Centuries from Steve Smith and Shaun Marsh raised Australian hopes of avoiding a whitewash in the final Test against Sri Lanka Monday before the visitors were pegged back by their bogeyman Rangana Herath. Smith and Marsh compiled a record 246 runs for the second wicket, putting Australia on track for a decisive lead in reply to Sri Lanka's first innings total of 355, before Herath put the brakes on with a six wicket haul.
Australia were eventually all out for 379, a lead which was cut to just two by close of play as Sri Lanka reached 22 at stumps, albeit with the loss of opener Dilruwan Perera who was lbw to Mitchell Starc for eight. Dimuth Karunaratne was unbeaten on eight, alongside Kaushal Silva who has so far made six at the Sinhalese Sports Club ground in the final match of the series. Australia are trailing 0-2.
"Pretty evenly balanced at the moment, really important that we can get a few early wickets in the first session tomorrow and keep them to as low a total as possible," Shaun Marsh said at the close-of-play press conference. Herath - who took a hat-trick in the last Test and 10 wickets in the first match of the series - again brought the hosts back into contention by taking six for 81. The 38-year-old ran through the Australian tail despite struggling with a groin injury that he picked up while batting for Sri Lanka.
"He just shows so much guts and fight. And for an older guy to show that, it just ignites the fight within the younger group," said Sri Lankan coach Graham Ford.
Scoreboard Sri Lanka 1st innings 355 (D. Chandimal 132, D. de Silva 129; M. Starc 5-63, N. Lyon 3-110)
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Australia 1st innings
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D. Warner c K. Perera b de Silva 11
S. Marsh b Lakmal 130
S. Smith st K. Perera b Herath 119
A. Voges lbw b Herath 22
M. Henriques st K. Perera b Herath 4
M. Marsh c Mendis b Herath 53
P. Nevill lbw b D. Perera 14
M. Starc not out 9
N. Lyon c Mendis b D. Perera 3
J. Hazlewood b Herath 0
J. Holland c Mathews b Herath 1
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Extras: (b4, lb9) 13
Total: (all out, 125.1 overs) 379
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Fall of wickets: 1-21 (Warner), 2-267 (S. Marsh), 3-275 (Smith), 4-283 (Henriques), 5-316 (Voges), 6-353 (Nevill), 7-367 (M. Marsh), 8-376 (Lyon), 9-377 (Hazlewood), 10-379 (Holland)
Bowling: Perera 44-4-129-2, de Silva 7-0-27-1, Herath 38.1-11-81-6, Sandakan 19-0-70-0, Lakmal 13-0-54-1, Mathews 4-1-5-0
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Sri Lanka 2nd innings
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D. Perera lbw b Starc 8
D. Karunaratne not out 8
K. Silva not out 6
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Total: (1 wkt; 5 overs) 22
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Fall of wickets: 1-8 (Perera)
Bowling: Starc 3-0-19-1, Lyon 2-0-3-0
To bat: K. Perera, K. Mendis, A. Mathews, D. Chandimal, D. de Silva, R. Herath, L. Sandakan, S. Lakmal
Umpires: Chris Gaffaney (NZL) and Sundaram Ravi (IND) TV umpire: Richard Kettleborough (ENG)
Match referee: Chris Broad (ENG)
Reserve umpire: Ruchira Palliyaguruge (SRI)
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