Landmark Cook secures win after Chandimal’s defiant century

England 498 for 9 dec (Moeen 155*, Hales 83, Root 80, Pradeep 4-107) and 80 for 1 (Cook 47*) beat Sri Lanka 101 (Broad 4-40, Woakes 3-9, Anderson 3-36) and 475 (Chandimal 126, Mathews 80, Herath 61, Silva 60, Anderson 5-58) by nine wicketsScorecard

Alastair Cook finally reached the 10,000-run landmark, the 12th man to do so in Test history, as England secured a nine-wicket victory to take the series although not without some significant toil. Dinesh Chandimal’s sixth Test century, and first outside Asia, had continued Sri Lanka’s batting resurgence before they were bowled out for 475 to leave a target of 79.

Cook reached his milestone, which has been within his grasp since the South Africa series in January, in quite apt, understated, fashion with a nudge off his pads off Nuwan Pradeep which trickled into the midwicket boundary. He responded with a sheepish grin and a wave of the bat to the dressing room and crowd. Freed from the burden of the approaching record, he finished with a comfortable unbeaten 47 as victory came 45 minutes after tea.

Yet, that it took England until the final session of the fourth day to complete the win – having enforced the follow-on 397 ahead early yesterday morning – was huge credit to Sri Lanka who batted for 128.2 overs in their second innings. The fightback was started by Kaushal Silva, energised by Angelo Mathews then carried forth by Chandimal.

Chandimal added 116 in 29 overs for the eighth wicket with Rangana Herath who contributed a lively 61 – the second fifty of his Test career – before James Anderson completed a hard-earned five-wicket …

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