Australia 414 (Carey 156, Smith 131, Jayasuriya 5-151) and 75 for 1 (Khawaja 27*, Labuschagne 26*) beat Sri Lanka 257 (Kusal 85, Chandimal 74, Starc 3-37) & 231 (Mathews 76, Kusal 50, Kuhnemann 4-63, Lyon 4-84) by 9 wickets
After wrapping up Sri Lanka’s second innings inside the opening 20 minutes of the day’s play, Australia solely misplaced opener Travis Head in pursuit of the 75-run victory goal to win the second Take a look at by 9 wickets and sweep the sequence 2-0.
It was Australia’s first Take a look at sequence victory in Sri Lanka since 2011 having misplaced 4 of 5 matches throughout the 2016 and 2022 excursions. Australia’s solely different sequence victory in Asia since 2011 was in Pakistan three years in the past.
The one concern for Australia would be the health of Smith, who appeared sore within the area in what is perhaps an aggravation of an elbow harm that he suffered forward of the sequence within the BBL. However he remained on the sector and was padded to bat.
Mendis on his second supply of the day’s play reached his second half-century of the match, however he fell two balls later to vicious bounce from Lyon as a top-edge ballooned to fine-leg the place Smith turned the primary Australian to say 200 Take a look at catches.
With Sri Lanka’s hopes dashed, the one remaining curiosity centered on whether or not Kuhnemann or Lyon would end with a five-wicket haul. Lyon had two massive lbw shouts on Nishan Peiris turned down by umpire Adrian Holdstock as Australia reviewed unsuccessfully.
Lyon’s frustrations grew after Kumara edged low all the way down to Beau Webster at second slip just for replays to point out it did not carry. Webster took it upon himself to finish the innings when – similar to late on day three – he unfurled his offspin and clear bowled Kumara on his first supply.
It accomplished a powerful allround match for Webster, who showcased his versatility with the ball and he additionally took a number of sharp catches.
Desperately needing early wickets, skipper Dhananjaya de Silva went straight to his offspinners and Peiris produced sharp spin, however Head pounced when the bowlers missed their lengths.
After a nervous begin, Head whacked Ramesh Mendis down the bottom earlier than Khawaja hit a few boundaries as Australia began to cruise. De Silva needed to shortly resort to left-arm spinner Prabath Jayasuriya, who promptly dismissed Head off the top-edge.
With simply 37 runs wanted, there wasn’t so much to realize for Labuschagne who had missed out on this sequence amid a century drought stretching again to the 2023 Ashes.
He eased his nerves with an excellent drive to the boundary and he whacked one other off Jayasuriya to deliver up Australia’s 50. After a troublesome tour, Labuschagne had the satisfaction of hitting the successful run as Australia celebrated their first clear sweep in Asia since beating Bangladesh 2-0 in 2006.
Contests between the groups in Sri Lanka had been historically aggressive, however Australia flipped the script with consecutive ruthless performances that felt out of the Steve Waugh period.
Their choices labored nicely and Australia had contributions throughout the board with 4 centurions and an assault that was throughout Sri Lanka’s struggling batting-order.
After having little to do throughout the seam-dominated India-series, Lyon as anticipated shouldered loads of accountability and completed with 14 wickets at 22.5.
However this battle for the Warne-Muraliduran Trophy will likely be remembered for stand-in skipper Smith. He issued a reminder on his mastery in Asian circumstances with good back-to-back tons as his renaissance continues. Smith led beautifully within the absence of Pat Cummins together with his tactical nous coming to the fore as he made all the proper strikes within the area.
Tristan Lavalette is a journalist based mostly in Perth
