Gloom hung about Sri Lankan cricket before this tour. The question was not if they would lose, but by how much. Somehow, in three winding weeks, the dark clouds have come to be banished. Bloomed in their place: unexpected, rapturous joy.No Sri Lankan series is complete without a collapse, of course, but on this occasion, the trough was hit nice and early. It is that glum 117 all out that gives the subsequent triumphs meaning. It is when Graham Ford called Kusal Mendis The Prince, following his 176, that a team-wide scramble for hyperbolic praise really began.In Galle, Australia came upon Sri Lankan crickets more sinister side. They were faced with a pitch that would wear if so much as a shadow fell upon it; a surface so dry it inspired their top order to spectacularly combust. On day two their hopes for the series went up in flames, and by the third afternoon, Sri Lankas spinners had frolicking merrily around the pyre.The home side had three SSC centurions to Australias two. Dhananjaya de Silva made a velvet hundred, after his team had been 26 for 5. Dinesh Chandimal slow-cooked a supporting ton. Kaushal Silva battled pain in his left hand and his own bad form, to set off like a spinning firework upon reaching triple figures, and leave the series with a smirk.But it fit that Sri Lankas slow bowlers defined the final, triumphant day. All through the series they had beaten both edges of the bat. They had Australia lunging at turning balls, and leaving straight ones. They had had batsmen running down the pitch to deliveries they should have played from the crease; having scrambled the oppositions footwork, as well as their minds.In the last innings of the series, theirs was a catalogue of spinners dream dismissals. An aggressive opening batsman was bowled around his legs. Edges were taken by keeper and slip. One batsman was bowled trying to cut. There was a skied slog, a stumping, all adding up to a 9 for 60 slump.Even the pitch-markings appeared to be in thrall of Sri Lankan spin. When Moises Henriques and Josh Hazlewood were deemed out of their ground by a hair, in the second session, close-ups of the popping crease revealed it to be chunkier and wonkier than a crease should generally be. What better way to pay tribute to the thicker-than-average Man of the Series? Just like the champion spinner, these creases had their curves.Angelo Mathews dropped one of the simplest slip chances he is ever likely to get, burned two reviews in successive balls, and made an over-cautious declaration, and yet, the victory almost came too easy. His is one of the zanier captaincy records. Having failed to oversee a single win over a Test-playing nation until the end of June, he has Sri Lankas most famous whitewash on his resume now, to go with the 2014 series win in England.When the SSC dust settles, maybe the narrative that takes grip around the cricket world will fixate on Australias shortcomings with and against spin. Nine Asian failures in a row is difficult to ignore. Their slow bowlers were modest on turning tracks. The top order fell in such heaps, batsmen tripped over each other on their way back to the pavilion.But let not that narrative drown out the triumphant cries of one of crickets quieter voices. Let it not edge out the story of a team that draws on a smaller population than Australia, whose finances are in worse shape New Zealands; a team that still only taps about a third of their island for top-end talent, for reasons involving a finished conflict, and ongoing gross mismanagement. A country which, still, produces batsmen who stroke effortless sixes to begin promising Test careers; which unveils mystery spinners who turn their first games; whose youngest guns second first-class hundred is one of the great Test innings; and a team, whose heart-and-soul is a 38-year-old with grey-flecked hair, and maybe crickets gentlest spirit.When they play like they have this series, Sri Lanka are the shock of lime in crickets sambol. They are the cashew in its dodol, and the murunga leaf in its odiyal kool.Cricket would still go on without Sri Lanka, but would it be anywhere near as good? Jared Goff Rams Jersey . PETERSBURG, Fla. David Long Rams Jersey . After slipping from the summit during the week, the Gunners overcame struggling Crystal Palace 2-0 on Sunday thanks to Alex Oxlade-Chamberlains second-half brace. http://www.laramsfootballshops.com/todd-gurley-ii-jersey/ . After dropping their final six games of December, the Wild opened the new calendar year with four consecutive wins. Following a loss to Colorado on Saturday, Minnesota rebounded the following night to blank Nashville 4-0, but then had the tables turned on them Tuesday. Cooper Kupp Youth Jersey .S District Court against Major League Baseball, the Office of the Commissioner and his own union, the MLBPA. Orlando Pace Womens Jersey . Brett Kulak and Jackson Houck of the Vancouver Giants were each charged with assault causing bodily harm on Aug. 18, according to the B.C. court services.MASON, Ohio -- Milos Raonic advanced to the third round of the Western & Southern Open on the same day fellow Canadians Vasek Pospisil and Eugenie Bouchard were knocked out. The 12th-seeded Raonic beat Janko Tipsarevic in straight sets, 6-4, 7-6 (4) on Wednesday. Its his third win in as many tries over Tipsarevic, and comes a day after he struggled somewhat in a three-set first-round match over American Jack Sock. "I played better than yesterday," Raonic said. "I was better from the baseline and created more opportunities for myself. It was a pretty clean match." Raonic will face American John Isner next. Isner won their only other match in the Toronto quarter-finals a year ago. "Isner will be tough, it will come down to a few points," Raonic said. "I have to serve well and keep the pressure on him in that sense. If I create opportunities I have to make the most of them and play as disciplined as possible." Raonic, a native of Thornhill, Ont., became the first Canadian man to be ranked in the top 10 in the world after reaching the final of the Rogers Cup in Montreal. He lost to Rafael Nadal after beating Pospisil in the semifinals. Pospisil, who rose to 40th in the world rankings after reaching the Rogers Cup semifinals, was upset Wednesday 7-5, 1-6, 7-6 (6) by Belgian qualifier David Goffin, whos ranked 80th. Pospisils prediction that he would have a tough time with Goffin proved to be correct, despite 13 aces and the Belgians nine double faults. He failed to convert on four match points. "It was a tough match with a lot of ups and downs," said Pospisil. "I didnt start great but I played better in the second set. Serving for the match and then in the tiebreak I played some shots too passively." Pospisil fell on a late break in the opening set but roared back to sweep the second. The third set was tight, with Pospisil grabbing a 6-5 lead on a break and moving into position to serve out victory. But the outcome was never secure as Goffin saved a match point in the next game and then forced Pospisil to salvage a break point before finally dropping to 6-6 on a forehand that went long. In the tiebreaker, Pospisil had three more match points and failed to convert on all of them. Goffin seized his opportunity with his first match point, converting it to send Pospisil out after nearly 2 1/2 hours. "He hit his best shot of the match on the last match point, too good," Pospisil said. "There are a lot of things I would have changed. But now I need to get some rest before the U.S. Open." Pospisil said he was feeling "a bit burnt oout" and needs to sharpen some things in practice.dddddddddddd "Im a little emotionally drained," he said. "Maybe its good to rest before the Open." Bouchard will get some rest after putting a scare into world No. 1 Serena Williams. Bouchard won the first set before Williams asserted herself in a 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 victory. Wimbledon champion Marion Bartoli was knocked out of the tournament with her loss to Simona Halep in three excruciating sets that left Bartolis Achilles, shoulder, hips and back aching. After the match, the 28-year-old announced her retirement from tennis. "Its been a tough decision to take," said Bartoli, who won her first Grand Slam title less than two months ago. "I dont take this easily. I mean, Ive been a tennis player for a long time and I had a chance to make my biggest dream a reality. I felt I really, really pushed through the ultimate limits to make it happen. "But now I just cant do it anymore." Back on the mens side, the fourth-seeded Nadal defeated German qualifier Benjamin Becker 6-2, 6-2. Nadal has now won 11 straight on hard courts. "I should be very happy with the way that I played since the beginning," Nadal said. "Just for a few games, the serve was down a little bit. For the rest, I think I played a great match." Wimbledon champion Andy Murray had an easy time in his opening match at the tournament, which he has won twice. The second-seeded Murray needed only 69 minutes to beat Mikhail Youzhny 6-2, 6-3. Murray, who is also the defending U.S. Open champion, was coming off a third-round loss last week in Montreal, his first action since becoming the first British male to win Wimbledon since Fred Perry in 1936. Hes using the tournament in Cincinnati to get ready to defend his Open title. "He made more mistakes than I expected," Murray said. "I just want to play as many matches as I can. Its important to get a few matches in before New York. I didnt make too many errors and hit a high percentage of first serves." His volleys were erratic, something hell work on the rest of the week. "I just missed a couple," he said. "Hopefully, Ill get that going as the week goes on." Murray will play 36th-ranked Julien Benneteau in the third round. Top seed Novak Djokovic defeated Juan Monaco of Argentina, 7-5, 6-2 while Juan Martin del Potro took down Nikolay Davydenko 7-5, 7-5. Eleventh-seeded German Tommy Haas also advanced, beating No. 46 Spaniard Marcel Granollers, 6-4, 6-1. 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