By. CSNA-Media Sport
Sri Lanka have completed their first whitewash of Australia in a one-day (ODI) series with a record-breaking 174-run victory at R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo.
“We have been outplayed in these last two games. We keep moving forward, all credit to Sri Lanka. They played well on these surfaces, and I thought their bowlers did exceptionally well. These wickets skidded more than the Test wickets. It has been a fun time here in Sri Lanka, some great memories made in the last few weeks.” Australia captain said
Set a challenging 282 to win, Australia were bowled out for just 107 in 24.2 overs on Friday to give Sri Lanka a 2-0 series sweep in a dreadful warm-up for the Champions Trophy beginning in Pakistan next week.
Sri Lanka winning team captain Charith Asalanka said,
There is no mantra. I just wanted to score big totals and get three-four wickets from each man. Clearly the pitch had lower bounce today than the last game and no seam movement. But it was a good pitch. Kusal Mendis and Nishan Madushka set the platform for us. Australia also bowled well but today is our day.
When I go out to bat, I don’t think about captaincy. I am a No. 5 batter for the team. It is disappointing to miss out on the Champions Trophy, but we don’t need to look back and think too much, we should not repeat the mistakes and look forward.”
It was the first time that Australia have lost all their matches during nine one-day series in Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka’s previous largest one-day victory over Australia was 82 runs at the same venue in 2016.
The hosts’ victory in Colombo was also their largest victory over Australia in ODI history, in what is as an incredibly disappointing finish to the visitors’ tour of the country given their 2-nil Test series win only a week ago.