Top-ranked Australia, who have already lost the first two Tests, are desperate to avoid a series whitewash.
Advertisement
The tourists will resume on Monday on 1-141, with skipper Steve Smith unbeaten on 61, and the reborn Shaun Marsh on 64. The Australia who are down 2-0 in the series trail Sri Lanka by 214 runs.
Herath’s batting has frustrated the Australians throughout this campaign, and by the time he gingerly walked off, Herath had made more runs in the entire series than any Australian but Smith.
Rangana Herath, Dilruwan Perera and Lakshan Sandakan have tried their best to get a breakthrough, but they have failed.
In the first innings of the last Test in Galle, Australia were bowled out inside 34 overs.
On the second day, Dinesh Chandimal scored the seventh century of his Test career, an innings of vast pa-tience that pushed – sometimes at the pace of a boulder up a hill – Sri Lanka to 355.
Younus, 38, batted for more than nine hours and plundered 31 fours and four sixes, one of which registered his double century with a pull over midwicket off Moeen Ali.
Mathews indicated that Sri Lanka, which has been troubled by the recent injuries to its fast bowlers, could call up medium-pacer Suranga Lakmal in place of Vishwa Fernando in its starting XI.
Their condition is that much poor of Australian batsman that neither of them has managed to score a fifty in this series.
Dinesh Chandimal continued Sri Lanka’s charge on Day 2 after losing Dhanajaya de Silva in the morning session at the Sinhalese Sports Club in Colombo.
All of which left Joe Root, who topped 4,000 runs in his Test career on Saturday despite the debacle around him, to save the day and ultimately the match.
Dhananjaya de Silva (129) and Chandimal put paid to Australia’s hopes of quick wickets after the resumption by extending their sixth-wicket stand to 211 before the overnight centurion became off-spinner Nathan Lyon’s third victim.
The pair used their feet to good effect against the Sri Lankan spinners as they combined the right mix of caution and aggression.
Only once before had a team’s last six batsmen outscored the top five by more than 300 runs in a Test innings – the other instance was by Australia in the third Ashes Test of 1937 at the MCG when Don Bradman made 270 in the a second-innings total of 564.
Australia’s pace spearhead Mitchell Starc, who took a five-wicket haul, praised his team’s batsmen for playing positively.
Advertisement
Lyon had publicly backed Jon Holland after the latter’s wicketless opening day – and would have a role in ending that frustration when he caught Perera’s mistimed drive at long off. Holland largely bowled a tight line and deserved at least another wicket. The ball tickled the edge but Smith at slip, despite getting both hands to the ball, grassed a regulation chance.
