“May the noble triple gem bless you”, the President said. To the applause of players and fans, Dilshan walked off with a bow, the owner of 10,290 ODI runs, the 11th-highest tally in history.
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Bowlers set up the win for the visitors after restricting Sri Lanka to 226 all out in 49.2 overs.
Warner, who now boasts a 100 per cent winning record as skipper and equalled the number of global victories that Steve Smith oversaw as captain on this tour before he returned home last week for a break, said he thoroughly enjoyed his maiden 50-over worldwide leadership experience.
Sri Lankan cricketer Tillakaratne Dilshan, center, is greeted with an arch of bats as he enters the field for the last match of his ODI cricket career during the third one day worldwide cricket match against Australia in Dambulla, Sri Lanka, Sunday, August 28, 2016.
– Dinesh Chandimal has scored 650 runs in 2016 at 72.22 from 12 ODIs.
Australia: After Smith departed early, the visitors were dealt another blow on Tuesday when Shaun Marsh was forced to fly back due to a thumb fracture.
Australian fielders shook hands with Dilshan, who received a standing ovation from the sellout crowd at the Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium. But any hopes of a big farewell innings ended when Dilshan whacked a Zampa full toss to midwicket and was well caught by George Bailey.
But it was Bailey who hit a match-winning innings of 70 from 99 balls and added 81 for the fifth wicket in concert with wicketkeeper Matthew Wade (42 off 45).
“I think it is the right decision, the way I finished my career”, Dilshan said afterwards.
“The conversations that I was privy to when he was talking to the bowlers, he was really clear and direct”.
Australia will have the opportunity to wrap up the ODI series, and partly atone for a 3-0 Test series defeat, when the fourth match is played in Dambulla on Wednesday.
Adam Zampa has been the great revelation of this series, taking back-to-back three-wicket hauls to give Australia some bite with the slow ball.
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“We were about 20-30 runs short”.
