Sri Lanka have earned only their fourth Test victory on English soil after an unbeaten century by opener Pathum Nissanka helped secure an eight-wicket win in the third and final match of the series against England at The Oval.

England won 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 1-94 and requiring 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.

Nissanka steered the chase with his second Test hundred, reaching three figures in 107 balls and finishing 127 not out as Sri Lanka reached 219 in 40.3 overs.

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 Test team.

The tourists’ previous Test wins in England came in 1998 - that famous 10-wicket victory in a one-off Test at The Oval - as well as at Trent Bridge in 2006 and Headingley in 2014.

This latest one looked unlikely after they won the toss but couldn’t capitalise on perfect bowling conditions on Day 1, which England ended on 3-221. It was all Sri Lanka after that, however, as England got sloppy and occasionally reckless.

“We felt we were in a really good position and were outplayed for the last day and a session,” England captain Ollie Pope, standing in for the injured Ben Stokes for the series, said. “We didn’t bat our best yesterday and didn’t bowl our best.

“We would have liked to have 400 on board in that first dig but felt there was a fair bit in the wicket and we could bowl them out for a fair bit less than us... A few chances went down but that is cricket.

“We had a poor day three and credit to Sri Lanka as well. We weren’t at our best but that was a brilliant knock from Nissanka as well. There are a couple of good lessons we can learn from day three.”

However, with the opportunity of a perfect summer, which would have been their first since 2004, gone begging criticism has been flying in after letting a dominant position slip.

“I felt that they disrespected Test cricket, and disrespected Sri Lanka in the third Test by being over-aggressive with both the bat and in their field placings,” former captain Michael Vaughan wrote for The Telegraph.

“England have made a habit of becoming a bit complacent after a good period – I think of the start of the Ashes, or earlier this year in Rajkot – and I hope it serves as a wake-up call for the tougher Tests that lie in wait in 2025. There is no way they will get away with playing like this against India or Australia.”

“... The intensity and concentration in the big moments were missing this week. It was all a bit flimsy, cocky even. They took the mickey out of the game. The answer in Test cricket’s hottest moments cannot always be attack, attack, attack.”

Test legend Kumar Sangakkara questioned whether their cavalier approach could stand up to the likes of India and Australia to come.

“I don’t think that was good enough,” he said.

“In the second innings you saw they came in and wanted to recreate what they had at the start of this new style of play and they got lost in it.

“Are they going to keep saying this is how we play, this is going to happen, let’s go do the same thing. Are they going to learn and evolve?

“India, Australia, away from England without the Duke’s ball. How is that going to stand up under pressure?”

Joe Root sought to downplay the furore stating “Coldplay can’t be number one every week.”

“I don’t think we played our best cricket this week and that is going to happen from time to time,” he said.

England now turn their attention to white ball cricket against Australia, starting with a T20 on Wednesday.

- with Reuters