Sri Lanka had been changing their side every match

and Australia had already sent several men home,

but like a well-heeled theatre troupe, the players
that remained delivered the same performance they
seemed to have given many times over this series.
Sri Lanka won the toss again, batted again, did well
for a little while, but mainly collapsed to a modest
128 for 9. Australia were disciplined with the ball,
and athletic in the field, bruising at the top of their
innings, a little shakier in the middle against spin,
but got home with some comfort. The margin of this
particular victory was four wickets, and they had 13
balls to spare - Glenn Maxwell providing the
game's best innings again. If you have been
following this series closely, though, this report may
feel familiar.
One point of difference was that this
was Tillakaratne Dilshan's final international.
What didn't change, really, was his limited impact
with the bat. He was out for one, edging an
attempted cut off John Hastings to slip, before the
stadium had even properly filled. Kusal Perera
dazzled briefly before sending a top edge off James
Faulkner to a running, diving David Warner, to be
dismissed inside the Powerplay, for 22. That wicket
brought two more in quick succession. Dinesh
Chandimal and Kusal Mendis were both out in
single figures, seven runs apart.
Steering clear of trouble at the other end, was a
serene Dhananjaya de Silva, who had leant into a

flowing cover drive off Mitchell Starc's fourth ball,

and set about gracefully collecting runs into the
outfield after that. He was light on his feet to spin,
and was wise to the seamers' pace variations, hitting
five fours in his 62 off 50 balls. One of the more
memorable of his strokes was a delightfully late dab
to third man, off Maxwell. At the other end,
teammates played out a series of forgettable
innings. Only de Silva and Kusal Perera made
double figure scores.
Chamara Kapugedara and Thisara Perera were both
out slogging Adam Zampa, and Seekkuge Prasanna
holed out at long on, to Faulkner, and it was these
two bowlers who each collected three wickets this
time around. They were economical as well as
penetrative - neither conceding 20 runs off their
four overs. John Hastings was also effective taking
two for 23, while Mitchell Starc ensured he would
not go wicketless in a single innings of the tour,
when he had de Silva caught at mid off in the final
over of the innings.
The first over of Australia's response produced just
two, but the remainder of the Powerplay was full of
Maxwell and David Warner's pyrotechnics. They
struck their first boundaries in Sachithra
Senanayake's first over - Warner unleashing a
particularly vicious reverse-sweep. Suranga Lakmal
was carted for 13 in the next over, and Maxwell's
reverse-slap for six made an appearance soon after,
when he hit the game's first six off Sachith
Pathirana.

The fifth and sixth overs, bowled by Senanayake and

Thisara Perera, were Australia's most productive,
yielding 20 and 19 respectively. Eighteen of those
runs against Thisara came off four consecutive balls
- Maxwell clubbing him over the deep square leg
first up, then slapping three nonchalant fours.
The Powerplay brought 75 runs, and the openers
had virtually made the game safe by the ninth over,
when Sri Lanka removed Maxwell for the first time
in two games. He played on to a full delivery, and
the bowler, Seekkuge Prasanna delivered a graceless
send-off, which left the departed Maxwell fuming.