Sri Lanka set Australia a huge total of 413 runs to win the second test on Friday despite fast bowler Mitchell Starc’s standout performance with 11 match wickets.
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Crippling the touring side was veteran spinner Rangana Herath who became the second Sri Lanka after Nuwan Zoysa in 1999 to claim a Test hat-trick.
The tourists’ woes were then compounded in dramatic manner when Herath removed Adam Voges, Peter Nevill and Mitchell Starc in successive deliveries to claim his hat-trick.
Rangana Heratth had picked up a five-wicket haul to help Sri Lanka beat Australia in the first Test at Pallekele. Australia’s 106 was their lowest total ever against Sri Lanka, and their lowest total in Asia for almost 12 years, since they were skittled on a Mumbai dustbowl for 93 back in 2004.
Sri Lanka’s spinners attacked the stumps and built persistent pressure on Australia, but the pitch was far from a raging turner.
The result in Australia’s first innings was the exact opposite, continuing a tradition of inept batting in away Tests against subcontinent teams.
Herath’s delivery spun back sharply and hit Starc on the front pad but the umpire turned down the appeal. Australia dismissed Kusal Perera (35), Dinesh Chandimal (13) and Mathews in the second session, but with four wickets still in hand, the hosts find themselves on top.
They did scrape past that mark but soon Nathan Lyon was caught in close off Perera and Hazlewood edged to slip off the same bowler. Starc was initially adjudged not out by the on-field umpire, but Angelo Mathews, after a word from Herath, chose to review.
Marsh was the last batsman dismissed for 27, his three big sixes down the ground off Herath towards the city’s famous fort helping Australia limp into three figures.
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But a poor series in Sri Lanka followed next year by defeat in India would tarnish some of his achievements, which include winning the World Cup and a home Ashes series.
