Former captain Chandimal put Sri Lanka in a winning position with a remarkable counterattack. Chandimal resumed the day on 118 and became the first Sri Lankan to post a double century against Australia. He batted for more than nine hours and faced 326 deliveries, hitting 16 fours and five sixes.
When Sri Lanka’s ninth wicket fell, Chandimal was on 159 and it didn’t look like he would get to 200 but he took the Aussies by surprise by striking the ball cleanly and sending it out of the ground on three occasions.
Two consecutive sixes off Mitchell Starc completed his double century and Chandimal was named player of the series.
Sri Lanka’s total of 554 improved on its previous high against Australia of 541-8 declared in Colombo in 1992.
Chandimal was involved in several partnerships that turned the game in Sri Lanka’s favor. The hosts’ lead was only 67 when the day began but the lower order ensured they batted only once on a pitch that was providing a lot of assistance for spin bowlers.
The seventh-wicket stand between Chandimal and Ramesh Mendis was worth 68 runs while the last-wicket partnership between Chandimal and Kasun Rajitha produced 49 runs for which the last man made no contribution and he was dismissed without scoring.
Chandimal smashed 48 runs off just 18 balls during that partnership and Australia simply had no answers.
“Dinesh batted really well, and once they got a decent size lead it was always going to be tough for us,” Australia captain Pat Cummins said. “Unfortunately, it started spinning, they bowled well tonight, and you can have those sessions where things move pretty quickly in the subcontinent and unfortunately we were on the wrong end of it.
“We missed an opportunity to score big in the first innings,” Cummins added. “The way we set up the game day one, (we were) hoping to get 400 plus, which history suggests here puts you in a really good position. Unfortunately, none of us hung around with (Steve) Smithy long enough to get up to the 400 plus.”
Down by 190 runs on the first innings, the Australia openers did well to add 49 runs before Ramesh Mendis broke through by dismissing David Warner on 24.
Former captain Chandimal put Sri Lanka in a winning position with a remarkable counterattack. Chandimal resumed the day on 118 and became the first Sri Lankan to post a double century against Australia. He batted for more than nine hours and faced 326 deliveries, hitting 16 fours and five sixes.
When Sri Lanka’s ninth wicket fell, Chandimal was on 159 and it didn’t look like he would get to 200 but he took the Aussies by surprise by striking the ball cleanly and sending it out of the ground on three occasions.
Two consecutive sixes off Mitchell Starc completed his double century and Chandimal was named player of the series.
Sri Lanka’s total of 554 improved on its previous high against Australia of 541-8 declared in Colombo in 1992.
Chandimal was involved in several partnerships that turned the game in Sri Lanka’s favor. The hosts’ lead was only 67 when the day began but the lower order ensured they batted only once on a pitch that was providing a lot of assistance for spin bowlers.
The seventh-wicket stand between Chandimal and Ramesh Mendis was worth 68 runs while the last-wicket partnership between Chandimal and Kasun Rajitha produced 49 runs for which the last man made no contribution and he was dismissed without scoring.
Chandimal smashed 48 runs off just 18 balls during that partnership and Australia simply had no answers.
“Dinesh batted really well, and once they got a decent size lead it was always going to be tough for us,” Australia captain Pat Cummins said. “Unfortunately, it started spinning, they bowled well tonight, and you can have those sessions where things move pretty quickly in the subcontinent and unfortunately we were on the wrong end of it.
“We missed an opportunity to score big in the first innings,” Cummins added. “The way we set up the game day one, (we were) hoping to get 400 plus, which history suggests here puts you in a really good position. Unfortunately, none of us hung around with (Steve) Smithy long enough to get up to the 400 plus.”
Down by 190 runs on the first innings, the Australia openers did well to add 49 runs before Ramesh Mendis broke through by dismissing David Warner on 24.
Jayasuriya then ran through the middle order, bowling with impeccable control and perfect lengths.
He took out Usman Khawaja and trapped Smith for a duck in the same over.
Travis Head was bowled by Ramesh Mendis, Marnus Labuschagne was lbw to Jayasuriya and Australia was 112-5.
Two overs later, Cameron Green was stumped and Mitchell Starc edged to the slips in the same Jayasuriva over.
Theekshana got Cummins and Nathan Lyon in one over, despite the Australians reviewing both, and Jayasuriya finished the match in style by knocking over Mitchell Swepson’s off stump.