Sri Lanka was reeling at 5/26 on the opening morning in Colombo as Mitchell Starc and Nathan Lyon went on a rampage, but Dinesh Chandimal (132) and Dhananjaya de Silva (129) dug their side out of a deep hole with a remarkable 211-run stand.
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Warner, who had batted well for his 68 with six fours and a six, was Perera’s second big strike.
Sri Lanka had only ever beaten Australia once before in a Test match but they won the first two contests of the series comfortably in Pallekele and Galle before wrapping up proceedings in the capital.
Sri Lanka, who are pushing for a series whitewash after winning the first two Tests, were 312-8 at stumps on the fourth day at the Sinhalese Sports Club.
The fate of the third Test between Australia and Sri Lanka in Colombo can be viewed as a virtual bowl-off between two left-armers.
Australia needed to produce a record-breaking subcontinental run chase to win after Mathews declared early on Wednesday at 8-347 in their second innings.
Kusal Mendis took a brilliant catch at short leg off Dilruwan Perera for 23 to send the Australians into the interval on 77 for one but it was after the break where the hosts rammed home their advantage.
This was their third successive series whitewash in Asia, having lost 4-0 to India in 2013 and 2-0 to Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates in 2014, while they suffered Ashes defeats in England in 2013 and 2015.
India had started the year as the top-ranked side before Australia reclaimed the position following their 2-0 away win over New Zealand. But Sri Lanka have three spinners in their team and the ball might turn a lot more, which will surely trouble the Australian batsmen.
Herath was named man of the match and man of the series.
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Australia will have a minimum of 83 overs to reel in the target. He had a groin strain so he could not run or jump and on one leg he was fantastic, one leg was enough for him on these pitches. “I can’t fault our quicks, I thought they did a great job, particularly Mitchell Starc, but our batters and spinners are the ones who have to step up and we haven’t been able to do that”.
