COLOMBO — Struggling Australia face losing their crown as the world’s No1 team unless they can prevent a rampant Sri Lanka from completing a series whitewash in the final Test beginning this weekend.Steve Smith, who had an unbeaten record as Test skipper ahead of the three-match series, will be desperate to go home with a consolation victory and to prevent either India or England taking over at the top.Australia were only handed the ceremonial mace that the International Cricket Council awards the top-ranked Test team at the start of the series and allrounder Mitchell Marsh admitted it would be a bitter blow if they had to hand it back so soon. "It means a hell of a lot. It’s what we strive for," he said ahead of the final Test in Colombo."It would be very disappointing if we lost that — we haven’t had it for that long, we were really hoping to try and stretch the gap."READ THIS: FITNESS FABLES: No place for dark games at OlympicsAustralia had only ever lost one Test match against S...

Subscribe now to unlock this article.

Support BusinessLIVE’s award-winning journalism for R129 per month (digital access only).

There’s never been a more important time to support independent journalism in SA. Our subscription packages now offer an ad-free experience for readers.

Cancel anytime.

Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.

Speech Bubbles

Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.