The series win against Sri Lanka was the first for Australia since they thrashed England 4-0 in the Ashes early last year.“It’s nice to get some reward. I’ve said all summer this group has been working really hard,” Australia captain Tim Paine said after the win.

“I think we’re starting to build towards something so it’s great to get some reward for the work we’ve been putting in.“It doesn’t matter what the wicket is like or who you are playing against.”Left-arm quick Starc bowled with the same aggression and pace that earned him a five-wicket haul in the first innings to finish with 5-46 and only his second match haul of 10 wickets.

Starc’s only other 10-wicket haul in a match was also against Sri Lanka when he took 11-94 in a 2016 test in Galle.Man of the match Starc began the day adding the wickets of opener Dimuth Karunaratne and Sri Lanka captain Dinesh Chandimal to his tally.The paceman got a fast delivery to cut back into Karunaratne, who failed to add to his overnight score of eight, and breached his defence clipping the leg bail.

Chandimal was out for four when he guided Starc straight into the hands of Marnus Labuschagne at slip which ended a dismal tour for the right-hander, who aggregated 24 runs from four innings.“We were outplayed as a team in all three departments,” a dejected Chandimal, who said he was disappointed with his own performance, told reporters. “Credit goes to Australia, they have played some outstanding cricket throughout the series.

“We need to work harder... specially as a batting unit we have to step up. That’s the one are we are concerned about.”Sri Lanka promoted Niroshan Dickwella, who had made an attacking 64 in Brisbane, and he and opener Lahiru Thirimanne added 30 for the third wicket.

A sharply climbing delivery from Pat Cummins ended Thirimanne’s knock of 30 when the fast bowler sprinted forward to take a diving return catch inches off the ground.Starc returned for his second spell to dismiss Dickwella (27) and Kusal Perera, who was cleared to bat on Monday after being hit on the helmet by a bouncer on the third morning, in successive deliveries to take his match haul to nine.Dhananjaya de Silva kept out the hat-trick delivery but fell right after the lunch interval to Jhye Richardson, spooning a catch to the mid-on fielder.

Kusal Mendis and Chamika Karunaratne stalled Australia’s victory march with a seventh-wicket stand of 46 before the former found the fielder at cover with an uppish drive against leg-spinner Labuschagne.Mendis fell for 42 while Chamika edged Cummins to be out for 22 as Australia inched closer to victory.Paine brought Starc back to give him a chance to complete his 10-wicket haul and the quick bowled out Vishwa Fernando to complete the mark.Cummins finished with 3-15 and was adjudged player of the series for his haul of 14 wickets from the two tests.

Australia captain Tim Paine brought Starc back to give him a chance to complete his 10-wicket haul and the quick bowled out Vishwa Fernando to complete the mark.

SCORECARD

Australia  1st innings 534 for 5 decl (Joe Burns 180, Trevis Head 161, Kurtis Patterson 114)Sri Lanka  1st innings 215 all out (Dimuth Karunaratne 59, Kusal Perera 29 (retired hurt), Dhananjaya de Silva 25, Niroshan Dickwella 25; Mitchell Starc 5 for 54, Nathon Lyon 2 for 70)

Australia  2nd innings  196 for 3 declared (Usman Khawaja 101, Trevis Head 59 not out, Kasun Rajitha 2 for 64 )

Sri Lanka  2nd innings

 Dimuth Karunaratne   b Mitchell Starc                                   8

 Lahiru Thirimanne    c&b Pat Cummins                                   30

 Dinesh Chandimal     c Marnus Labuschagne b Mitchell Starc              4

 Niroshan Dickwella   b Mitchell Starc                                  27

 Kusal Mendis         c Kurtis Patterson b Marnus Labuschagne           42

 Kusal Perera         c Tim Paine b Mitchell Starc                       0

 Dhananjaya de Silva  c Travis Head b Jhye Richardson                    6

 Chamika Karunaratne  c Tim Paine b Pat Cummins                         22

 Dilruwan Perera      c Tim Paine b Pat Cummins                          4

 Kasun Rajitha        Not Out                                            2

 Vishwa Fernando      b Mitchell Starc                                   0

 Extras               1b 1lb 0nb 0pen 2w                                 4

 Total                (51.0 overs)                             149 all out

Fall of Wickets : 1-18 Karunaratne, 2-28 Chandimal, 3-58 Thirimanne, 4-83 Dickwella, 5-83 Perera, 6-97 de Silva, 7-143 Mendis, 8-143 Karunaratne, 9-148 Perera, 10-149 FernandoBowling: Mitchell Starc  18-2-46-5, Jhye Richardson 9-1-29-1, Nathan Lyon 13-1-51-0, Pat Cummins  8-2-15-3, Marnus Labuschagne 3-1-6-1