Angelo Mathews salutes 'brilliant' Sri Lanka after series win over Australia

Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews hailed his team as "brilliant" after their series victory over world No 1 Test nation Australia.

Their spinners wreaked havoc to notch up an emphatic 229-run victory in Galle to go 2-0 up in the three-Test series.

Off-spinners Dilruwan Perera and Rangana Herath combined forces to dismantle the Australian batting in both innings.

Perera bagged six wickets to help bundle out Australia for 183 after lunch on the third day as Sri Lanka registered their first Test series triumph against the visitors since 1999.

Herath set up the win for the hosts with his maiden Test hat-trick which helped dismiss Australia for a record low of 106 in their first innings.

"It feels great. The way we played in the last two games, I thought we were brilliant. To beat the No 1 team is very satisfying," Mathews said.

"They look a bit lost when it comes to our spinners. Our spinners have bowled extremely well. They found it a bit hard to score off our spinners."

Australia's last outing to the sub-continent saw them lose all four Tests against India in 2013 and they also lost both matches when Pakistan hosted them for a two-Test series in 2014 in the Gulf.

Aussie skipper Steve Smith said: "It's been too long now - I think it's been 15 or 16 games since we've won a game in the sub-continent, so whatever we're doing it's not working.

"We have to find ways to score and find ways to take wickets and chase runs. We have not been able to do that in the first two Test matches.

"Credit to Sri Lanka for the way they have played to wrap up series here."

The action now shifts to Colombo for the final Test beginning August 13.