Herath bowls Sri Lanka to historic whitewash

Sri Lanka 355 (Chandimal 132, de Silva 129, Starc 5-63, Lyon 3-110) and 347 for 8 dec (Silva 115, de Silva 65*, Lyon 4-123) beat Australia 379 (S Marsh 130, Smith 119, M Marsh 53, Herath 6-81) and 160 (Warner 68, Herath 7-64) by 163 runsScorecard and ball-by-ball details

History was against this Sri Lanka team, so they created their own. Before this series, Sri Lanka had beaten Australia just once – one single Test in 33 years of cricket between the nations. Kumar Sangakkara, perhaps the finest batsman Sri Lanka has ever produced, played 134 Tests and never tasted victory against Australia. Dhananjaya de Silva and Lakshan Sandakan, uncapped a month ago, have now played in three.

So too has Rangana Herath, whose grey-tinged hair and cuddly build can trick you into thinking he was born 38 years old. But he was young once. At 21, he sat in the rooms in Kandy and watched his squad-mates beat Australia in 1999, the only previous occasion on which they had managed the feat. Herath had to wait until the next Test in the series to make his debut. Seventeen years later, he has been part of whitewashing Australia.

A significant part, in fact, for Herath finished the series as the leading wicket taker, with 28 at 12.75. And never was he more devastating than the final day of the final Test, when he collected 7 for 64 to bowl Sri Lanka to their triumph. Set 324 for victory, Australia briefly dreamed of a consolation win while David Warner was moving briskly to 68. But once he departed the capitulation …

continue reading in source www.espncricinfo.com