Australia Whitewashes Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka suffered a whitewash in the two-match Test series against Australia, losing both matches on home soil. The second Test ended in another crushing defeat for the hosts, who were unable to recover from the poor performance of their batters. As a result, Australia secured their first Test series win in Sri Lanka in 14 years.

On Sunday, February 9, in Galle, Sri Lanka failed to put up a fight in the second Test, much like in the first match. The game ended before lunch on the fourth day, with Australia defeating Sri Lanka by 9 wickets to clinch the series 2-0.

In the third day's play, Sri Lanka's second innings ended at 231, adding just 20 more runs to their previous score of 211, leaving Australia with an easy target of 75 runs. Australia chased down the target comfortably, losing only one wicket—Travis Head (20 off 23 balls)—with Usman Khawaja and Marnus Labuschagne finishing the job.

The match was virtually decided in the first innings. Sri Lanka, batting first, managed to score 257 runs. In reply, Australia posted a massive 414, with centuries from Steve Smith and Alex Carey, taking a significant lead. Sri Lanka's batters failed to show the required resistance in the second innings and crumbled under pressure.

On their home ground, Sri Lanka struggled against the spin of Australia's Nathan Lyon and Matthew Kuhnemann. Kusal Mendis offered some resistance, scoring fifties in both innings, and Angelo Mathews contributed 76 runs in the second innings. However, the rest of the Sri Lankan batting lineup fell apart.

Australia's spinners, Nathan Lyon and Matthew Kuhnemann, were the key performers, taking 7 wickets each across the two innings of the second Test. The pair combined for 30 wickets in the series, with Kuhnemann taking 16 and Lyon claiming 14.

Additionally, Steve Smith set a new record by becoming the first Australian fielder (excluding wicketkeepers) to take 200 catches in Test cricket when he caught Kusal Mendis.

Australia concluded this series with a victory, marking the end of their World Test Championship cycle. Having already secured a place in the final, Australia finished with 13 wins from 19 Tests. Sri Lanka, who had started the cycle strong, ended in sixth place with 5 wins from 13 Tests.

Brief Scorecard

• Sri Lanka: 257 & 231 (Mathews 76, Mendis 50; Kuhnemann 4/63, Lyon 4/84)
• Australia: 414 & 75/1 (Khawaja 27, Labuschagne 26; Jayasuriya 1/20)

Result

• Owner: Australia won by 9 wickets
• Man of the Match: Alex Carey
• Player of the Series: Steve Smith
• Series Result: Australia won 2-0