Sri Lanka’s recent 3-0 Test series win over Australia, in my opinion, is surpassed only by the 1996 World Cup win by Arjuna Ranatunga and his men. My heartiest congratulations to Angelo Mathews and his team on this magnificent achievement.
The 1st Test Match played at Pallakelle, Kandy started in sensational manner when Sri Lanka, after having won the toss and electing to bat, were bowled out for 117 runs; Josh Hazelwood and Nathan Lyon being the main destroyers with 3 wickets each. Australia ended the day on strong footing, having scored 66 for the loss of 2 wickets. Early on the 2nd day the Australian Captain, who had scored 30, came down the pitch and had a wild heave at a Rangana Herath delivery and was stumped. Thereafter the Sri Lankan spinners got a stranglehold on the Australian batsmen and bowled them out for 203, conceding a lead of 86. The damage was done by Herath’s 4 for 49 and Lakshan Sandakan’s 4 for 58. It was a pleasure to watch debutant Sandakan bowl so well with his left arm wrist spin, a rarity in cricket.
Sri Lanka’s batting was in trouble again in the 2nd innings, having lost 4 wickets before wiping off the deficit. With youthful exuberance, Kusal Mendis took the attack to the Australian bowlers and scored a magnificent 176 runs. An invaluable innings considering the fact that Steve Smith was the only other player to score more than 50 runs in the game. Dinesh Chandimal, Dhananjaya De Silva and Rangana Herath chipped in with useful contributions enabling Sri Lanka to post a total of 353, leaving Australia to score 267 to win. The Australian batsmen struggled against the spin of Herath and Sandakan, who took 4 and 3 wickets respectively, to be bowled out for 161, leaving Sri Lanka victorious by 106 runs.
In the 2nd Test played in Galle, Sri Lanka won the toss and batted first to score 281. Kusal Mendis, who had grown in confidence after the match winning knock in the 1st Test, batted beautifully but was unfortunate to miss a century by 14 runs. Angelo Mathew’s contributed with 54. Mitchell Starc with 5 for 44 was the strike bowler for Australia. Puffs of dust rose from the pitch when Australia bowled and it must have affected the Australian batsmen psychologically as they succumbed to a score of 106 in their 1st innings; Dilruwan Perera and Herath took 4 wickets a piece.
Sri Lanka scored 237 in their 2nd Innings with Dilruwan Perera scoring 64 useful runs and showing his ability as a batsman. Mitchell Starc once again stamped his class in the game by claiming 6 for 50. A match bag of 11 wickets on a wicket not conducive to pace is to be admired. Taking into consideration that the wicket was taking spin and it’s unpredictable bounce, Australia was faced with the herculean task of scoring 412 runs to win. They were able to do a little better than the 1st Innings in scoring 183 leaving Sri Lanka winners by a margin of 229 runs. Dilruwan Perera took 6 for 70, having a very good game with both bat and ball. Sri Lanka registered this comprehensive win in 3 days, thus annexing the series.
It was hoped that Sri Lanka would overcome the demoralized Australian side during the 3rd Test match at the Sinhalese Sports Club grounds in Colombo to achieve a white wash. For the third time, Angelo Mathew won the toss and decided to bat. Once again Sri Lanka had a shock start and were 55 for 5 at lunch. The last two recognized batsmen Chandimal and Dhananjaya rose to the occasion and resuscitated the innings with a determined partnership of 211 runs; Dhananjaya, who makes batting look so easy, scored an invaluable 129 runs. Chandimal, showing great restraint and responsibility, scored 132 to help Sri Lanka post a total of 355. Once again Starc finished with a haul of 5 for 63.
The Australians, in their 1st essay, produced their best batting display on tour with Sean Marsh collecting 130 runs and Smith scoring 119 runs. After being in a formidable position of 266 for 1 wicket, the Aussies lost 9 wickets for 113 runs after the introduction of the 2nd new ball and were only able to get a slender lead of 24 runs. Sri Lanka replied with 347 for 8 wickets declared with a gritty 115 scored by Kaushal Silva nursing an injury to his left hand, leaving the Aussies a target of 333 for a win. Achieving this score was always going be an uphill task as the wicket was taking spin due to the wear and tear of the previous 4 days. The Australians were bundled out for 160 runs with only Warner offering some resistance with 68 runs. Rangana Herath bagged 7 for 64 in addition to his 1st Innings haul of 6 for 81. Rangana Herath’s 13 wickets in the match was an outstanding feat, once again proving him to be a spin bowler of the highest caliber. Thus Sri Lanka achieved a dream series win against the Australians, the only white wash against this opposition achieved by a Sri Lankan team in it’s Test Cricket history.
In my opinion the factors that led to this great achievement are as follows: When in advantageous positions the Australians failed to capitalize. On the other hand, when in trouble the Sri Lankans fought back spiritedly and put the pressure back on the Australians. The ability of Herath and Perera to bowl consistently well with the new ball on spin friendly wickets, is a skill not many spinners are capable of. The Australians had to bat last in all 3 Tests with the pitches taking an increasing amount of spin as the games progressed.
All in all the Sri Lankans won the big moments in the series and fully deserved this memorable series white wash. My fervent wish is that the Sri Lankan Team will carry the confidence from this performance when they tour South Africa later this year and compete well in the Test matches where the South Africans will have the home advantage.
