, leaving the Aussies on 114 for four.
Moises Henriques, playing his first Test match since March 2013 was run out for four when he charged down the wicket to Perera, the ball ricocheting off his thigh to the Mathews at first slip who reacted quickly to throw down the stumps.
At first, it appeared Henriques was safe, but Third Umpire Richard Kettleborough, after superimposing the video, was convinced that the batsman had not crossed back into the crease in time.
Herath, then accounted for the last five Australian wickets.
All-rounder Mitchell Marsh hit the left-arm spinner for two consecutive boundaries, but the next ball edged him behind to the keeper, out for nine.
The task of saving Australia fell to Peter Nevill and Mitchell Starc but the former was also undone by Herath as a top-edge flew over the keeper to Mathews at slip.
Starc tried to counter-attack and picked off two boundaries and a six before miscuing a sweep, which keeper Kusal Perera called for but almost collided with Dimuth Karunaratne before holding on to it. Starc was Australia’s third highest scorer with 23 runs.
Kusal was involved again two overs later, when he stumped Josh Hazlewood for nought, Herath’s sixth wicket.
Lyon was the last man out when he was ruled out leg before wicket with the Sri Lankan players having already uprooted the stumps in celebration while the third umpire was still in the review process.
No fuss as the umpire confirmed the dismissal and the Sri Lankans celebrated a famous win, as Australia were bowled out for 160.