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Sri Lanka beat Australia by 163 runs to sweep series

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.

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Mathews fell to Lyon (4-123) in the second session but Silva added 90 runs with Chandimal (43) for the sixth wicket to consolidate Sri Lanka’s position.

Dhananjaya de Silva hit a timely 65 not out off 74 balls inclusive of 10 fours while Lyon picked four wickets.

Sri Lanka now have the chance to register their first whitewash against a major team since gaining Test status in 1981. 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.

Warner made 68 off 94 deliveries inclusive of six fours and a six as Australia lost wickets at regular intervals, eventually succumbing at 160.

Meanwhile, Skipper Angelo Mathews hailed Rangana Herath as Sri Lanka’s one-legged hero Wednesday after the veteran spinner played through the pain barrier to once again demolish Australia’s batting line-up.

Centurion Kaushal Silva said on Tuesday Sri Lanka were determined not to let Australia off the hook after they took a commanding 288-run lead in the third and final Test in Colombo.

After batting for 4.3 overs, Sri Lanka declared on 347 for eight, leaving Australia to chase down a target of 324 runs.

More than the losses in the first two Tests, it will take some explaining from the Aussies as to how they lost the third match after reducing Sri Lanka to 26/5 in the first hour of the day’s play.

“He couldn’t run and he couldn’t jump”. He was fantastic with one leg.

“They swept well, they used their feet well, so a lot of credit should go to their batsmen”.

Earlier, Pakistan’s most successful Test captain Misbahul Haq said that his side will deserve to be the world’s top-ranked Test team after a thumping victory at The Oval.

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“We’ve been outplayed in all three matches in this series”. “You’ve got a chance to win a test match for your country, so that’s exactly what we will be looking to try and do: get those wickets as quickly as we can and make the runs”.

Herath scalps six to restrict Australian lead