London: Sri Lanka beat England in the third and final Test match at The Oval to rise above the hosts in ICC World Test Championship Standings.
In a Test match that swung back and forth, a decisive session where the Sri Lankan pacers made merry proved to be the difference as the visitors stunned England to pull one back in the three-match series.
England completed the series win, but Sri Lanka’s victory at The Oval saw them go above England in the ICC World Test Championship standings.
In seven Tests, Sri Lanka have three wins in this cycle, giving them a points percentage of 42.857% whereas England, with eight wins in 16 Test matches, are mere decimal points below with 42.187%.
England had taken the first-innings lead in the Test match after their bowlers restricted Sri Lanka to 263 in the first innings in response to the hosts’ 325, an ICC report said.
But then, a brilliant performance from Sri Lanka’s pace quartet on day three saw the hosts reduced to 69/5, which soon turned to 82/7. A counter-attacking half-century from Jamie Smith (67 off 50 balls) saw England fight back to build a decent lead.
Despite being bowled out for 156, England had set a target of 219, daunting enough for a team that has only one successful run-chase above 200 in a continent outside Asia.
But the tables turned when Sri Lanka, led by a flamboyant Pathum Nissanka from the top, smashed the English attack to all corners of The Oval, racing away at a rate of more than six runs per over.
Nissanka brought up his half-century off just 42 balls - he had also made a brilliant 51-ball 64 in the first innings - and with an enterprising Kusal Mendis at the other end, the visitors ate into the target considerably by stumps on day three.
Shoaib Bashir’s outstanding catch early on day four broke the threatening Mendis-Nissanka stand with the former dismissed for a 37-ball 39, but Nissanka continued to pile on England’s agony, finishing on an unbeaten 127 to guide the team home alongside Angelo Mathews.
Nissanka's 127 not out is the highest score by a Sri Lankan in the fourth innings of a Test match since Kusal Perera's unforgettable 153* in South Africa in 2019.
This was Sri Lanka’s first Test win in England in a decade, and just the fourth overall, with their last win in the country in Tests coming at Leeds in June 2014.
Sri Lanka have tough assignments remaining in the World Test Championship cycle, with two home series against New Zealand and Australia either side of a tour to South Africa.
England, meanwhile, head to Pakistan from here for a three-match series and have another away assignment in New Zealand to end the cycle.
