Australia beat Sri Lanka to avoid Twenty20 series whitewash

Australia beat Sri Lanka by 41 runs in their final Twenty20 game on Wednesday, avoiding a whitewash in the three-match series and salvaging some pride.

Australia got off to a flier courtesy of captain and opening batsman Aaron Finch's 53 runs off 32 balls. His partner Michael Klinger scored a controlled 62 runs off 43 balls to help take the hosts to a total of 187.

Sri Lanka began impressively but wickets tumbled as they struggled to cope with leg-spinner Adam Zampa, losing five wickets, including that of in-form all-rounder Asela Gunaratne, between the eighth and 12th over.

Zampa and medium pacer James Faulkner picked up three wickets each. Australia were fielding a below-full-strength side with their test squad currently in India.

Gunaratne was named man-of-the-series after scoring half centuries in the first two matches.

Scorecard

Australia

A Finch c Siriwardana b Prasanna 53

M Klinger run out (Shanaka) 62

B Dunk c Prasanna b Shanaka 28

T Head c Kapugedera b Malinga 30

M Henriques not out 2

A Turner c Kapugedera b Malinga 1

J Faulkner c Kapugedera b Shanaka 2

T Paine not out 1

Extras (lb2, w5, nb1) 8

Total (6 wickets, 20 overs) 187

Fall of wickets: 1-79, 2-128, 3-179, 4-180, 5-182, 6-184

Bowling: Malinga 4-0-35-2, Kulasekara 4-0-40-0, Sanjaya 3-0-34-0, Prasanna 3-0-25-1, Siriwardana 1-0-12-0, Gunaratne 1-0-12-0, Shanaka 4-0-27-2

Sri Lanka

D Munaweera c Turner b Head 37

U Tharanga c Richardson b Faulkner 14

K Mendis c Cummins b Richardson 14

A Gunaratne lbw b Zampa 4

M Siriwardana c & b Faulkner 35

C Kapugedera b Zampa 7

M Shanaka lbw b Zampa 0

S Prasanna c Richardson b Faulkner 12

N Kulasekara not out 8

L Malinga run out 1

S Sanjaya run out 5

Extras (lb2, w7) 9

Total (all out, 18 overs) 146

Fall of wickets: 1-41, 2-68, 3-69, 4-76, 5-91, 6-91, 7-120, 8-138, 9-140, 10-146

Bowling: Turner 2-0-15-0, Richardson 3-0-38-1, Cummins 3-0-20-0, Faulkner 3-0-20-3, Henriques 1-0-10-0, Zampa 4-0-25-3, Head 2-0-16-1.