Australia had lost one Test to Sri Lanka in 33 years, but after losing three in just over three weeks, Steve Smith was asked how it all went so wrong.
“There aren’t too many positives really,” said a despondent Smith after the 163-run third-Test hammering in Colombo on Wednesday that sealed the 3-0 series whitewash.
“I can’t fault our quicks, I thought they did a great job, particularly Mitchell Starc.
“But our batters and spinners are the ones who had to step up and we haven’t been able to do that.”
And that was the theme of the tour failure – Australia’s struggle to make enough runs against Sri Lanka’s crafty slow bowlers in typically dry subcontinental conditions but also their own spinners’ inability to extract enough life from the same wickets.
The fact that man-of-the-series Rangana Herath took 28 wickets at 12.75 compared to Australia’s frontline spinner Nathan Lyon’s 16 at 31.93 is evidence the visitors were outbowled.
The fact Herath, batting at No.9, made more runs than Adam Voges, Peter Nevill, Usman Khawaja and Joe Burns – and not many fewer than David Warner and Mitch Marsh – illustrates how poor Australia’s batting was.
The series result was as emphatic as it was unexpected.
The day before the first Test in Kandy, Smith was presented with the ICC Test championship mace as the No.1-ranked team.
After 34.2 overs of the series, Sri Lanka were bowled out for 117 and by stumps the tourists had consolidated at 2-66.
The No.7-ranked team, who had come off a winless tour of England and with a raw side that included two debutants, were copping the belting that most expected.
But 22 days later, Sri Lanka had humiliated Australia 3-0.
Smith reflected ruefully on the second and third days at Palekelle when momentum shifted and they didn’t arrest it until the series was lost in Galle.
“Yeah that was a great opportunity for us,” said Smith after Australia only banked an 86-run lead and then Kusal Mendis’ brilliant 176 set up Sri Lanka’s 106-run victory.
“Since then, I guess we haven’t really fought our way back.”
Australia were thrashed in the second Test in Galle, but opportunities went begging in Colombo for Australia to end their streak of eight straight losses in Asia.
They had Sri Lanka 5-26 inside the first 90 minutes, but Dhananjaya de Silva and Dinesh Chandimal’s record 211-run partnership thwarted their charge.
Then Smith (119) and Shaun Marsh (130) fought back, setting the platform for a significant first-innings lead at 1-267 in reply to 355 but another batting collapse meant they only managed a 23-run advantage.
Set 324 for victory, another batting capitulation when they lost 10-83 after cruising at 0-77 typified their tour.
Of course 38-year-old Herath was at the forefront, taking 7-64 with a groin injury.
“The batsmen were having a nightmare facing him,” said Sri Lanka’s captain Angelo Mathews.
“He’s been wonderful.”
Tanmoy Kar
Guest
Australia had chances of winning each Test matche, but they let-go the same on all occasion, only Smith should be blamed for this.
Broken-hearted Toy
Guest
But he is young and I think he's bought into the idea that the team is brilliant based on their play in familiar and flat conditions. Hopefully he'll learn from that.
JohnB
Guest
Take the word "technically" off Jerry's first sentence and it remains a fair enough statement.
Andy
Guest
If any argument starts with 'technically' dont use it.
Tim Holt
Roar Guru
Smith by far was the most disappointing, highlighted by that absurd shot in the first test. a leader basically throwing his team under the bus with the decision he made
Broken-hearted Toy
Guest
Smith's captaincy did get exposed in the field but he could do nothing about the poor batting and there was so much of it. The most disappointing was Adam Voges. I've always felt he is a bit flaky as a batsman but this wasn't flakiness, just inability to play spin. You'd think that having so much experience in Aus and England would have given him some ability to work out a plan in unfamiliar conditions... but no.
Tim Holt
Roar Guru
The one standout improvement from their past ventures to Asia is the quicks are suddenly grasping the art of reverse swing. With this in mind, the under bowling of M Marsh was even more curious. The pacemen with Starc stellar were actually quite good Of the rest: Batting- 1/10- only S Marsh showed he was able in the conditions. Smith might have got a face saving century in the first when Herath was limited but was ruthlessly exposed for his lack of temperament and dreadful shot selection. The rest ranged from out of their depth to embarrassing Captaincy- 0/10- Smith had a shocker with him having no clue Selections/Coaching- 0/10- They never learn, with Lehmann the king of talk, take this quote from 2014 during the Pakistan humbling and ask why he hasn't done anything to address it?: "This is a very good cricket wicket and we didn't adapt well enough and didn't play well enough," Lehmann said. "When you are talking about learning how to play in these conditions we got beaten on the other side - with less spin. You would think it would spin more. We got beaten with straight balls, I think five or six dismissals throughout the game. "We have to get better at hitting the straight ball, watching the ball for a start, but they are things the guys will work on. Have we learnt anything? I think as long as you are learning all the time. The wickets are certainly different than those wickets I saw in 2013, they are better wickets here." Spin- 2/10- O'Keefe was a loss but Holland was quite able in the second test and his figures suffered from a few drops/missed chance. As for Lyon, the guy deserves respect for his career but he is a non entity in Asia due to him lacking the craft and temperament to be a success. A batsman hits a few boundaries off him and he loses his lolly or facilitates their plans rather than sticking to his
Jerry
Guest
Technically, Shaun Marsh did nothing wrong scoring 153 from 2 innings. I still can't believe how BKG Mendis's innings in the 1st Test turned the entire series. Sri Lanka were 4 for 86 in their 2nd Innings and the aggregate scores were level (SL = 117 + 86, Aus = 203). The Australian bowlers should have knocked-over those last 6 wickets for under 150 runs.
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
In fact, I'd say there was only one positive, and that was Mitchell Starc. He is the only Australian player who can come out of that series with his head held high.
Benjamin Conkey
Editor
Australia lacked its usual ruthless nature when they had Sri Lanka on the ropes in the first and third tests. Credit to Sri Lanka for their amazing comebacks in the series. Gutsy performances by their young guys stepping up. This will do wonders for Sri Lanakan cricket..back to the drawing board for the Aussies.