Sibley and Buttler guide England to comfortable victory over Sri Lanka to seal series

England have beaten Sri Lanka by six wickets in the final Test Match of the series to secure a 2-0 victory in Galle.

Dom Sibley 56* and Jos Buttler 46* led England to victory after slipping to 89-4, having bowled the home side out for just 126 in their second innings.

Dom Bess 4-49 and Jack Leach 4-59 impressed in the Sri Lankan second innings to help England put themselves into a strong position of needing just 164 with over four sessions remaining.

Captain Joe Root who starred with the bat in the first innings, was crucial with the ball, picking up the last two wickets of the innings without conceding a run to break a 48 run stand for the ninth wicket between Lasith Embuldeniya and Suranga Lakmal which held the tourists up a little.

Zak Crawley and Sibley opened up the chase, sharing 17 for the first wicket – the highest opening stand the pair had shared in the series before Crawley fell which allowed Jonny Bairstow 29 to come in and score quickly but his wicket sparked a collapse which saw England lose three wickets for just 27 runs to add some nerves.

However, Sibley and Buttler shared an unbroken stand of 75 to send England to a comfortable victory in the end to help seal the series victory.

Root’s men now head to Chennai for a four match series against India where they are likely to be tested far more than they have been against the Sri Lankan’s.

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