England [344, 164/4] defeat Sri Lanka [381, 126] by 6 wickets in the 2nd Test

[MP2011]

Another one gone.

[Robert]

Lots of pressure on Sibbers now.

[MP2011]

Eng needs 75 runs and have 6 wickets in shed.

[Abhilash93]

Buttler just needs to score a quickfire 30 and match is effectively over.

[silentkiller187]

Nothing better than watching England in the final innings of a test, on the sub continent when the pitch is doing a bit, they are like pakistan, never make it easy for themselves and not far away from a collapse.

[Robert]

One feels that England need 30 from Buttler here to chase this target down.

[sindhiboy]

Even in 2016 against Ind Root would play sublime shots and look fine in first innings . Come second innings when the ball is spinning, he would try to be more aggressive bordering on recklessness. Seems to have no confidence in staying while spinning. Mumbai test for eg. Scorecard will show more than 50 but he couldve been out many times before.

But it should be noted that the pitches in the 2016 series were flat roads where all batsmen scored plenty.

[Thunderbolt14]

Situation is tailor made for a classic Jos Buttler counterattack.

[sindhiboy]

Butlers aggression will take eng home I feel

[WengerOut]

But it should be noted that the pitches in the 2016 series were flat roads where all batsmen scored plenty.

Second innings

[Deewana Mastana]

Situation is tailor made for a classic Jos Buttler counterattack.

He can finish this tonight.

[Robert]

Three figures on the board, psychologically easier for England now.

[Mesozoic]

Embuldenya off the attack.

Game over.

[Robert]

111, ooo-err......

[James]

51 to win now, this pair looking good....

Nervously counting down each & every run already!! Test cricket does not really get any better, or more gripping....!!

[Robert]

51 to win now, this pair looking good....

Nervously counting down each & every run already!! Test cricket does not really get any better, or more gripping....!!

It’s ace.

116-4, fewer than fifty runs to get.....

[Mesozoic]

5 easy singles.....

[Robert]

Field is too deep, England are nudging singles at will.

[Robert]

England need eight runs from each remaining batsman.

[James]

47 to win

[Mesozoic]

How is that umpires call?

[Smudger]

I am baffled at how people can find a reason to criticize a bloke who score a 230 and 180odd in consecutive tests literally carrying the batting himself. Most of the Pak fans dont understand cricket

[Ab Fan]

A 50 from Sibley will give him a place in the first two tests against India.

[sindhiboy]

A 50 from Sibley will give him a place in the first two tests against India.

I guess he's a learner. Looked clueless against spin before this innings.

Now he's scoring 50 on a 4th day rank turner

[shaaik]

Root with a massive wicket there. I still think SL hv got enough here to make it extremely difficult for England. I think it will again come down to Butler to chase this down for England.

Told you it was going to come down to Butler..

[sindhiboy]

Butler has been brilliant for England. Even though I wanted foakes, butler looks more than good enough now. With both bat and gloves

[Mesozoic]

What a letdown for the @Asian Bloc....

[WengerOut]

What a letdown for the @Asian Bloc....

Dont go anywhere, Asian Bloc will be back to avenge this starting tomorrow against SA

[Robert]

Butler has been brilliant for England. Even though I wanted foakes, butler looks more than good enough now. With both bat and gloves

Yeah, he looks the real thing now.

[Ab Fan]

Yeah, he looks the real thing now.

He is a modern day potential great. He was bound to do well. A counter-attacking 38*(36) in a precarious situation has ended any hope that SL fans were left with.

[Robert]

Fifty for Sibbers, helping his confidence for India.

[Mesozoic]

Brilliant Knock by Sibley.

Might have failed badly the rest of the series but turned up when it mattered the most.

[Robert]

See if Buttler finishes it with a six.....

[James]

Superb series with the bat and gloves for Buttler. On this evidence, he is future captain material.

Solid knock from Dom at the top as well.

[Robert]

Scores level. Sibbers to hit the winning run.....

Yes!

Played Sibbers, played England, played Root who has returned to form now and has five wins on the bounce in SL.

[Deewana Mastana]

Buttler gave it to Sibley to hit the winning run as he easily could have hit a 6 and get his 50 and the win.

[Deewana Mastana]

Did not realise Cook won just 5 out of 16 tests as captain in Asia - a pretty abysmal record to say the least while Root has 5 out 5 so far.

The next tour will determine how far he can stretch it.

[Robert]

England have eight wins and one loss in their last eleven tests.

[MenInG]

[DeadlyVenom]

Im pleasantly surprised at how well bess and leach bowled. I didn't rate them at all before or even during this series but they have bowled very well.

[MenInG]

[Mamoon]

Buttler is as talented as de Villiers. If England would have figured out how to use him, he would have scored 10k Test runs.

Nevertheless, he is still doing a brilliant job and all the talk of dropping him should be binned. His place should have never been under threat.

Credit to the England selectors for sticking with him.

[Mamoon]

Did not realise Cook won just 5 out of 16 tests as captain in Asia - a pretty abysmal record to say the least while Root has 5 out 5 so far.

The next tour will determine how far he can stretch it.

Cook captained England to a Test series win in India and batted brilliantly. When you win in India, you do not need to achieve anything else in Asia.

The performance of a player/team in Asia is judged by what they do in India only.

[Rajdeep]

Its so sad to see Sanga and Mahela in sky sports. You can clearly see dissapointment in their faces but somehow trying to hide emotions for the camera. Very sorry state of affairs in Srilankan cricket. They need Sangakkara as full time coach asap.

[sindhiboy]

Im pleasantly surprised at how well bess and leach bowled. I didn't rate them at all before or even during this series but they have bowled very well.

They looked toothless in the first innings when the pitch was flatter.

They have come back decently when the ball began to turn

[Thunderbolt14]

Its so sad to see Sanga and Mahela in sky sports. You can clearly see dissapointment in their faces but somehow trying to hide emotions for the camera. Very sorry state of affairs in Srilankan cricket. They need Sangakkara as full time coach asap.

Both are busy with the IPL

[sindhiboy]

Anyone saying this win should not be taken seriously cuz its sri lanka should notice that the no. 1 test team new Zealand drew vs sri lanka 1-1 the last time they toured there.

[Titan24]

Top stuff from England in the series and Root led from the front. Crawley’s struggles against spin is bit of a worry, Sibley did extremely well in the last innings to guide Eng home. Spinners have bowled nice lengths and Anderson was also extremely pro active and accurate with regards to sub continental lengths and lines. It will be interesting to see who will be the frontline seamers for Eng in India (Will obviously be dependent upon surfaces) and if Stokes will replace Curran or a batsman in Lawrence.

[volcyz]

Sri Lanka and West Indies are next level embarrassments at the moment.

[MenInG]

England stuttered in the chase of 164 but eventually scaled the target with six wickets to spare to win the Test series 2-0 against Sri Lanka in Galle.

With the victory they have gained 60 crucial points in the ICC World Test Championship standings and are in the fourth spot, just 0.5 per cent behind Australia.

England's march to 164 was anything but smooth as they lost four wickets, three of them to Lasith Embuldeniya, who finished with a 10-wicket match haul. As many 15 wickets fell in the day, all of them to spin.

Dom Sibley's restrained and patient knock of 56* and his unbeaten 75-run stand with Jos Buttler (46*) was the highlight of England's second innings. The duo first stabilised the visitors' innings, then batted responsibly to see them past the finishing line.

Opener Zak Crawley failed yet again, managing just 13 runs before getting out to Embuldeniya. Sibley dropped his anchor at the other end and along with Jonny Bairstow ensured that the visitors didn't suffer any more hiccups until tea.

The duo put on a 45-run stand for the second wicket with Bairstow falling to Embuldeniya after a 28-ball 29. The visitors stumbled further in the last session, first losing captain Joe Root for 11 as he was bowled by Ramesh Mendis. Three overs later, Dan Lawrence became Embuldeniya's 10th victim of the match.

Sri Lanka would have fancied their chances of causing an upset with England at 89/4 but Sibley and Buttler had other plans.

Earlier in the day, England could only add five more runs to their overnight total and were bowled out for 344. Embuldeniya ended with 7/137, becoming only the sixth bowler from Sri Lanka to take seven-plus wickets in a Test innings. The hosts managed to secure a slim 37-run lead.

England meted out the same treatment they had suffered as their spinners wreaked havoc over Sri Lanka's batting line-up. By lunch, Jack Leach and Dom Bess snared three scalps each to leave the hosts struggling on 67/6. Joe Root brought out the spinners soon after just four overs of pace and was rewarded for his move.

First to depart was Kusal Perera, who swiped to the leg-side and missed and was caught in front of middle and off as Leach drew first blood. He and Bess bowled in tandem, extracting turn from the wickets and strangling the scoring rate. Bess then dismissed Oshada Fernando, who got a thick inside edge while defending and ended up giving Zak Crawley a catch at short leg.

With two wickets down in 11 overs, Sri Lanka needed to bat cautiously but the fragile batting unit just collapsed. The next three wickets fell in three successive overs. Leach got Thirimanne with Crawley pouching another catch at short leg. Bess then bowled the first-innings centurion Angelo Mathews, the ball spinning and slipping under his bat to crash into the off-stump.

In the next over, Leach got captain Dinesh Chandimal as he looked to heave and top-edged it to James Anderson, who raced back from mid-on to snaffle a simple grab. Bess then caught up with Leach, removing Niroshan Dickwella (7) in the final over before the lunch break – another tame dismissal with the batsman driving straight down the throat of the cover fielder.

They got Dilruwan Perera (4) in the second over after lunch, another catch to Crawley at short leg. Debutant Ramesh Mendis then missed the sweep to fall for 16. However, Embuldeniya continued his form with bat, playing some classy shots. He resisted with a quick 40, taking the attack to the spinners. In the end, Root was forced to bring himself into the attack and got Embuldeniya and Asitha Fernando on back-to-back deliveries as Sri Lanka folded for 126.

England became the first team in Test history to take 10 wickets with seam in the first innings and 10 wickets with spin in the second.

[Mesozoic]

Its so sad to see Sanga and Mahela in sky sports. You can clearly see dissapointment in their faces but somehow trying to hide emotions for the camera. Very sorry state of affairs in Srilankan cricket. They need Sangakkara as full time coach asap.

What will Sanga do when the players at his disposal are just not good enough for test cricket at the highest level ?

[Bewal Express]

SL were awful, they should have won this easily after that 1st innings score. The batsman have a terrible attitude, the captaincy was an embarrassment, on par with the worst of Brian Lara`s efforts.

[sweep_shot]

It was 3-0 last time.

2-0 this time.

Disappointing performance from SL.

[Majestic_Inzi]

SL were awful, they should have won this easily after that 1st innings score. The batsman have a terrible attitude, the captaincy was an embarrassment, on par with the worst of Brian Lara`s efforts.

They have done what pak do; lost from winning position.

Credit goes to eng, well done.

[Buffet]

Fantastic job by Eng here to win this test after SL put a good first inning total. Root is looking good. Hope he scores big in India as well.

[Bewal Express]

They have done what pak do; lost from winning position.

Credit goes to eng, well done.

England were excellent but SL were truly awful.

[Hasan123]

Great win by England. That looked a difficult chase and they chased fairly easily in the end. Well done England.

[BreadPakoda]

Fantastic job by Eng here to win this test after SL put a good first inning total. Root is looking good. Hope he scores big in India as well.

As an Indian, why would you hope for that?

[Markhor]

A big confidence boost for England going into the India tour. Root and Silverwood are quietly forming an effective pair beating South Africa, West Indies, Pakistan and Sri Lanka in the space of a year.

Unlikely they'll beat India on their own turf though but should be more competitive than 2016.

[Saj]

Shows that if a couple of your key players perform and are backed up by a couple of their team-mates, it can be enough to win a Test match.

Excellent series for England.

[Saurav]

As an Indian, why would you hope for that?

He's not Indian

[The Viper]

A game of two halves.

England are the first team to take 10 wickets with seam in one innings and 10 wickets with spin in the other innings of a Test.

ICC got the figures slightly wrong. It was 4 wickets for Leach.

[King_Kohli]

Most runs in a Test series in Sri Lanka by a visiting batsman:

Brian Lara - 688 runs (6 innings).
Micheal Hussey - 463 runs (5 innings).
Joe Root - 418 runs (4 innings).
Sachin Tendulkar - 390 runs (5 innings).

[SL_Fan]

Congrats Ingurland well played and well deserved! Root especially was masterful absolutely brilliant.

Sad to say but fluke wins aside this SL side is bog-standard even at home. There's not even a single player that you could confidently claim to be truly world class. Winning both tosses at Galle but still getting molested like this definitely takes some doing. India will be a billion times tougher that will be the ultimate SC test.

[Robert]

Buttler is as talented as de Villiers. If England would have figured out how to use him, he would have scored 10k Test runs.

Nevertheless, he is still doing a brilliant job and all the talk of dropping him should be binned. His place should have never been under threat.

Credit to the England selectors for sticking with him.

Dunno about that. I don't know what "talent" means over a career. Buttler is good, but ABDV looked like another Viv Richards to me.