Capping off their remarkable comeback with the ball on Day 3 with a sterling fourth-innings chase, Sri Lanka beat hosts England by eight wickets in the third and final Test, at The Oval on Monday (September 9, 2024). The visitors zoomed to the 219-run target in just 40.3 overs, with 'Player of the Match' Pathum Nissanka cracking an unbeaten century. (Ball-by-ball commentary | More Cricket News)
Though the series was already lost after the second Test, the win assumes significance for the Lankans as it comes in challenging English conditions and follows an indifferent run of results for the sub-continental side.
This is only Sri Lanka's fourth Test win in England, and breaks a five-match winning streak for the English Test side.
England clinched the series 2-1 but missed out on a second clean sweep of their international summer, having defeated the West Indies 3-0 in July.
Starting Day 4 on 94-1 and needing 125 more runs to win, the Sri Lankans needed barely two hours to complete the job in clinical fashion. The platform was built on Sunday when they skittled England for 156 in just 34 overs and were given a victory target of 219. Lahiru Kumara picked up four wickets, and Vishwa Fernando three as the Lankans blew away the home team's batting in an incisive display of swing bowling.
Nissanka spearheaded the chase with his second Test hundred, reaching three figures in 107 balls and finishing with an imperious 127 not out. The diminutive opener, who struck 13 fours and two sixes, spread his arms wide and soaked in the applause inside a half-full ground after passing 100, then kissed his bat and looked to the sky. His other century was against the West Indies in 2021, his first year in the Sri Lankan Test team.
The quality of his innings raised the question about why he didn't start the first Test against England at Old Trafford last month, before he was recalled for the second Test at Lord's.
Fittingly, it was Nissanka who scored the winning runs for the visitors with a cut for four.
The tourists' previous Test wins in England came in 1998 – a famous 10-wicket victory in a one-off Test at The Oval – as well as at Trent Bridge in 2006 and Headingley in 2014.
