COLOMBO, Aug 8: Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene praised his players after he guided the team to a dramatic one-wicket win and a 2-0 series victory against South Africa on Tuesday.

Sri Lanka completed the highest run chase in their 25-year history and the sixth-highest in the game's history as they reached their target of 352 after lunch on the final day.

“I have lost a few hairs on my head and a couple of nails — it was definitely not a boring Test match,” a relieved Jayawardene said after the tense finale that had threatened to go the tourists' way.

“When Murali got out we were very nervous in the dressing room but Farveez Maharoof showed a lot of character for a young all-rounder and batted very well,” he added.

Jayawardene was named the Man-of-the-Match for his sublime 123 and Muttiah Muralitharan was Man-of-the-Series for his 22 wickets.

“It was not just me and Murali that won this series, the whole team contributed a lot to the whole series,” Jayawardene said.

“Chaminda Vaas's performance in the first innings, for example, was one of those moments that change Test matches.

“Then there was Prasanna Jayawardene who came out and batted so positively despite playing in just his sixth Test match. You have to give credit to the players that do the small work, the dirty work that is so essential to winning.

“We knew that South Africa were going to come hard at us and they definitely did that.”

South African captain Ashwell Prince admitted his team was bitterly disappointed after coming agonisingly close to a win.

“The guys are obviously disappointed but it was a great fight-back by the team,” said Prince.

“It was a typical South African effort with the guys fighting right to the end. The biggest thing is that I got 100 percent support from everyone.”—Reuters