Before the series began, Pat Cummins spoke about the importance of managing the tempo of Test cricket in the subcontinent.
Australia had struggled to control it from the second day of the second Test and, on the fourth day, it spiralled away from them in dramatic fashion as Sri Lanka levelled the series 1-1, winning by an innings and 39 runs.
Sri Lanka stuck to the old adage of batting once and batting big, led by the magnificent Dinesh Chandimal, who started the day on 118 and batted out the innings to finish unbeaten on 206.
Australia had no answer to Chandimal’s obstinance at the crease and were left with the only other option of prising out his partners, but only after Sri Lanka had scored 554 and pushed their lead out to 190 runs.
Then Prabath Jayasuriya inspired memories of that other left-arm torturer Rangana Herath as he preyed on Australia’s weaknesses against spin, perhaps exacerbated by minds frazzled from two long days spent in the field.
MORE: Sri Lanka build lead through Chandimal ton as Australia searches for answers
To make matters worse, Australia burned through their reviews for the second day in a row and, for all the talk of them being happy with their processes, they will undoubtedly go home and review their reviewing.
The left-armer took six wickets in the second innings, making it twelve for the match in a stunning Test debut.
While Usman Khawaja and David Warner started positively enough with an opening stand of 49, the first crack appeared when Warner was struck on the pad attempting to sweep Ramesh Mendis.
The opener reviewed but the replays showed it was plumb; amazingly it was not the worst review of the day.
Khawaja was next on the wicket conveyor belt, pushing at a sharply turning ball from Jayasuriya that caught the inside edge and flew to bat pad where substitute fielder Oshada Fernando pouched a difficult catch.
But the worst review came at the hands of Steve Smith, who faced just four balls when Jayasuriya struck again.
Perhaps he was influenced by the fact he had scored an undefeated 145 just a few days earlier, but Smith seemed incapable of believing he had just been beaten and prosecuted his case with Marnus Labuschagne before sending the decision upstairs.
Unfortunately, three reds.
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) July 11, 2022
Jayasuriya's double strikes has this game moving quickly now #SLvAUS pic.twitter.com/DFqNjYgv3S
But Smith had played across the line deep in his crease and the ball struck his back pad below the knee roll in front of middle stump; if the decision was a surprise to him it could hardly have been a shock to anyone else.
There will be plenty of questions ahead of Australia’s tour of India next year and some of those will almost certainly centre on Travis Head.
Head had a brilliant summer in Australia but scores of 6, 12 and 5 against Sri Lanka may strengthen the case for Glenn Maxwell, particularly if Maxwell can find a way to play some red-ball cricket.
For the second time in the match he was clean bowled facing the turning ball; in the first innings it was Jayasuriya and in the second it was Mendis with a lovely looping delivery that spun away to crash into the off stump.
Labuschagne (32) showed promising signs with his positive sweeping until Jayasuriya sneaked one under his sweeping bat; he thought about reviewing but Cameron Green talked him out of it and the ball tracking showed he was clearly out.
MORE: Sri Lanka vs. Australia 2nd Test: Calm Sri Lanka shut out protests and mount second-day fightback
Alex Carey and Green offered some resistance but, once Green was stumped by Niroshan Dickwella off Jayasuriya for 23, the tail crumbled to leave Carey not out on 19 and Australia had lost nine wickets in a single session.
It was fitting that Jayasuriya had the last say, a beauty of a delivery that castled Mitchell Swepson. The 30-year-old finished the Test with the best figures for any Sri Lankan on Test debut.
Australia were left ruing the squandered opportunities of the first innings, when they were set fair for a 400-plus score and Cummins admitted after the match that their attempt to manage the tempo had failed.
“I think we did really well to hang in there for 170 of 180 overs and Dinesh batted really well,” said Cummins. “I think once they got a decent sized lead it was always going to be tough for us and unfortunately it started spinning.
“They bowled well tonight and you can have those sessions where things move pretty quickly in the subcontinent and, unfortunately, we're on the wrong end of it.
“It might be a bit of a reality check that it's tough playing away from home. It's different conditions to what we've grown up playing and makes probably for more learnings than after a win.”
