Symonds - 'I'm ready for Tests'

Andrew Symonds insisted that Australia would be celebrating their series victory this evening, despite failing to win the fifth and final ODI in Colombo. "We're very happy," said Symonds. "It's a shame we didn't win today, but that is the way it goes. Another win on the sub-continent and our first in Sri Lanka is reason enough to celebrate hard."

Symonds is in a rich vein of form at the moment, and the prospect of a Test debut is not an outlandish one. "I just have a good plan working at the moment," he explained. "The way I have decided to play is coming off for me most of the time, and I feel as ready as ever to play Test cricket if selected. If I was chosen I would accept the challenge."

Adam Gilchrist, standing in as captain for Ricky Ponting, was pleased to silence the doubters who believe that Australia are fallible on slow, low wickets. "To come and win another series on the subcontinent is so pleasing," he said. "We get told time and again that these are conditions that we don't play well in. But we won in India late last year and now we've won here for the first time."

The star of today's show, however, was Nuwan Zoysa, who took three key wickets and then thumped a vital 47 not out to secure the victory almost single-handedly. "It was a dream come true for me," he admitted. "I knew when I walked onto the park [this morning] I could do well here because it is my home ground. It is always nice to bowl first at the SSC ground. I just concentrated on bowling a perfect line and length."

"I bowled one of my best spells so far and that helped me bat well. I've gained a lot of experience in provincial cricket and with the A team on how to bat on different wickets, and on this wicket I wanted to play straight and be positive. There is always a pleasure when you get a chance to play cricket against the world champions. I had nothing to lose and thought I would go out and be positive."

Sri Lanka's captain, Marvan Atapattu, was pleased with the win, but keen to highlight the shortcomings in his team's performance. "Apart from the second match in Dambulla, we have not got off to good starts. That has been the main problem. Also, below No. 5 we have not shown enough responsibility to see us through to 50 overs.

"But this victory will lift so many people up. It is a victory against the world champions and the way we finished with Zoysa was fantastic. They rested some of their key players, but still it is a one-day international and we treat every match as the same."