GALLE: Dom Sibley scored an unbeaten half century as England chased down a target of 164 to secure a sweep of the series on Monday, beating Sri Lanka by six wickets in the second Test on a day of drama at the Galle International Stadium.

England scored 164-4, with Sibley 56 not out and Jos Buttler unbeaten on 46 as they overcame jittery moments to complete a 2-0 series triumph.

The tourists overturned a 37-run deficit after the first innings to win a sixth successive Test in Sri Lanka. England earlier dismissed Sri Lanka for 126 in their second innings, giving themselves a confidence boost ahead of next month’s start of their four-Test series in India.

England’s run chase began nervously as they lost their first four wickets for 89 runs, including a tired-looking Joe Root, with Sri Lanka’s dangerous spinner Lasith Embuldeniya threatening with the new ball and taking three wickets for a match tally of 10.

But an unbeaten 75-run partnership between Sibley — who had previous failed with the bat on tour — and Buttler carried England home as they showed the application their hosts lacked in their batting.

England, who added only five runs to their overnight tally before being dismissed for 344, took just over a session to turn the match on its head as Dom Bess and spin partner Jack Leach claimed four wickets each in Sri Lanka’s second innings.

Bess took 4-49 and Leach 4-59 as the home batting line-up was undone by the turn of the wicket and rash shots. It included a wild sweep from veteran Angelo Mathews as he was bowled by Bess for five, and a slog that was top-edged by captain Dinesh Chandimal (9) and expertly caught by James Anderson off Leach.

Embuld­eniya, with a quickfire 40 off 42 balls, was the only home batsmen to make more than 20 and his 48-run ninth wicket partnership with Suranga Lakmal helped set England a tougher target. But he was eventually dismissed off the part-time bowling of Root, who claimed another wicket with his next ball by bowling Asitha Fernando to wrap up the innings. Root finished with figures of 2-0 off 11 balls.

Scoreboard

SRI LANKA (1st Innings) 381 (A.D. Mathews 110, N. Dickwella 92, L.D. Chandimal 52, H.D.R.L. Thirimanne 43; J.M. Anderson 6-40, M.A. wood 3-84).

ENGLAND (1st Innings, overnight 339-9):

Z. Crawley c Thirimanne b Embuldeniya 5

D.P. Sibley lbw b Embuldeniya 0

J.M. Bairstow c O. Fernando b Embuldeniya 28

J.E. Root run out 186

D.W. Lawrence c Thirimanne b Embuldeniya 3

J.C. Buttler c O. Fernando b Mendis 55

S.M. Curran c Thirimanne b Embuldeniya 13

D.M. Bess c Thirimanne b Embuldeniya 32

M.A. Wood c Thirimanne b Embuldeniya 1

M.J. Leach lbw b D. Perera 1

J.M. Anderson not out 4

EXTRAS (B-8, LB-3, NB-5) 16

TOTAL (all out, 116.1 overs) 344

FALL OF WKTS: 1-4, 2-5, 3-116, 4-132, 5-229, 6-252, 7-333, 8-337, 9-339.

BOWLING: Lakmal 16-7-31-0; Embuldeniya 42-6-137-7 (4nb); A.M. Fernando 10-2-31-0; M.D.K. Perera 32.1-4-86-1 (1nb); Mendis 16-1-48-1.

SRI LANKA (2nd Innings):

M.D.K.J. Perera lbw b Leach 14

H.D.R.L. Thirimanne c Crawley b Leach 13

B.O.P. Fernando c Crawley b Bess 3

A. Mathews b Bess 5

D. Chandimal c Anderson b Leach 9

N. Dickwella c Lawrence b Bess 7

W.T.R. Mendis c Buttler b Leach 16

M.K.D. Perera c Crawley b Bess 4

R.A.S. Lakmal not out 11

L. Embuldeniya c Bairstow b Root 40

A.M. Fernando b Root 0

EXTRAS (B-3, NB-1) 4

TOTAL (all out, 35.5 overs) 126

FALL OF WKTS: 1-19, 2-29, 3-37, 4-37, 5-47, 6-66, 7-70, 8-78, 9-126.

BOWLING: Anderson 2-0-6-0; Curran 2-0-9-0; Bess

16-1-49-4; Leach 14-1-59-4 (1nb); Root 1.5-1-0-2.

ENGLAND (2nd Innings):

Z. Crawley c O. Fernando b Embuldeniya 13

D.P. Sibley not out 56

J.M. Bairstow lbw b Embuldeniya 29

J.E. Root b Mendis 11

D.W. Lawrence c Dickwella b Embuldeniya 2

J.C. Buttler not out 46

EXTRAS (LB-4, NB-3) 7

TOTAL (for four wkts, 43.3 overs) 164

FALL OF WKTS: 1-17, 2-62, 3-84, 4-89.

BOWLING: Embuldeniya 20-3-73-3 (1nb); M.D.K. Perera

13-3-1-39-0 (1nb); Mendis 10-0-48-1.

RESULT: England won by six wickets to win two-match series 2-0.

UMPIRES: Kumar Dharmasena (Sri Lanka), Ruchira Palliyaguruge (Sri Lanka)

TV UMPIRE: L.E. Hannibal (Sri Lanka).

MATCH REFEREE: R.S. Madugalle (Sri Lanka).

MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Joe Root.

MAN-OF-THE-SERIES: Joe Root.

FIRST TEST: Galle, England won by seven wickets.

Published in Dawn, January 26th, 2021