Atkinson seals England series win over Sri Lanka

Second Test, Lord's (day four of five)

England 427 (Root 143, Atkinson 118; A Fernando 5-102) & 251 (Root 103)

Sri Lanka 196 (Kamindu 74) & 292 (Chandimal 58, Karunaratne 55, Dhananjaya 50; Atkinson 5-62)

England won by 190 runs; lead three-match series 2-0

Scorecard

Gus Atkinson’s five-wicket haul eventually broke Sri Lanka’s resistance to give England victory in the second Test and the series with a match to spare.

After making his maiden hundred in the first innings, Atkinson became only the third England player to score a century and take five wickets in a Test, and first since Lord Botham in 1984.

In front of a sparse fourth-day crowd at Lord’s, the home side were held up by half-centuries from Dimuth Karunaratne, Dinesh Chandimal and captain Dhananjaya de Silva.

England had the luxury of a mountain of runs – Sri Lanka were chasing a record 483 to win – but had to overcome some benign conditions, belated application from the tourists and two Joe Root dropped catches.

The tourists battled past tea, when Atkinson grasped the second new ball to hustle through the tail. He ended with 5-62 to leave Sri Lanka 292 all out and beaten by 190 runs.

The victory is England’s fifth in succession and gives them a second series triumph of the summer, following the 3-0 clean sweep against West Indies in July.

For Sri Lanka, this is a first defeat in six visits to Lord’s, following five draws stretching back to 2002. It is England's seventh straight Test win over Sri Lanka since the drawn 2016 Lord's Test.

The final Test at The Oval begins on Friday, with England looking for their first 100% Test summer since they earned seven wins in 2004.

England roll on at subdued Lord’s

This was another routine win in a highly successful summer for the revamped England team. Here they absorbed a further injury, this time to Mark Wood, with Olly Stone returning and fitting into a team that is looking strong in most areas.

The down side for the hosts were the lack of runs for makeshift opener Dan Lawrence and stand-in captain Ollie Pope, who has been unable to show he can combine leadership with contributing at number three.

Sri Lanka may regret their decision to bowl first after winning the toss, yet the good batting conditions late into the game showed the tourists may have been on to something.

Ultimately, Sri Lanka were beaten by their poor display with the bat in the first innings, Atkinson’s all-round brilliance and twin centuries from Root, the second of which took him to an England record 34 tons.

The electric atmosphere when Root reached his historic milestone on Saturday was in contrast to swathes of empty seats on Sunday.

Some will point to the cost of tickets. The cheapest adult entry was £95 and it is true that watching Test cricket can be prohibitively expensive, not only at Lord’s.

Perhaps there is also a reluctance to invest in fourth-day tickets when most of England’s Tests this summer have been one-sided.

It raises questions whether the English game, and other global powerhouses Australia and India, are doing enough to protect Test cricket. The big nations cannot simply play each other, so must do all they can to ensure as many teams as possible are competitive in the longer format.

Atkinson leads England graft

England’s push for victory was delayed by bad light on the third evening. As Sri Lanka began Sunday on 53-2, an improbable 430 runs adrift, the question was not if England would win, but when.

The hosts were initially held up by opener Karunaratne and nightwatchman Prabath Jayasuriya. England failed with two reviews against Karunaratne, while Root dropped the same batter at first slip off Atkinson.

With little assistance for the bowlers, Pope shuffled his attack, adjusted his field to sometimes employ as many as eight catchers, and asked Stone to bowl spells of bouncers.

Chris Woakes drew Jayasuriya into an edge to second slip, only for Chandimal to arrive and add 55 with Karunaratne, then another 59 with Angelo Mathews.

Though Stone’s hostility was rewarded with Karunaratne’s tickle down the leg side, Chandimal was aggressive, especially against off-spinner Shoaib Bashir. Chandimal’s 42-ball half-century was his quickest in Tests.

But after Mathews patted Bashir to mid-off, Atkinson got the big wicket of Chandimal, caught at short leg. When the in-form Kamindu Mendis flashed the same bowler to second slip, the game seemed up.

Sri Lanka dug in once more. Dhananjaya found support from Milan Rathnayake, the number nine bravely coming through a blow to the helmet off Stone to add 73 for the eighth wicket.

England took the second new ball, Root put down a straightforward Rathnayake edge off Atkinson, so the bowler instead hit the stumps off Dhananjaya’s toe end.

Atkinson took the bottom edge of the swiping Rathnayake to join Botham and Tony Greig as the only England men to do the hundred-five-wicket double in the same Test, then Woakes had Lahiru Kumara sky to mid-on to finish it.

'I hope Atkinson never changes' - reaction

England captain Ollie Pope on Test Match Special: "A good win and some special individual performances from Gus and Joe.

"In an ideal world you want to lead from the front with the bat but we're 2-0 up in the series. I haven't contributed in the way I'd have liked but I'd still take that every day of the week."

Sri Lanka captain Dhananjaya de Silva: "We are a much better team than we have shown.

"I would have batted first [if I had my time again at the toss]. I got it wrong. But we did really well in the first innings when we were bowling."

Former England captain Michael Vaughan: "I hope Gus Atkinson never changes and sticks to that deadpan attitude, I love it. He will have tougher challenges but he's just being himself and enjoying the game."

Player of the match, England bowler Gus Atkinson, speaking to BBC Sport: "I have had a good few games here, I don't know what it is. I enjoy bowling down the slope but the batting, I'm not sure!"