Rangana Herath (2L) roars after he dismissed  Adam Voges during the final day of the 

third and final Test cricket match against Australia at The Sinhalese Sports Club (SSC) Ground yesteray - AFP

Dhananjaya de Silva (R) raises his bat to the crowd after scoring a half-century (50 runs) yesterday during the final day of the third and final Test cricket match against Australia. He scored a valuable century in the first innings as well - AFP

Sri Lanka’s captain Angelo Mathews (R) and teammates celebrate victory in the third and final Test against Australia at The Sinhalese Sports Club (SSC) Ground yesterday - AFP 

Reuters: Sri Lanka completed a rare 3-0 sweep over Australia after left-arm spinner Rangana Herath spun the hosts to a comprehensive 163-run victory in the final test in Colombo on Wednesday.

Chasing 324 in a bid to salvage some pride, Australia surrendered to Herath’s guile and folded for 160 before tea to lose their number one ranking to India and slip to third place behind Pakistan.

Herath (7-64) claimed a 13-wicket match haul to bag the man-of-the-match award while his 28 wickets from three tests also made him the obvious choice for the man-of-the-series award.

“What a fantastic moment,” home captain Angelo Mathews said after lifting the Warne-Muralitharan trophy.

“Credit to Herath, for doing his thing. You just can’t keep him away from the game.

“He had a groin strain, he couldn’t run, he couldn’t jump. He was fantastic with one leg. One leg was enough for him to have a bowl on this type of wicket.”

Sri Lanka batted for 4.3 overs in the morning to add 35 runs to their overnight score of 312 for eight before declaring.

Improbable target

Set an improbable victory target on a final day track, Australia needed a good start and the tourists got that from David Warner and Shaun Marsh who raised 77 runs, the highest opening partnership in the low-scoring series.

Off-spinner Dilruwan Perera dismissed Marsh for 23 when the batsman defended a delivery and Kusal Mendis thrust out his hands at forward short leg to parry the ball and twisted his body backwards to complete a stunning catch.

Warner brought up his first fifty of the series after lunch before the wheels came off Australia’s challenge with Herath striking a double blow in his 10th over.

The wily left-arm spinner bowled rival skipper Steve Smith (8) for the fifth time in six innings with the first delivery of the over and trapped Adam Voges leg-before with the last.

Perera cut short Warner’s fluent innings at 68, bowling the southpaw around his legs in a dismissal that was a microcosm of the series in which the Sri Lankan spinners tormented the touring batsmen on tracks that suited them.

After Moises Henriques ran himself out, Herath mowed down the Australian lower order to complete the whitewash.

“It’s been a tough series,” Smith said after Australia exposed their spin frailties and slumped to their ninth consecutive test defeat in Asia.

“We’ve been outplayed in all three matches in this series. I think Sri Lanka have played some great cricket over this series. Disappointing but a big learning curve for the guys as well.”

The teams will now compete in a five-match one-day series beginning in Colombo on Sunday. 

Australia lose No. 1 Test ranking ; India tops; SL moves up to No. 6

Australia have conceded the No. 1 Test ranking to India after losing all three Tests on their tour of Sri Lanka. Virat Kohli’s team - currently ahead of Pakistan by one point - must win the fourth Test against West Indies, beginning on August 18 in Trinidad, to retain their top ranking.

Australia slipped to No. 3 after the 163-run defeat at the SSC; they had begun the series with 118 points but finished the contest just ahead of England, who also have 108 points at No. 4, on the ICC’s rankings.

As a result of Australia being whitewashed 3-0, Pakistan have risen to No. 2, having drawn their four-Test tour of England 2-2. Should India fail to beat West Indies in Trinidad, Pakistan will become the No. 1 ranked Test side for the first time.

Sri Lanka’s performance led to them over-taking South Africa to move into sixth place with 95 points. They had begun the home series against Australia at No. 7 with 85 points.

ICC Test rankings 1 India (112 points), 2 Pakistan (111), 3 Australia (108), 4 England (108), 5 New Zealand (99), 6 Sri Lanka (95), 7 South Africa (92), 8 West Indies (65), 9 Bangladesh (57), 10 Zimbabwe (8)

Sri Lanka team creates history

ESPNCricinfo: History was against this Sri Lanka team, so they created their own. Before this series, Sri Lanka had beaten Australia just once - one single Test in 33 years of cricket between the nations. Kumar Sangakkara, perhaps the finest batsman Sri Lanka has ever produced, played 134 Tests and never tasted victory against Australia. Dhananjaya de Silva and Lakshan Sandakan, uncapped a month ago, have now played in three.

So too has Rangana Herath, whose grey-tinged hair and cuddly build can trick you into thinking he was born 38 years old. But he was young once. At 21, he sat in the rooms in Kandy and watched his squad-mates beat Australia in 1999, the only previous occasion on which they had managed the feat. Herath had to wait until the next Test in the series to make his debut. Seventeen years later, he has been part of whitewashing Australia.

A significant part, in fact, for Herath finished the series as the leading wicket taker, with 28 at 12.75. And never was he more devastating than the final day of the final Test, when he collected 7 for 64 to bowl Sri Lanka to their triumph. Set 324 for victory, Australia briefly dreamed of a consolation win while David Warner was moving briskly to 68. But once he departed the capitulation came quickly, Australia bowled out for 160, defeated by 163 runs.

Make no mistake: this series was a complete humiliation for Australia. They arrived in Sri Lanka as the No.1 team in the world, confident of overcoming No.7. Apart from the first day of the series, when they skittled Sri Lanka for 117, Australia were rarely in with a chance. The No.1 ranking is not only gone, but Australia have slipped to third, behind India and Pakistan, while Sri Lanka have moved up to sixth. Australia’s loss in Colombo was their ninth consecutive Test defeat in Asia, a record that augurs exceptionally poorly for their four-Test tour of India early next year.

Post match comments

Man of the Match and Series Rangana Herath: “No secret, if you do well, just a lot of hard work [getting these awards]. Experience counts a lot, every day we learn, it all helps me so thank you very much to all those people. We had a tough time for seven-eight months, we stayed together, we knew we were one win away. And when we won in Pallekele, we just kept going. [Break from one-day] It’s good for me, having some time to spend with family, I have retired at the right time from ODI and T20. I haven’t decided anything on Tests, we will go series by series. Hopefully I wish to play next series.”

Sri Lanka Captain Angelo Mathews: “What a fantastic moment, especially after being 26 for 5 to come back this strong, credit to de Silva the way he batted and then Chandimal the way they got us through the second and third sessions on the first day and then Herath, doing his thing. You can’t keep him out. He was fantastic with one leg, one leg was enough for him. We thank everyone, the president of the SLC, the office-bearers the fans and most importantly my team as well. We had a tough few months, but thanks for your support. Thanks to the Australians as well, you guys didn’t have a great series, but we had to fight all the way through.” (Source: ESPNCricinfo)