Cricket: Clarke hails special win

Australia captain Michael Clarke says securing a win in his first Test series as skipper is a special moment in his career, especially after he did it with a century in the third and final Test against Sri Lanka in Colombo on Tuesday.

Clarke's patient, counter-attacking 112 took away any chance the hosts had of securing a series levelling win at the Sinhalese Sports Club ground as the third Test finished in a draw to deliver the 30-year-old a 1-0 series win in his first campaign as Test skipper.

That result was all Australia needed to take out the series and also move above Sri Lanka into fourth on the world Test rankings.

"It's as special a day as I've had, no doubt,'' Clarke said.

"We put in a lot of work to come on this tour and perform well.

"I know seven years ago Ricky Ponting in his first Test series as captain won here so it's certainly very special, as special as I've had in my career.''

Clarke started the day on eight but shared a 176-run partnership with man-of-the-series Michael Hussey (93) on his way to scoring his first century in 24 Test innings.

That partnership, after Phillip Hughes' early dismissal for 126, ensured there was no chance of Sri Lanka claiming the win they needed by the time Australia were dismissed for 488 late in the day's play.

Rangana Herath (7-157) battled hard for the hosts, eventually removing Clarke as his seven-wicket haul made him the fourth Sri Lankan to claim 100 Test wickets but Tillakaratne Dilshan's men have now failed to win in their past 11 Tests.

Sri Lanka only faced two overs in their second innings, making 0-7 before play was called off and the match declared a draw.

Clarke's knock didn't come without its moments, twice he could have been stumped if wicketkeeper Prasanna Jayawardene had cleanly taken the ball, but on the whole it was the sort of timely knock the right-hander has often been accused of not playing in his 72-Test career.

Australia's captain stepped up his onslaught after lunch, hitting another six off Herath before posting his century with the 14th boundary of his knock, again off Herath.

Hussey's own contribution continued a fine series for the veteran left-hander, during which he has scored 463 runs at an average of 92.60 including two centuries and two half-centuries though he was denied a second century in the match when he was caught off the bowling of Tillakaratne Dilshan (1-62) shortly after tea.

Following the match, coach Tim Nielsen confirmed he would not be re-applying for the role in the wake of last month's Argus Report.

Nielsen is expected to stay in the role for next month's tour of South Africa however with the new coach unlikely to be appointed until the start of the domestic summer in Australia.

- AAP