Sri Lanka batsman Mahela Jayawardene, who retired from the captaincy at the end of the third Test against Australia, said his side did not show enough character during their 3-0 whitewash Down Under.

The Sri Lankans lost the final Test by five wickets in Sydney on Sunday, before which they lost by 137 runs in Hobart and were demolished by an innings and 201 runs in Melbourne.

The visitors never really looked like breaking their Test victory duck on Australian soil, even though they had some bright patches, and Jayawardene conceded that Australia were the far superior side.

The veteran said: "I think Hobart was a good fight, tough conditions, I thought we hung in pretty well there. Melbourne, we never showed any fight in that test match which was pretty disappointing.

"Here, I think we fought really well, but it wasn't good enough. The Australians played some really good cricket, they did give us a few chances but we weren't good enough to take control and push forward.

"When you are competing at this level, I think we need to be much better prepared and show more character to win test matches in these conditions."

Jayawardene was reluctant to single out batsman Thilan Samaraweera as one of the players who had a poor series, saying the fault lay with the entire side, adding: "Unfortunately he did have a bad series, but that happens.

"I think it's unfair to pick on individual players after a series defeat like this and say it was their fault.

"I think as a unit, I don't think we played good enough cricket here, we didn't play to our potential, we didn't push ourselves and we need to take responsibility for that as a team."

Jayawardene admitted that the number of youngsters in the side didn't help their cause, but said that they needed to get used to all sorts of conditions if the team was to move forward, and would need to work even harder now.

The now former skipper added: "I think the more opportunities they have to play in these conditions their game will improve but talent alone will not carry them forward.

"It's much tougher. Thinking processes, you need to identify your weaknesses, you need to know your game better, you need to see what the opposition is doing and build innings and bat for longer.

"They all have talent and that's why they're here. As long as they willing to learn and work hard, they will get big scores and be the future of Sri Lankan cricket.

"But they need to work hard, they need to realise what they need to do and where they need to toughen up. It's not just technical, it's mental too."