Left-arm chinaman Lakshan Sandakan ripped through the Scotland middle order with a fine spell of bowling taking 4 for 39 in 10 overs to rattle the hosts for 166 before Upul Tharanga and Kusal Mendis smashed superb half centuries (53 not out) and (74 not out) respectively to help Sri Lanka comfortably home in 23 overs.

Sri Lanka rested captain Angelo Mathews, opening batsman Kusal Perera and seamer Suranga Lakmal for Nuwan Kulasekara, Seekkuge Prasanna and Niroshan Dickwella for this game.

The Scotland players wore black armbands as a mark of respect for those killed in the Manchester bomb attack.

Scores: Scotland 166 in 42.1 overs (Matthew Cross 27, Craig Wallace 46, Alasdair Evans 22, Nuwan Kulasekara 2/23, Seekkuge Prasanna 2/28, Lakshan Sandakan 4/39)

Sri Lanka 170-1 in 22.5 overs (Upul Tharanga 53 n.o., Kusal Mendis 73 n.o.)

Fast bowlers Kumara and Sanjaya were part of the Test squad – with Kumara playing the second and third Tests – while Vandersay replaced Prasanna in a legspinner-for-legspinner swap. Kumara, who has played four Tests, is yet to play a short-format game at the senior level, while Sanjaya is yet to make his international debut.

This means Sri Lanka’s squad now contains four players uncapped in the ODI format, including the allrounder Lahiru Madushanka and the wicketkeeper-batsman Sandun Weerakkody.

Allrounder Thikshila made his international debut during the T20 series, playing all three matches, batting twice – once at No. 4 – for scores of 3 and 0, and sending down just the one over. Prasanna, meanwhile, took two wickets in the three games and conceded 8.42 runs an over, while also contributing a match-winning, unbeaten 16-ball 37 in the decider at Newlands.

Udana, the left-arm quick, played two of the T20s, taking 3 for 13 in the second game at the Wanderers. Originally part of the ODI squad – having not played a 50-over game for Sri Lanka since July 2012 – he has now been left out.

Sri Lanka ODI squad: Upul Tharanga (captain), Dinesh Chandimal (wk), Dhananjaya Silva, Niroshan Dickwella, Sandun Weerakkody, Kusal Mendis, Asela Gunaratne, Chathuranga de Silva, Sachith Pathirana, Jeffrey Vandersay, Lakshan Sandakan, Lahiru Madushanka, Nuwan Kulasekara, Lahiru Kumara, Suranga Lakmal, Vikum Sanjaya.

The architects of Sri Lanka’s successful chase of 170 is Niroshan Dickwella (68 in 51 balls), who shared a third-wicket stand of 71 with Dhananjaya de Silva, and Seekkuge Prasanna, who scored a career-best 37 not out off just 16 balls with three fours and three sixes to take the side across the line.

That spoilt AB de Villiers’s comeback to international cricket. He was back with a bang with 63 off 44 balls with two fours and three sixes, forging second-wicket partnership of 71 with Reeza Hendricks. However, he was dismissed by Nuwan Kulasekara at the start of the 18th over and that put paid to South Africa’s hopes of piling on the runs towards the end.

It was only due to some strong hitting by Mangaliso Mosehle in the final over, which added 21 runs to the total – including three sixes in four balls – that gave South Africa a fighting total in the end.

South Africa is unlucky to lose Lungi Ngidi after he had bowled only two of his four overs with a hip injury after he fell heavily on one of the side pitches. But it was the fielding that really let South Africa down.

The key moment came in Wayne Parnell’s second over when South Africa dropped a hat-trick of catches off the fourth, fifth and sixth balls of the over. De Silva was dropped on three and then Dickwella on 19 and again on 23. In the end, those chances made all the difference.

Dickwella finished the series as the only batsman on either side to score more than 100 runs in the series and he was deservedly named both Man of the Match and Man of the Series

South Africa were without their newest spearhead, 20-year-old Lungi Ngidi, for most of their time in the field after he bruised his hip, and he could not bowl his final two overs, but had a tardy fielding effort rather than lack of resources to blame for their inability to defend the total. They put down five catches in total and saw several more aerial chances go unclaimed to allow Sri Lanka some leeway in what was a tough task.

Still, it took cool heads for Sri Lanka’s batsmen to cross the line, especially after Imran Tahir removed their stand-in captain Dinesh Chandimal early on and then removed Dickwella and Dhananjaya de Silva in the same over. Sri Lanka had to rebuild their innings twice and eventually needed 26 runs off the last two overs. Against the inexperience of Andile Phehlulwayo and debutant Dane Paterson, Prasanna and Asela Gunaratne got there to seal a memorable win.

By the time the 19th over began, Prasanna already had 23 off 10 balls – having brought the target down from a daunting 50 off 21 balls – but Gunaratne had yet to score a run and only faced one ball after Kusal Mendis was run-out in the previous over. The pair ran hard off the first and second deliveries before Prasanna advanced on a Phehlukwayo slower ball and sent it over long-on for six. He did not get hold of the next one, losing his bat as he swung, but finished the over with a ramp over the Mangaliso Mosehle’s head to leave Paterson with 11 to defend off the last over.

Gunaratne took the pressure off the final passage of play with a scoop over fine leg for four and took quick singles before he swung across the line and top-edged over Mosehle to level scores. In his excitement, Gunaratne thought the match was over and grabbed a stump out of the ground in celebration only to be told he needed one run was still needed. He drove the penultimate ball through the covers and this time could keep the stump.

Having threatened through the series, with 43 in Centurion and 22 in Johannesburg, Dickwella went one better and converted his start into his first T20 half-century. He had support from Upul Tharanga, who was playing in his first T20 since the World T20 in 2012, and was aggressive from the get-go. The pair punished width early on and took on the short ball and it took a change of pace to separate them.

Tharanga lobbed a catch to mid-on off Wayne Parnell’s first ball, a slower delivery, to give South Africa a breakthrough but it was when stand-in captain Dinesh Chandimal was bowled by Tahir’s first delivery that Sri Lanka were under real pressure. Tahir’s over went boundary-less and then a hat-trick of missed chances came off Parnell’s second over, including a return catch, with Dickwella surviving two of those chances. He made South Africa pay.

He saw off Tahir and targeted Phehlukwayo at first, before switching gears and lapping Tahir but South Africa’s complications came when they needed a replacement for Ngidi after he injured his hip diving at cover. Jon-Jon Smuts had to fill in but his two overs cost 22 runs as Dickwella reached fifty off 34 balls.

With five overs to go, Sri Lanka needed more than ten an over but would have been fairly comfortable with Dickwella well settled. Tahir had an over in hand, though, and appeared to have changed the game. He had Dickwella caught in the deep and de Silva stumped to turn things South Africa’s way but Sri Lanka had more muscle.

In the end, South Africa might blame their middle-order problems for not posting a big enough total. They lost 4 for 28 runs in 25 balls between the 14th and 18th over, including de Villiers which may have been the difference.

South Africa trialled a new opening partner for Smuts in Reeza Hendricks and it proved a good decision. While Smuts continued to show nothing more than glimpses of the potential that took him to the top of the domestic T20 competition run-charts, Hendricks had the composure for a longer stay and formed one half of the hosts’ major partnership on the night

After Smuts was given out lbw, Hendricks was joined by de Villiers and was happy to cede control to the senior man, but not before a third perfectly timed offside drive to the end the PowerPlay strongly.

De Villiers initially played within himself before giving making room to drive through point for his first boundary. He did not focus on finding the rope too many more times early on, though, and strike-rotation with a partner who was as speedy as him formed the foundation of their scoring. Every single was cheered loudly, twos and a solitary three were even more appreciated but there was no doubt the crowd was expecting more. When de Villiers danced down the track to meet a Lakshan Sandakan delivery on the full and send it straight back over his head for six, Newlands erupted. Their superstar was back.

A scoop off Gunaratne saw de Villiers overtake Hendricks before the latter was stumped. Hendricks will not be happy with his carelessness when he dragged his foot out against Sandakan after the ball spun across him and he failed to push his foot behind the line. Chandimal needed two attempts to complete the stumping and, still, Hendricks did not inch further back.

Despite that wicket bringing South Africa’s most dangerous hitter, David Miller, to the crease, Sri Lanka had created an opening to claw their way back. Miller, Farhaan Behardien and de Villiers all departed and South Africa entered the final two overs on 141 for 5 without one of their regular finishers on hand. Nuwan Kulasekara did an exceptional job in his final two overs which only cost 11 and removed de Villiers.

Mosehle took the opportunity to show what he could do with a stunning cameo. He plundered three sixes off the first four balls in the last over, which cost Isuru Udana 21, and took South Africa’s total over 160 but it was not enough.

The score: Sri Lanka 9-128 off 20 overs (De Silva 62, Zampa 3-16) defeated by Australia 6-130 off 17.5 overs (Maxwell 66) by four wickets with 13 balls to spare in the second T20 at R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo

The hero: If he hadn’t done so already, young leg-spinner Zampa has all but cemented his role as Australia’s go-to spinner in the limited-overs team. The Melbourne Stars leggie again delivered through the middle stages of the Sri Lankan innings, following a bright start from the home side’s top-order. Finishing with a new career-best in T20 internationals of 3-16 from his allotted four overs and leaking just the single boundary, Zampa applied the brakes as the hosts could only manage 4-31 from the moment he entered the attack for the seventh over through to the end of his spell seven overs later.

The record: Maxwell was at it again at the top of the order as he plundered the hapless Sri Lankan attack to once again silence the vocal home crowd packed in for the final match of the tour. When he sent another delivery sailing to the mid-off boundary, Maxwell brought up the equal-fastest T20 international half-century by an Australian from 18 balls. Maxwell reached the milestone in the same number of deliveries against Pakistan in the 2014 edition of the World T20, while opening partner David Warner also claims joint-ownership of the record with his effort against the West Indies back in 2010. While blistering by most standards, the duo still trails the overall record of Yuvraj Singh by a whopping six deliveries following his 12-ball blitz against England nine years ago.

The shot: Maxwell simply continued his exploits from the destruction in Kandy on Tuesday night, treating the attack with complete disdain as he toyed with the field through his audacious strokeplay and unwillingness to adhere to any existing cricket textbook. His reverse-sweeping was so good that it now barely elicits the same sense of wonder it once did, it’s now just firmly entrenched in the repertoire. Maxwell’s power-hitting still manages to amaze, however, as shown by the cleanest of hits in the fifth over of the chase. Having ditched the helmet, Maxwell resumed his one-way battle with Sachithra Senanayake. A gentle loft down the ground for four to begin the over was simply a taste of what was to come. The Sri Lankan opted for a friendly seam-up delivery that swung without venom outside off and Maxwell casually flayed it up and over the long-on boundary to offer some catching practice to the exuberant fans.
Play

The surprise: When the curtain was drawn on Maxwell’s show, most would have expected Khawaja or Head to stroll to the crease to continue the damage following their efforts in Tuesday’s world record total. The Australians surprised everyone when allrounder Moises Henriques emerged from the dugout, seemingly in an attempt to maintain a right-hand left-hand combination in the batting order. Henriques was soon on his way back to the pavilion, stumped off Sachith Pathirana for 1 to bring his tour tally to 19 runs from five innings at an average of 3.80, having danced down the wicket only to york himself. It didn’t deter the visitors from again opting to deploy another right-hander to join Warner, as Faulkner walked to the crease to steady the ship, only for things to become even more unstable.

The collapse: When Maxwell edged a Seekkuge Prasanna delivery on to his stumps for 66 off just 29 balls – earning himself a cheeky send-off from the leggie – it sparked a stunning collapse by the tourists with the loss of 4-6 in little more than two overs. But things could have been much worse following the run out of Faulkner to leave Australia at 4-99 in the 11th over. Khawaja walked to the crease and offered a return chance to Prasanna from his first delivery on a surface becoming increasingly tricky to overcome. The left-hander couldn’t make the most of his second chance with a 15-ball stay producing only six runs, while Matthew Wade fell a short time later for 14 via a miscued reverse sweep. Young gun Head ultimately sealed the deal with a heave over mid-wicket, helped over the line by Senanayake in the deep – Australia’s first boundary in more than 11 overs – and Warner’s men were able to breathe a sigh of relief.

The ball: It didn’t secure him a wicket, but Zampa’s delivery prior to the dismissal of Chamara Kapugedera was just about leg-spin perfection. Slight drift into the pads of the batsman to lure him ever so slightly out of his crease was followed by sharp turn past the outside edge and into the awaiting gloves of Peter Nevill. The gloveman’s effort to whip off the bails was only just beaten by the extension of Kapugedera’s back foot as he was deemed not out by the third umpire.

The catch: Zampa got his man with his next – far less threatening – delivery when captain Warner took a superb diving catch at mid-wicket. But it wasn’t even the skipper’s best catch of the night following his earlier effort to send Kusal Perera on his way for 22. Faulkner extracted the leading edge from the left-hander and Warner immediately began sprinting from his post at mid-on to reel in the skied ball. Matthew Wade, sans gloves, heard the call from his skipper to avoid a nasty collision and take a front-row seat to the full-length dive from one of the two Australians to feature in each of the 10 international matches on this tour.

The observation: Australia’s impressive performances with the white Kookaburra at the back-end of a long tour were highlighted by a Finch blitz, George Bailey’s consistency, some Maxwell magic and Starc doing Starc things. However, it was arguably the return to form from allrounder Faulkner that would have most pleased the Australian brains trust. The Player of the Final in last year’s World Cup triumph entered the series under pressure to recapture the form that had made him one of the most valuable players in limited-overs cricket. With Mitch Marsh rested from the shorter formats and Maxwell omitted from the ODI squad, Faulkner embraced the responsibility of being the side’s No.1 allrounder as he collected 14 wickets in his seven appearances on tour, while conceding a miserly 4.74 runs an over. On the slow surfaces found at each of the venues, Faulkner’s variations – he considers himself a pace-bowling spinner in these conditions – came to the fore as he got back to his deceptive best with a vast array of cutters and deliveries out the back of the hand. A fit and firing Faulkner not only adds another weapon to an already powerful bowling line-up, but also gives the National Selection Panel yet another headache ahead of ODI series against South Africa, New Zealand (home and away), and Pakistan in the next five months.

The farewell: After 87 Tests, 330 ODIs, 80 T20Is and 17,671 international runs across all formats, Dilshan was unable to produce one last knock to remember when he edged Hastings to Warner in just the second over of the match to depart with a solitary run to his name from three balls faced. A pair of wickets late in the piece gave the hosts a glimmer of hope in pulling off the unlikeliest of victories, but it wasn’t to be. It was by no means a fairytale finish, but so few are when the player has such an illustrious record behind them. Dilshan’s retirement leaves a significant hole at the top of the order in Sri Lanka’s limited-overs side, but the timing of the 39-year-old’s decision allows the team to find and develop a long-term replacement ahead of the 2019 World Cup and the World T20 hosted by Australia the following year.

The wash-up: Australia now head home where they will reflect on a tour that offered plenty of optimism when it began, but ultimately failed to deliver the success they so desperately sought in this part of the world. Dominance in the shorter formats won’t distract the powers that be from the efforts in the Test arena, as they now search for answers ahead of the much-anticipated tour of India in February and March of next year. For now, the team’s immediate focus turns to the ODI tour of South Africa that will serve as a competitive tune-up ahead of the home Test series against the Proteas in November, more than it will a chance to extend their stranglehold on the No.1 ODI ranking.

However the fourth meeting between the two teams which takes place at Pallekele Stadium today could see a change in fortunes for the visitors who have picked themselves up very well from the 0-3 whitewash they suffered in the Test series to beat Sri Lanka pretty convincingly 4-1 in the five-match one-day international series that ended on Sunday.

Although Australia won the fifth ODI it came at a price because they lost two of their key players who make up their T20 squad. Star batsman Aaron Finch fractured his finger and Chris Lynn dislocated his shoulder to be ruled out of the two T20 internationals against Sri Lanka.

Lynn has a dislocated left shoulder suffered during a routine fielding drill before the fifth ODI and Finch was forced from the field during the Sri Lanka innings when he hurt his right index finger attempting a catch which later was confirmed as a fracture.

One-day specialists – wicket-keeper Mathew Wade and batsman George Bailey will replace them in the T20 squad.

Australia will also be strengthened by the inclusion of hard-hitting all-rounder Glenn Maxwell, a surprise omission in the ODI series. Maxwell’s last innings against Sri Lanka was a brutal 102 off 53 balls in a World Cup match at Sydney last year, an innings which Sri Lankan bowlers picked in the squad for the two T20Is will remember – Sachitra Senanayake, Seekkuge Prasanna, Thisara Perera and Tillakaratne Dilshan.

Dilshan who retired from ODIs in the third match of the series will play his final two T20Is against Australia before stepping down from that format also. His final appearance is scheduled for September 9 when Sri Lanka and Australia play the second T20I at the R Premadasa Stadium where a sell-out crowd is expected to turn up.

Dilshan is the leading run-getter for Sri Lanka in the T20I series between the two countries with 247 runs from 8 matches and is also the only batsmen from either side to score a hundred in this short format.

Certain comments the retiring veteran made at the end of the third ODI have not gone down well with some of the team members, one of whom Angelo Mathews will not be present at his farewell after a grade two tear on his right calf ruled him out of the final ODI and the two T20Is.

Allrounder Milinda Siriwardana, who was in the squad for the first two games, was omitted in the only other change in the 16-man squad announced on Friday.

Kumara was part of Sri Lanka’s successful under-19 tour to England, where the youth test and ODI series were won recently. His teammate, batsman Avishka Fernando, was already in the senior squad as Sri Lanka looks to build a team for the 2019 Cricket World Cup.

Kumara, who has no first-class experience, took 19 wickets in both formats during the England tour.

Opening batsman Tillakaratne Dilshan will retire from ODI cricket after the third match in Dambulla, to give way for the team building. Dilshan has played 329 ODIs since his debut in 1999, and still ranks among the team’s best scorers.
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Sri Lanka: Angelo Mathews (captain), Kusal Perera, Kusal Mendis, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Dinesh Chandimal, Dhanajaya De Silva, Angelo Perera, Avishka Fernando, Danushka Gunathilaka, Suranga Lakmal, Thisara Perera, Dilruwan Perera, Seekkuge Prasanna, Lakshan Sandakan, Amila Aponso, Lahiru Kumara.

England, its host for a majority of the tour, has comprehensively outplayed it in both Tests and ODIs so far, and in doing so, has claimed an unassailable lead in the new multi-format points system. So it is that when the two sides clash one final time in a Twenty20 International at the Rose Bowl in Southampton on Tuesday (July 5), Sri Lanka will be fighting to avoid a clean sweep across formats.

After a 0-2 loss in the Tests and a 0-3 reversal in the ODIs, Sri Lanka will find it a struggle to boost morale. After the final ODI – a comprehensive 122-run loss in Cardiff – Angelo Mathews, the captain, found himself fending off questions about his captaincy, saying: “This is a tough time for me as a captain and for the whole unit. But you can’t run away from it.”

The hope was that the ODIs would help Sri Lanka emerge strong from its troubles in Tests, the hope stemming from the possibility of the shorter format narrowing the gap between the teams. However, England – a markedly different side in limited-overs internationals since Sri Lanka defeated it in the ICC World Cup 2015 – proved too strong once again, and apart from the first ODI which ended in a tie, was comprehensive winner in the remaining three completed matches.

The problem for Sri Lanka has been that its departments have struggled to work in tandem. The batsmen posted 305 for 5 in the fourth ODI, but the bowlers struggled to restrict England to below that score. Then, when England set it 325 to win in the fifth, its batsmen were contained to 202.

“I’m pretty sure if we keep improving day by day, we can come out of this hole,” said Mathews after the final ODI. “For the past two months, we’ve been having the same problems, either batting, bowling or fielding has let us down in every single game.”

Ahead of the final clash of what has been a tiresome series, Sri Lanka will hope to depart with its heads held high. A late cameo or a couple of miscues usually prove decisive in T20s, and Sri Lanka knows it has its best chance yet to put one over England. Recent form doesn’t favour Sri Lanka in that respect either – England reached the final of the ICC World T20 2016, while the Sri Lankans failed to get out of their group.

England, meanwhile, is expected to blood a few youngsters in the one-off clash, including Tymal Mills, the paceman. He comes with a reputation for searing pace, something that gained momentum after he roughed up Chris Gayle during the NatWest T20 blast last month. “I’d love to see him play. I won’t be the sole selector, but from my point of view, it would be great to see someone like that charge and give it everything,” said Trevor Bayliss, the England coach.

“It’s good to see some batsmen ducking and weaving.”

Eoin Morgan, the England captain, spoke before the ODIs of how much of a confidence booster it was for the side to reach the ICC World T20 2016 final, and warned of coping with bigger expectations. Those expectations would only have increased after its performances in the series so far.

Teams (from):

England: Eoin Morgan (capt), Sam Billings, Johnny Bairstow, Jos Buttler, Liam Dawson, Chris Jordan, David Malan, Tymal Mills, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid, Jason Roy, James Vince, David Willey.

Sri Lanka: Angelo Mathews (capt), Lahiru Thirimanne, Dinesh Chandimal, Kusal Perera, Danushka Gunathilaka, Upul Tharanga, Dhananjaya de Silva, Nuwan Pradeep, Suranga Lakmal, Kusal Mendis, Dasun Shanaka, Farveez Maharoof, Suraj Randiv, Seekkuge Prasanna.