England seal Sri Lanka series as Gus Atkinson adds five wickets to century

There was not a great deal of encouragement from the Lord’s pitch and a thin crowd made for a slightly sleepy Sunday. But by 5pm, after another five-wicket haul from the soaring comet that is Gus Atkinson, England had sealed a series win against Sri Lanka and set up the prospect of their first perfect Test summer for 20 years.

Not since 2004, when New Zealand and West Indies were swept aside by Michael Vaughan’s men, have England won every Test in a home season. Although they play one fewer these days, a 2-0 lead over Sri Lanka – secured with a 190-run victory in this second Test – to follow the 3-0 win against West Indies still presents a rare opportunity. Ollie Pope, two wins from two as stand-in captain but personally light on runs, will welcome the return to the Oval this week.

Like the Vaughan vintage, this is an England side hoping to build towards a climax down the line; a work in progress, rather than the finished article. They have refreshed their team – not least the bowling attack – and even with three first‑choice players lost to injury this series – Ben Stokes, Zak Crawley and Mark Wood – maintained winning ways. Their opponents this summer may sit on the wrong side of the sport’s titled global economy, but credit is still due.

It helps to have a batting galactico, of course, and Joe Root, the only ever‑present these past two years, was pretty celestial at Lord’s. Beyond the twin hundreds that took him to 34 overall and knocked Alastair Cook down to second on the list of Test centuries by an Englishman, most encouraging was the assertion that, aged 33 and out the other side of captaincy, there are plenty more miles left on the clock.

This match was also a continuation of Atkinson’s remarkable start to life as a Test cricketer. His 118 from No 8 in the first innings was no gunslinger’s knock by a chancy tailender, rather the crisp and proficient innings of a genuine batter. Beyond the peroxide tipped hair – perhaps a tribute to the pint of Guinness sunk by Anderson at the end of his farewell Test – he has proved to be unshowy and steely in character.

Back in the day job, Atkinson also maintained his hot own streak of claiming at least two wickets per innings since his debut in July. On a fourth day when wickets needed to be chiselled out – and Sri Lanka delivered a spirited performance that would have been far handier the first time around – with his figures of five for 62 from 16 overs the tourists were bowled out for 292 in 86.4 overs in their pursuit of an unlikely 483 to win.

After Chris Woakes had wrapped up the win by inducing a top-edge from Lahiru Kumara it was Atkinson, not Root, who was player of the match. The champagne was well earned, too, with Atkinson only the third England cricketer to score a century and claim a five-wicket haul in the same Test after Tony Greig and Ian Botham (even if Lord Beefy will doubtless point out he did it five times). Either way, the person who updates the Lord’s honours boards can probably etch Atkinson’s name with their eyes shut.

In truth, the result was already a formality at the start of play – one reason, to go with ticket prices, for the lack of walk-ups – and it was a case of how long the final eight wickets would take.

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The tourists did muster three battling half-centuries from Dimuth Karunaratne (55), Dinesh Chandimal (58) and Dhananjaya de Silva (50) but every time a partnership crystallised out in the middle and thoughts of a possible return on Mondaypercolated, Pope and his men found a way to shatter it.

The morning had signposted the need for patience and once Woakes saw off Prabath Jayasuriya, the bad‑light hawk, it took an extra bit of grunt from Olly Stone to deliver the second with an 87.2mph delivery speared into Karunaratne’s armpit that was gloved behind. Stone ended his comeback Test with four wickets and having clanged a few helmets while deputising for Wood, his reputation was enhanced.

Shoaib Bashir performed a solid role for Pope as the afternoon unfolded, his removal of Angelo Mathews for 36 – around the wicket, teasing a chip to mid-off with some extra air – reducing Sri Lanka to 174 for five.

Thereafter it was all about Atkinson. Already one to the good from the previous evening, he wiped out the well-set Chandimal and in-form Kamindu Mendis with the old ball before tea and then returned to nip out two more after its replacement came out.

So unlike a number of London cabbies, the series now heads south of the river to discover whether England can make it six from six. For Atkinson, 33 wickets and a century from his first five Tests, this summer is already touching perfection.

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