SL v AUS, 3rd Test Review: Sri Lanka clinch historic series win

Sri Lanka’s win in the third Test at the SSC in Colombo underlined something that they had never achieved in their history as a Test playing nation. While the fact that they completed a 3-0 clean sweep against Australia, their first ever clean sweep since receiving Test match status in 1981 is impressive, the Lankans have completed a clean sweep against the top-ranked Test team in the world.

Sri Lanka entered the match with the likes of Sanath Jayasuriya and Kumar Sangakkara calling for a clean sweep. Although Angelo Mathews, the Sri Lankan skipper eventually conceded that it would be a hard task to pull off, it was clear that they were favorites to do so. Rangana Herath was the hero once again with 13 wickets in the entire match.

Day one saw the Australians climbing all over the Sri Lankans. The first session saw a fiery Mitchell Starc and a wily Nathan Lyon claim five wickets in the first half-hour of the match. At 26-5, a win for the home side was looking highly unlikely. Moreover, the fact that the Lankans with Dhanajaya de Silva and Dinesh Chandimal were able to pick themselves back up and make a difference was certainly something that made a difference in the Lankans stitching an important first innings total.

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With some help from Rangana Herath in the end of the innings, Sri Lanka ensured that they crossed the psychological 300-run mark to stitch a total of 353. While the home side was certainly expecting the Aussies to have problems with playing spin yet again, this time, around, it was not meant to be. Shaun Marsh, reprising his role as an opener after the dropping of Joe Burns, made an impact with the bat almost instantly. He used his feet well against the spin, knew when to defend and also stitched an important partnership with skipper Steve Smith. The duo stitched Australia’s highest partnership of the series. Although the Aussies eventually reached a safety zone, the middle, and lower order gave away as they managed to stitch only a few runs in the later part of the innings.

After taking a small lead of 25 runs, the Lankans once again began to lose wickets in tandem. Although impressing with the bat for some part of the innings, the fact that they were able to perform an effective damage control showed clearly in the innings. Kaushal Silva smashed his third century after smashing 115 in the second innings, a knock that meant that the home side did indeed have a chance of claiming a win.

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Day five of the match highlighted something that was indeed clear to one and all. After setting the target of 324 for the Aussies, it was clear that the Aussies would have to play out of their skins. David Warner and Shaun Marsh continued where they left off in the previous innings when they began to play the spin with the expertise they had shown earlier. However, after stitching an impressive partnership, the Aussie collapse was seemingly inevitable. They lost their last eight wickets to the spin and guile of Rangana Herath as the latter claimed a 7-wicket haul, something that saw him complete 13 wickets in the match.

Sri Lanka, 1st innings: 353 all out

Australia, 1st innings: 379 all out

Sri Lanka, 2nd innings: 347/8 (K Silva 115; N Lyon 4/123)

Australia, 2nd innings: 160 all out (D Warner 68; R Herath 7/64)

Man of the Match: Rangana Herath