England 427 (Root 143, Atkinson 118, Asitha 5-102) and 251 (Root 103, Asitha 3-52) beat Sri Lanka 196 (Kamindu 74, Potts 2-19) and 292 (Chandimal 58, Karunaratne 55, Dhananjaya 50, Atkinson 5-62) by 190 runs
Gus Atkinson produced his fifth performance worthy of the Lord's honours boards in his debut summer as an England Test cricketer, adding a second-innings five-for to his maiden hundred as Sri Lanka's resistance in the second Test was finally broken.
The touring side, set an unlikely target of 483 to keep the series alive, put on a gutsy fourth-innings display in a bid to avoid a first Test defeat at Lord's since 1991. There were valiant half-centuries for Dimuth Karunaratne, Dinesh Chandimal and Dhananjaya de Silva, as well as more dogged lower-order resistance from Milan Rathnayake, in only his second Test. But in the end, they were well beaten, going down by 190 runs inside four days.
There was only a sparse crowd in at Lord's to appreciate the contest, but there were ripples of applause for Sri Lanka's endeavour - followed by the latest ovation of Atkinson's fledgling Test career, as he raised the ball aloft after removing Rathnayake to leave Sri Lanka nine down. It took his tally to 19 Test wickets at 10.94 in two Test appearances at Lord's (three entries on the board for five wickets in an innings, one for ten in the match), to go alongside the first century of his professional career.
Atkinson's exploits also put him in select company as an allrounder, becoming only the third England Men's player to score a hundred and take a five-wicket haul in the same Test.
England returned on Sunday morning needing eight wickets to seal a 2-0 lead in the series - and their fifth consecutive Test win this summer. They were made to work hard for it, with Chris Woakes, Olly Stone and Shoaib Bashir contributing alongside Atkinson as Sri Lanka's batters applied themselves to their task.
If chasing 483 to win seemed unlikely, they certainly had a chance of taking the game into a fifth day. "Bat simple and bat long," was the message, according to Dhananjaya, and Karunaratne's first fifty of the series set the tone during the morning session as Sri Lanka lost just two wickets, one of them the "lightwatcher", Prabath Jayasuriya.
Karunaratne dug in for 129 balls for his 55, before being bounced out by Stone, then Chandimal changed gears to blitz a 43-ball fifty either side of lunch. Dhananjaya was typically cool in putting up the highest partnership of the innings alongside Rathnayake, notching his own fifty after tea; but when he played on against Atkinson with the second new ball, the end for Sri Lanka was nigh.
Ollie Pope shuffled his hand regularly, trying out different combinations and tactics - although his success with the DRS did not improve, with three burned reviews taking his record as England's stand-in captain to eight without managing to overturn a single on-field call.
The review system also led to England's one moment of palpable frustration, when Chandimal had an lbw decision reversed on the strength of the minutest of flickers on UltraEdge - "He's not hit that," Woakes could be seen to say on replay. But Chandimal's skittish innings featuring 11 boundaries eventually came to an end via a bat-pad catch at short leg off Atkinson, who struck again in his next over as Kamindu Mendis flashed a drive to third slip.
Dhananjaya and Rathnayake threw up another roadblock, as they had done in the first innings at Old Trafford, to extend the day into a third session. Rathnayake showed his bravery in taking on Stone's short-ball attack and after being dropped by Joe Root at slip off Atkinson looked set to add a second fifty in as many Tests only to nick a pull behind, before Woakes' slower ball finished the innings off, Lahiru Kumara chipping to mid-on.
It was a long way from an eventful start, which saw Karunaratne survive a review for lbw off the second ball of the morning - replays showing Woakes' delivery had pitched fractionally outside leg stump. The Sri Lanka opener had another life when a slash at Atkinson evaded the diving Root, a tough, one-handed chance at slip; England then lost a second review when thought they had him caught behind off the same bowler.
Woakes removed Jayasuriya after an obdurate innings of 4 from 41 balls, a thick-edged drive well held low at second slip by Harry Brook. But the fourth-wicket stand between Karunaratne and Angelo Mathews kept England at bay, with a run-out seemingly their likeliest method of a breakthrough.
With just one fifty from 13 previous innings in England, Karunaratne was largely watchful in his approach, although he did take three boundaries off an over from Atkinson: a cover drive followed up with a controlled pull, before a low edge flew between slip and gully. Another steer down to deep third off Matt Potts took him to 49 before a tap to point allowed him to raise his bat for the first time on tour.
Mathews looked to take on Bashir, who found some turn but was perhaps not as threatening as England would have hoped, and Pope asked Stone to go short again with lunch approaching. The move worked, Karunaratne dislodged when gloving a lifter through to Smith down the leg side.
Chandimal seemed intent on counterattacking and took Woakes for back-to-back fours at the start of his spell after lunch, then hit Bashir for three boundaries in an over. A wild swipe at Woakes that flew over the slips took him to fifty, and he did the bulk of the scoring during a stand of 59 with Mathews.
They were separated when Bashir tempted Mathews to try and go over the top, only to drill his shot into the hands of Woakes, going to his left at mid-off. Woakes then thought he had removed Chandimal on 55, hitting the knee roll with one coming back down the slope - only for the third umpire, Chris Gaffaney, to conclude there was bat involved, much to Woakes' chagrin. The delay was temporary, as England closed in on a clean sweep ahead of the final Test of the summer at The Oval next week.
