Brett Lee finished off Sri Lanka's prolonged resistance today, leading Australia to a series sweep and a 14th consecutive test win.
HOBART: Brett Lee finished off Sri Lanka's prolonged resistance today, leading Australia to a series sweep and a 14th consecutive test win.
Lee clean bowled Muttiah Muralitharan after lunch on the final day -- immediately after the Sri Lankan No. 11 upper cut him for six. That ended Sri Lanka's innings at 410 and secured Australia's 96-run win in the second test.
Lee finished with 4-87, giving him 16 wickets for the series.
The result was closer than expected, with Kumar Sangakkara scoring 192 before he was controversially dismissed and the last two wickets adding 120 runs.
Sangakkara's plucky innings ended when umpire Rudi Koertzen ruled that he edged a Stuart Clark delivery onto his helmet before it rebounded to Ricky Ponting at second slip just before lunch on the last day.
TV replays showed the ball crashing into Sangakkara's shoulder, not the bat.
It was a disappointing end for the 30-year-old Sri Lankan No. 3 after his sixth big hundred in his last seven test matches.
He put on 74 for the ninth wicket with Lasith Malinga to keep the match alive long after Sri Lanka lost five wickets for 25 to slip to 290 for eight, chasing 507 runs to win.
Malinga, who contributed only nine to that partnership, slogged Clark for consecutive sixes in the over before lunch and again down the ground for another six just after the interval.
He finished not out on 42 after dominating the 46-run last-wicket stand with Muralitharan (15).
With heavy rain forecast for later in the day and smoke from a far away forest fire drifting over Bellerive Oval and reducing visibility, the Sri Lankans were clinging on for breaks in play and a draw.
The tourists resumed Tuesday at 247 for three - with Sangakkara on 109 and Sanath Jayasuriya on 33 -- still needing 260 runs to produce an historic win.
But its chances were dented when Jayasuriya was out for 45, edging an away swinger from Lee in the fifth over to wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist. That ended a 107-run fifth-wicket partnership and sparked a middle-order collapse.
Mitchell Johnson dismissed Chamara Silva and Prasanna Jayawardene for ducks on consecutive balls in the eighth over.
Farveez Maharoof watched the hat-trick ball sail down legside, but only made 4 before he skied a catch to Lee to give Stuart MacGill his first wicket of the innings.
Dilhara Fernando was run out attempting a third run when Lee whipped off the bails when he took an outfield throw from substitute fielder Rhett Lockyear.
Lee, man-of-the-match in Australia's innings and 40-run win in the first test, had some symmetry about the series with four wickets in each innings to spearhead the attack in the absence of retired Glenn McGrath.
He removed Marvan Atapattu (80) -- the ex-Sri Lanka captain's last innings in international cricket -- and skipper Mahela Jayawardene (0) on consecutive balls bowling into a stiff breeze late yesterday.
Johnson had 3-101, MacGill returned 1-102 and Clark's conceded 41 runs in his last three overs to return 1-103.
Sri Lanka needed a world record in its second innings here to level the series -- the West Indies' 418 against Australia in 2003 is the highest winning total ever achieved by a team batting fourth.
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