Best in a generation: Australia find India formula while conquering Sri Lanka

Galle: Under the gaze of the venerable Dutch fort, Australia finally conquered Sri Lanka after a siege lasting eight days over two Test matches that will take the tourists into June’s world championship final as firm favourites. They may also have found the formula to finally win in India.

Nathan Lyon (4-84) took the crucial wicket of Kusal Mendis on the final morning, before Usman Khawaja (27 not out), Travis Head and Marnus Labuschagne (26 not out) made quick enough work of the target to end the match well before the lunch break by a nine-wicket margin.

The Australians celebrate their series win in Sri Lanka.Credit: Getty Images

Captain Steve Smith, who stirred up his recurring elbow problem with a hard throw on the final day but insisted it was not a major issue, said the team had put together the best display he had seen in south Asian conditions during his career. While unwilling to commit to the 2027 India trip, Smith said the winning blueprint had been found, including his rare resort to the sweep shot.

“We’re just far better equipped to play in these conditions and understand them a lot more than we used to,” he said. “As batters, in particular, the way we’ve been able to put pressure on the bowlers through all different ways.

“I just felt [the sweep] was the right shot at the right time, the field was right. It’s obviously not my first option to go that way. I thought the rough on the off side for the off spinner was getting quite thick and there was a bit going on. I felt a bit threatened there, so that was why I started sweeping a little bit more. Putting the percentages in my favour.

“You’ve got to try and survive, it can be challenging, but sometimes the best way to do that is by putting pressure on and rotating the strike well and having different options to get down the other end. I thought the guys did it as well as I’ve seen an Australian team do it in the subcontinent since I’ve been playing.”

The Australians travelled to Sri Lanka well aware they had not won a series here since Lyon’s first in 2011, a tour so long ago that he and Khawaja are the only two team members to have made both trips.

For that reason, the selectors largely favoured pragmatism, including Josh Inglis instead of Sam Konstas and batting Head at the top of their order. Cooper Connolly had little to do in his debut Test match after being included to lengthen the batting order at the expense of Todd Murphy – a debatable call.

Matt Kuhnemann (4-63 and 16 wickets overall) was Australia’s bowler of the series, while captain Smith (272 runs, two centuries and the player-of-the-series award), Khawaja (295 runs), second-Test player of the match Alex Carey (202) and Inglis (a debut century) could be particularly proud of their tours.

Beau Webster (2-6) enhanced his reputation as a willing contributor to the team in all facets of the game, while Labuschagne was relieved to notch his highest score of the series to put a final seal on the chase. Whether that helps him keep his spot for Lord’s remains to be seen.

Steve Smith’s problematic right elbow troubled him after a throw in the field.Credit: Getty Images

Lyon effectively had the last word on the series by conjuring the kind of delivery that not even the nimble Kusal could do anything about. With the field set deep, Lyon dropped his first few deliveries short, and Kusal declined to take a single.

But when he ventured a little fuller with plenty of action on the ball, Lyon extracted turn and devilish bounce, the ball leaping at Kusal’s gloves and plopping obligingly into the hands of Smith at short fine leg – the only fielder anywhere near the bat.

There was a sense of hurry to Australia’s play that suggested they were wary about the prospect of the Sri Lankans pushing the fourth innings target into tricky territory. After Kusal was out to Lyon’s freak ball, Australia submitted a couple of failed lbw reviews and also claimed a catch that replays showed had fallen short of Webster.

In trying for a run out, Smith also threw hard towards the non-striker’s end and appeared to stir up his problematic right elbow, grimacing and shaking the arm and his head for a time.

Usman Khawaja guided Australia to the win.Credit: Getty Images

Speaking post-match, Smith said he made a hard throw when he shouldn’t have, but that it still felt better than it was after the BBL, so a quick recovery is expected.

After the catch referral forced the Australians back to the middle, Smith then replaced Kuhnemann with Webster, who made the most of his chance by coaxing an ugly heave out of Kumara first ball.

Chasing 75 to win, Head and Khawaja each faced their share of demon deliveries in the first couple of overs, as some balls twisted off the surface and others snaked through straight. But they picked the right balls to attack and quickly the target was whittled down.

With 37 to get, Head snicked Prabath Jayasuriya into Kusal’s gloves, bringing Labuschagne to the middle for one more innings on a disappointing tour. He played fluently in the circumstances, and took the opportunity to flick a ball from retiring Sri Lankan Dimuth Karunaratne through the leg side for the winning run about 15 minutes before the interval.

Sri Lanka captain Dhananjaya de Silva acknowledged the Australians had completely outplayed his team. “We are very disappointed, losing at home 2-0 is disappointing, these conditions are very suitable to us,” de Silva said.

“We haven’t had opportunities to get into the games. Whether bowling or batting we haven’t done well in the first innings, we had the best of the conditions here, but 260 isn’t enough to win a Test match.

“The consistency [was the difference]. [The Australian spinners] put the ball every time in the same place, same trajectory, that’s very hard to score runs for the batsmen.”

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