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Sri Lanka vs England, 4th Test: Sri Lanka registered a commanding eight-wicket victory at The Oval on Monday as they ended a decade-long wait for a Test-match victory on England soil.
The victory was a significant moment for Sri Lanka whose last Test-match win over England was a 100-run success at Headingley back in 2014.
Sri Lanka Vs England: The X- Factors in Test win for the Asian Lions
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Opener Nissanka and their pace attack made key contributions to Sri Lanka’s much awaited victory in the third Test.
Nissanka made an unbeaten 127 as Sri Lanka cruised to the target of 219, before lunch on the fourth day of the Test match.
It was an overwhelming moment for Nissanka who only returned to Test cricket following a two-year exile at Lord’s. It was a personal victory for the Sri Lankan opener who was named player-of-the-match after also making an instrumental 64 in Sri Lanka’s first innings at the Oval.
The 26-year-old maintained a strike rate of over 100 in both the innings to steer Sri Lanka to the Test win.
England enjoyed an upper hand after the first innings, taking a lead of 62 runs by bowling out Sri Lanka for 263 in response to their own 325. However, on Day 3, the Lankan pace bowlers delivered a lethal spell to reduce the Three Lions to 69/5 and eventually 82/7.
Lahiru Kumara took four wickets in seven overs at an economy of 3.00. He took the wickets of Ollie Pope, Dan Lawrance, Chris Woakes, Olly Stone at crucial junctures.
On the other hand, Vishwa Fernando took three wickets in eight overs. His victims included Joe Root, Brook and Jammie Smith. Asitha too contributed with two wickets, including that of Ben Duckett and Shoaib Bashir.
The Test win has given Sri Lanka a major boost in the World Test Championship standings. They have leapt over England in the standings, having won three out of seven matches in this cycle. Their points percentage now stands at 42.857%, ahead of England’s 42.187% from 16 matches marginally. The whisker of difference adds further drama to the Test Championship race, and Sri Lanka’s good run going forward will be significant in the remainder of the cycle. England took the three-match series 2-1 after victories at Old Trafford (by five wickets) and Lord’s (by 190 runs).
The defeat against Sri Lanka meant England, who whitewashed the West Indies 3-0 earlier in the season, failed to secure a first home campaign clean sweep since 2004, when Michael Vaughan oversaw seven successive wins.
Also Read: ENG vs AUS: Gus Atkinson Ruled Out Of Australia ODIs
List of Sri Lanka’s Test Victories in England
1) By 10 wickets at The Oval, 1998
2) By 134 runs at Trent Bridge, 2006
3) By 100 runs at Headingley, 2014
4) By 8 wickets at The Oval, 2024
