Australia inflicted a humiliating defeat on Sri Lanka in the second Test, bowling out the tourists in quick time on Friday to win by an innings and 203 runs.
Mitchell Johnson followed an unbeaten 92 with two wickets and a run-out as Australia won in just 2-1/2 days and clinched the series with back-to-back wins.
After Australia’s first innings ended on 460 for a commanding lead of 304, Sri Lanka made a dismal start to its second dig, collapsing to 3-3 in the first two overs.
Sri Lanka only briefly halted the flow of wickets and was bowled out for 103, with the injured Prasanna Jayawardene and Chanaka Welegedara not batting and Kumar Sangakkara retiring hurt.
Faced with a daunting target just to make Australia bat again, Dimuth Karunaratne was run-out for 1 by Johnson off a David Warner relay with the third ball of the second innings.
Tillakaratne Dilshan fell for a duck off Johnson’s next ball when he was caught by Ed Cowan at short-leg.
Debutant paceman Jackson Bird claimed a wicket in the very next over when Mahela Jayawardene (0) looked to leave the ball, only to watch it deflect onto his stumps and leave Sri Lanka at 3-3.
Thilan Samaraweera added just 1 run before being trapped lbw by Bird (2-10).
Sangakkara (27) looked to be settling in before retiring shortly after lunch after taking a Johnson delivery on his left index finger. He left the field for scans and did not retake the field.
Angelo Mathews then played a rash shot at a seaming Johnson delivery and dragged the ball onto his stumps for 35, exposing the Sri Lanka tail.
Dhammika Prasad provided some entertainment, hitting sixes off consecutive balls to start Nathan Lyon’s second over, but was caught at cover by Phillip Hughes at cover for 17 off the next delivery.
Shaminda Eranga was out for a duck shortly after to complete Sri Lanka’s capitulation.
Johnson narrowly missed his second Test century when he ran out of batting partners, with Australia unable to build much on the big innings total set up by a 194-run partnership between Michael Clarke and Shane Watson on Thursday.
Resuming on 440-8, Nathan Lyon added just 1 run before offering an easy catch to substitute fielder Dinesh Chandimal at mid-wicket off Angelo Mathews in the third over of the morning.
Bird failed to get off the mark in his first Test innings and was bowled by Shaminda Eranga, leaving Johnson stranded.
Clarke scored 103 for his 22nd Test century and first at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, and earlier became Australia’s highest-ever run scorer in a calendar year. The Australia captain has 1,595 runs for 2012, eclipsing Ricky Ponting’s previous record of 1,544 in 2005.
Watson fell short of his third century when he was out for 83.
