Sri Lanka vs Australia, 5th ODI at Colombo, SL v AUS, Jun 24 2022 - Match Result

Shanaka collects the trophy and the players line up for the winning photograph. All smiles in the camp. That ends our coverage for the series, which has been played in excellent spirits. The Australians took the T20I series while the ODI series goes to the hosts. Which way will the Tests go? Find out when the two teams meet in a two-Test series that gets underway from June 29, in Galle. Should be a mouth-watering affair. But for now, it is a goodbye from me, Ashish Pant, on behalf of Madushka Balasuriya and Ranjith P. Ciao!

Dasun Shanaka, the Sri Lankan captain: It is disappointing (losing the game) but we have to keep pushing our boundaries as a team. Really proud at the way the boys have performed in the series. [On where things turned after the loss in the T20 series] It was the momentum we took from the last T20 game. Winning that set the tone for the one-day series. Our batsmen kept performing and our bowlers kept defending whatever totals were set. [On the positives] There are a lot of positives. Each and everyone took the responsibility in every game, especially Kusal Mendis. Good to see him back in form and doing well and winning the Man of the tournament. It is almost a team effort. The crowd has been amazing in Kandy and here, they were always behind us from the start. We will surely deliver more in future as a team. I want to thank the Australian team and Australian cricket board and Sri Lanka cricket board as well. I would like to thank the groundsmen as well. They did a great job with all the rain as well.

Aaron Finch, the Australia captain The series was very hard-fought. It was a bit close in a few games. Credit to Sri Lanka, they played some great games, they played the conditions better than what we did over the five games and they deserve the series win. [On the positives] These are challenging conditions. Most players got starts and we were just not able to kick on and get those big partnerships. We saw in that second game a big 170-run partnership from SL. That have been the differences. We got 40 and 50-run partnerships but not enough. We just need to maximise the middle overs. The new guys coming in really impressed and it was a super tour. I would like to thank from all the support that we have had. Lot of people tonight are wearing yellow as a thank you to us, but we need to thank you. The fans have been amazing.

Kusal Mendis is the Player of the Series : [Paraphrased from Sinhalese] He talks about the victory and how well he performed and his support from the team. He spoke about the importance of the series win and the importance of the World Cup. He further spoke about his role in the team and how he tried his best to perform.

Player of the match goes to Chamika Karunaratne for his 75: [On his innings] It was really good, I am so happy because I was not batting well in the whole series but today, I was believing in myself. When you are not performing, you are always under stress and always have the pressure, but I said 'no today is my day and I will go and do it'. I think I did my job today. [On the ninth wicket partnership with Pramod Madushan] When I was batting with Pramod I was telling him to bat till the 40th over and keep batting and keep rotating the strike. Even if there were two-three maidens, it was not a problem because we just wanted to keep batting. Pramod gave me big support. Even with Maheesh [Theekshana], I told him I will take the chances and go for the boundaries. I want to thank the Australian team that they came to Sri Lanka. We are having a very hard time in our country and I want to thank the crowd.

9:26pm Presentation in a bit

9:15pm Australia win the match but it is Sri Lanka who take the series 3-2. Chants of Australia, Australia echo around the stadium. This series has been played in excellent spirit and the fans, who had worn yellow as a gesture of support to the Australians, are well appreciated by the visitors. The Australian team make a round of the ground thanking the fans and applauding them. Lovely to see.

As far as the match goes, this was a trial by spin for Australia. The ball turned, bounced, and the visitors were in all sorts of strife. At 19 for 3 and 50 for 4, Australia were looking down the barrel. But Marnus Labuschagne and Alex Carey played an excellent hand. Carey, in particular was brilliant as he brought out the sweeps and reverse sweeps almost every over. He remained unmoved even as the visitors lost Labuschagne and Glenn Maxwell in quick succession. He was joined by Cameron Green and the duo made sure, Australia got over the line without further blemish. For Sri Lanka, Maheesh Theekshana and Dunith Wellalage were brilliant but the backup did not apply enough pressure. Nevertheless, they will be overjoyed with the series result.

Lakshitha: "No matter what the result of this game is, remember the names of these Sri Lankans, remember these names! They are here to fight... They are here to stay!"

Umanga: "Australia may have lost the series but they have many positives such as Kuhnemann and A team's doing well they will learn from this tour a lot on how to play on raging turners."

Brayden : "Very interested to see what would have happened if ultra edge shown a spike. The square leg called for a review of a stumping, not the central for a caught behind. Surely the dismissal couldn't stand? " Wouldn't have mattered. That would have been out if there was a spike.

Australia need just 5 now