Close Sri Lanka 418 and 212 for 2 (Atapattu 100*, Sangakkara 56) beat Zimbabwe 236 all out (Gripper 83, Carlisle 64, Jayasuriya 5-43, Muralitharan 5-67) and 79 (Muralitharan 4-24, Jayasuriya 4-31) by 315 runs
scorecard

A wretched tour for Zimbabwe ended on another low as they slid meekly to their third successive innings defeat on the fourth day of the final Test at Galle. The team triumph was Sri Lanka's but the day belonged firmly to Muttiah Muralitharan, who reached his personal landmark of 400 Test wickets early on and made a start on the next hundred by taking 7 for 25 in the day.

Set an improbable 395 to win, Zimbabwe's only realistic goal was to try and survive four sessions but they seemed to have used up their final reserves of spirit on the third day. In the morning they lost their five remaining first-innings wickets for six runs and in the evening all ten second-innings wickets for 79 - 15 wickets for 85 runs all told.

Muralitharan, who had sent down 53 overs yesterday for the scant reward of two wickets, took 3 for 1 as Zimbabwe's first innings fell away from under them in the morning. Resuming at 230 for 5, 188 behind, they needed to occupy the crease to have any hope of salvaging a draw but they proved woefully incapable of dealing with Murali and Sanath Jayasuriya (5 for 43). When Jayasuriya took two wickets in an over, Zimbabwe were eight down and Murali was still only on 398. But it was a case of cometh the tail, cometh the man. Murali produced his trademark delivery, the sharp-spun offbreak that zips through the gate, to bowl Travis Friend. At this moment in your career, the man you might choose to face the next ball is Henry Olonga. And there he was. Murali bowled the same ball again, Olonga obligingly missed it, and Murali had his 400. He reached the landmark in fewer Tests (72) and at a younger age (29) than any of the other six members of what is still a highly exclusive club. Jayasuriya's first Test five-for was left in the shade.

Sri Lanka needed to score quick runs to give themselves time to bowl out Zimbabwe again, and led by an uncharacteristically brisk 126-ball century from Marvan Atapattu they extended their lead to almost 400 in a little over three hours' batting. Atapattu, who had been dropped for the second Test before a selectorial coup led to his reinstatement, drove with confidence and style, hitting 11 fours as Sri Lanka maintained a run-rate of five an over throughout their innings.

Faced with the daunting prospect of having to defy the spinners for 125 overs on a crumbling wicket, the Zimbabweans gave up the ghost. Stuart Carlisle (27) offered almost lone resistance as Murali (4 for 24) and Jayasuriya (4 for 30) wreaked some more havoc. Sri Lanka, who had never whitewashed anybody two months ago, have now done it twice.

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