Jayasuriya backs Sri Lanka to claim historic series whitewash over Australia

Former Sri Lanka opener Sanath Jayasuriya has called on Angelo Mathews' side to seize the opportunity to script history by inflicting a Test series whitewash on top-ranked Australia.

Sri Lanka, who have taken an unassailable 2-0 lead, will aim to claim a historic clean sweep over Steve Smith's side when both side will play the third and final match in Colombo on Saturday.

Sri Lanka had only defeated Australia once before in a Test in 1999 when the likes of Jayasuriya and Muttiah Muralitharan were in their heydays.

Describing the future of the current crop of players as 'bright', Jayasuriya, who is now chairman of Sri Lanka's selectors, said that the team are in a transition period and that they will take a lot of confidence heading into their next series, Sport24 reported.

Sri Lanka had endured a horror start to 2016 season as they were knocked out of the World T20 as defending champion and were completely outclassed during last month's tour of England.