Sri Lanka set the imposing victory target after Angelo Mathews declared at 8-347 in their second innings early on Wednesday after resuming on 8-312.
Advertisement
Warner, who had batted well for his 68 with six fours and a six, was Perera’s second big strike.
Kusal Perera hit a 25-ball 24 before being caught by Nevill off spinner Holland, with Australia successfully appealing to the video review after he was initially given not out.
Johannesburg, Aug.17: Wicketkeeper-batsman Kaushal Silva has called on Sri Lanka not to let Australia off the hook after guiding his side to a massive 288-run lead on Day four of the third and the final Test at Sinhalese Sports Club Ground in Colombo.
It was the third successive time that the Australians had lost all three Tests in a series in Asia, following a 4-0 loss to India in 2013 and a 2-0 defeat at the hands of Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates the following year.
Sri Lanka’s hopes of adding a flurry of quick runs rest with Dhananjaya de Silva, whose 129 in the first innings was his first test hundred.
Nathan Lyon (4-123) and Mitchell Starc (2-72) were best with the ball for Australia.
Sri Lanka had beaten Australia in a test series only once before, in 1999 under Sanath Jayasuriya’s captaincy. Dinesh Chandimal – who scored a brilliant 132 in the first innings – made a careful 43 before being trapped lbw by Lyon.
Mitchel Starc became the highest wicket taker by a visiting fast bowler in a Test Series in Sri Lanka by breaking Richard Hadlee’s record of 23 wickets.
In reply to the hosts’ eventual first-innings score of 355, the Australians, steered by centuries from Steve Smith and Shaun Marsh, were at 267/1 on day three.
“He couldn’t run and he couldn’t jump”.
Rangan Herath claimed a 13-wicket match haul to bag the man-of-the-match award.
Australia produced another woeful batting display in the run chase, again failing to cope with the home side’s spinners to be skittled in just 44.1 overs. He was fantastic with one leg.
“We’ve under-performed [but] all we’re anxious about is actually the next match and learning from the mistakes you made”.
Who knows where this one will go, but we’re in for a very entertaining day of Test match cricket.
Advertisement
“I don’t think we can fault our preparation”.
