Lee ends SL resistance to give Aus 2-0 series win
Brett Lee finished off Sri Lanka's prolonged resistance on the final day of the Hobart Test, leading Australia to a series sweep and a 14th consecutive Test victory. Ricky Ponting’s regime requires another three victories to surpass the world record 16 victories which was accomplished by predecessor Steve Waugh.
Lee bowled Muttiah Muralidaran 12 minutes 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 and final Test of the Warne-Muralidaran Trophy.
Australia’s new strike bowler snapped eight wickets in the match to follow up on his man-of-the-match performance in Gabba. He ended the series with 16 wickets and the player of the series award. He was also awarded the man-of-the-match in the Hobart Test.
''The end results probably say that this series has been an easy win for us, but there's a lot of hard work that goes into winning any Test match,'' Australia captain Ricky Ponting said.
Ponting said he was impressed with the transition in the team since the retirements of Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath, two of Test cricket's all-time leading bowlers, and veteran batsmen Justin Langer and Damien Martyn.
''I was very satisfied after Brisbane, for those new guys coming into the team, they way they played,'' he said. ''I'm probably more satisfied now.''
''At the end of the series we're very disappointed,'' Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardena said. ''I felt we had a very good team. Good attack. But the way we played wasn't very consistent.
''We couldn't penetrate their top order, and the way we batted gave us a lot of problems.''
Fabulous Sangakkara
The Hobart result was closer than expected, with Kumara Sangakkara scoring 192 before he was controversially dismissed and the last two wickets adding 120 runs.
Jayawardena said Sangakkara's innings ''was one of the best I've seen.''
''He batted the plan we had for him after he got his hundred yesterday, to bat through the day today while the other guys rotate around him so that we can challenge the 500-run total.
''Unfortunately the other guys couldn't do it. I was very disappointed the way we got out. He's very upset about it, but that's how the game goes.''
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.
Sangakkara 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 Muralidaran (15).
The tourists started the last day 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.
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.
Randi 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 had started Sri Lanka's last demise late Monday when he removed Marvan Atapattu (80), the ex-Sri Lanka captain's last innings in international cricket and Jayawardena (0) on consecutive balls.
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.
Jayawardena said the Sri Lankans needed to regroup ahead of the three-Test series against England starting next month.
No record for Murali
Muralidaran, who came to Australia hoping to break Shane Warne's world record of 708 Test wickets but only took four wickets, is expected to get the five he needs to get the mark against England.
Gabba: 2/170
Hobart: 1/140 & 1/90
Overall: 4/400 – The spinner averaged 100 runs per wicket in the series.
Australia's next Test series is against India starting Dec. 26. Ponting's lineup is chasing the record 16 consecutive Test wins that Australia set between October 1999 and February 2001.
Atapattu bids goodbye
The Test match marked the retirement of former Sri Lankan captain and sturdy opening batsman Marvan Atapattu. He had a difficult initiation in Test cricket, scoring only one run in his first six innings starting in November 1990, but finished with 5,502 runs at 39.02 in 90 Tests, including six double-centuries.
