London: A fine century by Pathum Nissanka and an inspired effort by Sri Lankan bowlers in the second innings helped Sri Lanka secure an eight-wicket win against England in the third Test at The Oval on Monday.
With this win, the three-match series ends in favour of England with a scoreline of 2-1. This is also Sri Lanka’s fourth win at England and their first in the country in 10 years. This is also the highest successful run chase by an Asian country in England, outdoing Pakistan’s chase of 180 runs against Australia in 2010.
Coming to the third match, Sri Lanka won the toss and opted to field first. England was bowled out for 325 runs in the first innings. In reply, a fine 127 run partnership between Dhananjaya de Silva, the skipper (69 in 111 balls, with 11 fours) and Kamindu Mendis (64 in 91 balls, with seven fours) took SL to 263, trailing by 62 runs. England was bowled out in the second innings for 156 runs and they set 219 runs to win for Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka lost Dimuth Karunaratne early during the run-chase. But Pathum Nissanka stitched a 69-run partnership with Kusal Mendis (39 in 37 balls, with seven fours) to bring the team back on track. Nissanka went on to score his second Test ton, making 127* in 124 balls, with 13 fours and two sixes. All-rounder Angelo Mathews was also unbeaten at 32 in 61 balls, with three fours. Brief Scores: England: 325 and 156 (Jamie Smith 67, Dan Lawrence 35, Lahiru Kumara 4/21) lose to Sri Lanka: 263 and 219/2 (Pathum Nissanka 127*, Kusal Mendis 39, Gus Atkinson 1/44). (ANI)
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