SL snatch victory after defiant Moeen ton
Sri Lanka won when they had almost abandoned hope. From the penultimate ball of a gripping final day, Shaminda Eranga found a hostile delivery to bring their first series win in England
Sri Lanka won when they had almost abandoned hope. From the penultimate ball of a gripping final day, Shaminda Eranga found a hostile delivery to bring their first series win in England
Commentator: Andrew McGlashan
The Sri Lankans spray the champagne and you would imagine the celebrations will go on for a long time. What a fantastic result for them. They now head home to prepare to host South Africa for an ODI series starting a week on Sunday, July 6 with Tests to follow too and a series against Pakistan to come later in the summer. What confidence they will take from this. For England, they have a week off before India arrive for a marquee five-match series beginning on July 9. That's when the team here will be back, so see you then...
The winning captain Angelo Mathews: "We play a lot of cricket in the subcontinent and people don't expect us to do it in England but we've played some great cricket. We kept trying, I threw the ball to Eranga saying you've got tot do it and I had faith in him, England also played some great cricket, batting like that on a final day wicket. I had to keep changing the bowlers. We played some great cricket, a lot of hard work and dedication, our bowlers are quite inexperienced but they played so well. Mahela and Kumar contributed a hell of a lot in this series and the ODI series and this is a fitting send off. I've had a good six months with bat and ball and hopefully I can continue that into the future. I think this has cemented my captaincy but you have to keep performing."
Up come the England players to receive their medals and here's Alastair Cook: "Moeen played an outstanding innings, to get a hundred like that is amazing and bodes well for the future. He's a brave cricketer and the way he constructed that innings today, he didn't deserve to be on the losing side. For Jimmy to survive 80 minutes was a great effort but credit to Sri Lanka, they've just won the crucial moments. For eight days of this series we've probably had the better of it but we've lost the crucial moments and you can't let opportunities slip. Here, were didn't bowl as we would have liked to in the second innings. I thought Mahela's comments were harsh, we've won big series in the past and I think after today he would change his words. My own form is tough, I have to go back to basics, work hard and I've got 10 days to get prepared for India. If I keep losing form and matches I won't be asked to captain for much longer but I'm determined to make it right."
Presentation time. Dickie Bird is handing out the medals to the umpires first of all. Man of the Match for his outstanding second-innings hundred, and wickets, goes to Angelo Mathews. Player of the Series for England is Jimmy Anderson, perhaps a surprising choice. Anderson is very upset in the interview and can't finish his answer to Michael Atherton's first question. Very emotional indeed. Sri Lanka's Player of the series is also Mathews for his runs and leadership and handy work with the ball too.
For England, this is a complete disaster. Their new era under coach Peter Moores has began with an embarrassing defeat to a side they were widely tipped to beat comfortably. They looked set to do that in this match after five sessions but an awful second half has seen them lose the series. Today it was despite Moeen Ali's maiden Test match century, what an effort from him. Calm, cool and comfortable today, almost leading England to a battling draw. Plenty for Moeen to take from this match considering his wickets too earlier in the match suggesting what he could be capable of in the future. But little consolation really for England, whose captain Alastair Cook will now face a world of questions over his captaincy.
What a comeback in this match from Sri Lanka, they were staring down a huge first-innings deficit on Saturday before staging a fine comeback to limit England's lead to little over 100. But then, their batting in third innings, particularly that of their captain Angelo Mathews, was an outstanding effort to eventually set England 350 to win. The turnaround was complete with five wickets yesterday evening but then the game took another twist today, going right down to the wire.
So with the penultimate ball of the Test, Sri Lanka have won by 100 runs and pull off the most dramatic of victories to give them a 1-0 series victory which is their first multi-Test series win in England. Their players are ecstatic. For so long it looked as if Sri Lanka were going to win comfortably with just five wickets needed on the final day but they were made to fight tooth and nail but just in the nick of time they have pulled it off.
JM Anderson c Herath b Eranga 0 (81m 55b 0x4 0x6) SR: 0.00
Huge cheers from the England fans with every block. Radeep: "Anderson must have created a record of sorts for having faced maximum balls without scoring." He has!
Goes over the wicket...
Four ball for Sri Lanka...
So it comes down to James Anderson with six to face from Shaminda Eranga. A whole host of catchers around the bat...
Great effort from Prasad, will it be a match-winning performance?
The allrounder looks back at Sri Lanka's memorable Test series win in England ten years ago
Before Rangana Herath wrapped up Pakistan's second innings at Galle in his comeback Test in 2009, he was playing in the Staffordshire leagues
There's something about Moeen Ali's long, dark beard
Did England underestimate Sri Lanka's pace attack, or did the Sri Lankans bowl out of their skins?
Mike Selvey, in the Guardian, casts the magnifying glass on the captain Alastair Cook and suggests he might be trying too hard to change himself and the process if proving to be detrimental