Sri Lanka vs Australia, 2nd Test at Galle, SL v AUS, Jul 08 2022 - Match Result

And on that note, it's been a pleasure covering this game, cheers for all the company. For myself, Alex Malcolm, Andrew McGlashan and Andrew Fidel Fernando, it's goodbye for now!

manoj: "Impact of this Test series and this Loss on WTC points table???" Here you go.

Sneh: "Hello Sampath, what are the best bowling figures for match on debut?"

Here's the list.

Chris : "Such a pity there's not a deciding third test, this game would have set the series up perfectly!"

shashank: "Can we please have a rule that a minimum of 3 tests have to be played to constitute a series!! 2 tests is just cruel!"

Mike: "Amazing that Dickwella only had 2 dismissals in the match - both stumped."

Damith: "This was the right result for the tour. Australia win the T20s, Sri Lanka the ODIs and a drawn test series. Australia should realize that they were part of a historical tour when the country is struggling and fighting for its rights, the two teams provided much needed entertainment to keep the people going. This Australian cricket team will be dearly remembered by the people of Sri Lanka. "

Shashank: "Very gracious of Cummins to thank the fans and the SL public. Very worthy considering the conditions the country finds itself in. I know a lot of other countries who may have skipped the entire mid way or entirely purely because of the political crisis and its effects outside the ground. "

Sri Lanka captain Dimuth Karunaratne: I think as I said earlier, in the first match we couldn't do much. Even then I said if we could've put up a bigger score in the first innings we could have had a great match. That's what we focused on. So we tried to get a big one here, and all the batters put their hands up and batted really well. We knew it would be a good wicket for a couple of days, that's why I asked the batters to get the maximum out of that. Chandimal's 200 was great, and the other's supported him really well. The first Test it spun a lot, but here we just focused on our basics. We would've liked to have won the series 2-0, but the boys bounced back really well. I knew from beginning Prabath would be the key and he did really well for us. This is also a confidence booster for the Pakistan series, we just what to play to our potential."

Australian captain Pat Cummins: "I think there are few things [we would have done differently]. Probably got ourselves in a position where 400-plus was achievable in the first innings and didn't someone to with Smithy down the other end. And yeah, had plenty of chases over the last couple of days and didn't quite grab them. Unfortunately Sri Lanka were too good. Absolutely [the youngsters have learnt a lot on this tour], these are the tours where you learn heaps. We learned heaps during our win last week, but unfortunately it's through a loss this time. But I thought a lot of the guys, either on their first tour here or who were coming back, found a method that worked - though unfortunately it didn't work out today. As a batting and bowling group I think we can go away pretty pleased. [To the fans] Thank you for the lovely hosts you've been to our team throughout our tour here. We felt it straight away on the streets, in crowd even - we've never felt that before, a whole stadium here cheering for us. We've had a great five weeks here, absolutely loved it and can't wait to get back."

Dinesh Chandimal is the Man of the Series: "I'm over the moon. Especially if you're performing well and the team is winning, that is a really good feeling. I'm really happy with how I played, especially in Galle, which can be a tough track to bat on. I didn't have any specific plans, I just wanted to be proactive against the spinners and at the same time rotate the strike. That's what I did, and finally it worked. We all know it was a tough wicket in the first game, and when I saw the wicket in this game on day one I thought the pitch would be good in the first three days. I just wanted to capitalise in that time. After that I thought, if we can get more than a 100 lead, we could put them under pressure. It is a really good feeling, thanks to my family who were always behind me. I've been in the side, not in the side, but your family and wife is always there. I also want to thank my teammates, who've always been there as well as my support staff and the fans."

Prabath Jayasuriya is named Man of the Match: "I'm really happy with my performance, I've worked really hard over the past few days and this is the result. I played in some A team games, and I was ready to give 100% for the side whenever I was called upon."

Navneet: "Last time I check Australia were 4 down, now all out. Extraordinary performance from Jayasuriya. Congratulations to Sri Lanka"

Andrew P: "I think Sri Lanka just did dissect Australia on the field for scientific purposes @Stephen B!!"

Don't go anywhere yet though, the presentation ceremony will take place momentarily.

4.55pm What a win then by Sri Lanka, one that looked a long way away when Australia won the toss, took first lease of the wicket, and Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne racked up a century apiece. In the end they've won by an innings and 39 runs - the first time Australia have lost by an innings after scoring 350-plus in the first innings of a Test. The win was built on a masterful bowling performance by debutant Prabath Jayasuriya - only drafted into the squad due to a spate of Covid cases - who picked up match figures of 12 for 177, the fourth best bowling figures on Test debut in the history of the game. That he picked up half of those on a first innings wicket that wasn't anywhere near as helpful to the spinners as it was in the first Test spoke volumes towards the control he exerted on the ball. Then it was the Sri Lankan batters' turn, with no less than five Lankan batters racking up scores of 50-plus. It was Dinesh Chandimal however that converted it into a big one, to bring up his first Test double hundred. His was the innings that really took the game away from the visitors, before Jayasuriya and co. wrapped up the Aussie second innings in a little under two sessions.

StephenB: "Madushka, I already had this conversation with Alex in the first hour of play today: DISSECT does not mean the same as BISECT. You do not want your cricketers to be chopped up on the field in search of scientific breakthroughs!!" Haha, what are the odds? Apologies for the error, and it has been rectified.

Nathan Lyon is the new batter.

Theekshana into the attack now.

Praveen: "The MOM award is tricky this way. Most of the time its the batsmen who get it for scoring 150 in a match where teams score 650 and 500 but if a bowler really steps up like Jayasuriya here even if a batsman performs the best that he could have given the opportunity he wont stand a chance. Even 300 from chandimal wouldn't have sufficed here."

around the wicket to the left-handed Carey now.

Our stats guy Sampath reliably informs that Australia have never lost a Test by an innings after scoring 350-plus in the first innings. 50 runs more to keep it that way.