Galle: Dilruwan Perera laid bare Australia's spin frailties again on Saturday to spin Sri Lanka to a series-clinching 229-run victory inside three days of the second Test in Galle.

The 34-year-old claimed 6/70 as the world's top-ranked Test team folded for 183 in their pursuit of an improbable 413-run victory target.

The off-spinner became the first Sri Lankan player to score a fifty and claim 10 wickets in the same match as the hosts clinched their first Test series victory over Australia since 1999.

Perera also became the fastest Sri Lankan to claim 50 Test wickets, achieving the feat in his 11th match, and won the Man-of-the-Match award for his all-round brilliance.

"Not too many teams do this to the No.1 team," home captain Angelo Mathews said after his team prevailed in the bowler-dominated contest that saw 33 wickets tumble on the first two days.

"After winning the toss, we had to put a decent score on the board and once again it was a special effort by Kusal Mendis... And what a performance Dilruwan came up with," he said.

Resuming day three on 25 for three, Australia captain Steve Smith (30) and deputy David Warner (41) showed positive intent, frequently using their feet against the spinners even though they were merely delaying a defeat that looked inevitable.

Perera separated them when he trapped Warner leg-before with a straight delivery. The batsman reviewed the decision but could not get it overturned.

The spinner then returned to induce Smith into giving a bat-pad catch to Kausal Silva at forward short leg and went on to complete his five-wicket haul when Adam Voges (28) attempted a reverse sweep only to have his leg stump pegged back.

Mendis displayed tremendous reflexes as he stopped a Peter Nevill shot at forward short leg and flicked it back on the stumps to run out the batsman and trigger wild celebrations at the Galle International Stadium.

Sri Lankan spinners claimed 18 of the 20 Australian wickets to fall in the contest.

Among the visitors, only paceman Mitchell Starc redeemed himself with a match haul of 11 wickets on a spin-friendly track, while none of the Australian batsmen managed a fifty.

The teams now move to Colombo for the third and final Test from next Saturday. Sri Lanka, therefore, have taken an unassailable 2-0 series lead heading into the third and final Test in Colombo.

The result was effectively certain when both teams arrived at the ground on the third morning, the only questions being the margin and the time that Sri Lanka would take to run through Australia's final seven wickets.

Only once in the past 87 years had Australia survived for fewer balls in a Test match they had lost. Here, they lasted for 501 deliveries across the match, two more than the 499 they faced against the West Indies in Port-of-Spain back in 1995.

It was thus their second-worst performance in that regard since the advent of covered pitches. And for the first time in 19 years, no Australian scored a fifty in a Test.

Sri Lanka 
1st innings 281 

Australia 
1st innings 106 

Sri Lanka 
2nd innings 237 

Australia 

2nd innings (Overnight 25/3)

D. Warner     lbw Perera     41
J. Burns     c De Silva b Herath     2
N. Lyon     c Silva b Dilruwan     0
U. Khawaja     b Dilruwan     0
S. Smith     c Silva b Perera     30
A. Voges     b Perera     28
M. Marsh     lbw Sandakan     18
P. Nevill     run out     24
M. Starc     b Herath     26
J. H’wood     c&b Perera     7
J. Holland     not out     0
Extras (lb-7)         7

Total (all out in 50.1 ovs)     183
Fall of wickets: 4/61, 5/80, 6/119, 7/123, 8/164, 9/181

Bowling: Herath 19.1-1-74-2, Perera 23-5-70-6, Sandakan 6-1-30-1, De Silva 2-0-2-0
MoM: D. Perera