Sri Lanka won the second Test by 100 runs, and with it the series, shortly after seven o’clock in the evening. It was remarkably tense, given the apparently easy nature of the task at the start of play. There were just two balls of the match remaining when the paceman Shaminda Eranga, banged in a short ball to Jimmy Anderson, and the ball ballooned from his glove to Rangana Herath perched on the leg side. As the ball was caught, the Sri Lankan team engulfed the bowler, a writhing heap of humanity on the floor.

The batsman crouched in dismay. So close. Anderson and Moeen Ali had 122 deliveries to survive to save a match that had seemed a doomed cause for England 24 hours previously, and negotiated all but the final two. Moeen, though, enhanced his reputation with a maiden century that was both steadfast and enchanting, finishing unbeaten on 108; he can really play. Anderson had faced 55 balls without scoring as England were all out for 249.

As Sri Lanka closed in, the cloud descended and the umpires consulted their light meters as the gloom gathered. It made no difference:the pitch was taking spin now. At one end, the rotund little left-armer Herath, not a big spinner of the ball but a cornucopia of clever variations, was twirling away: at the other, Mahela Jayawardene was making some offbreaks turn. Six men, including the wicketkeeper, perched around the last batsmen, as if crows waiting for carrion. Moeen and Anderson resisted where Joe Root, Matt Prior, Chris Jordan and Stuart Broad had before them. The new ball had long since come and gone.

Then the light improved. On came the pacemen Eranga and Dhammika Prasad, five wickets under his belt already, to try and finish things. A quick burst from the latter and back came Herath. Men surrounded Anderson as if he were the altar stone at Stonehenge.

Twenty overs and two balls had remained in the match when Anderson joined Moeen, who had 88. Runs were eked out as Moeen farmed and Anderson pushed diligently forward. Once, Moeen lofted Herath back over the bowler’s head to move to 93, and starting to get torn now between the prospect of a first Test hundred before the last wicket fell, and saving the game. He is a natural strokemaker, who drives delightfully and once stood up and lacerated the ball through extra cover off the back foot as once did Garry Sobers: but now he reined himself in. Maiden overs were played out and Angelo Mathews started to ring his bowling changes. Even the side that had dominated the last two days were beginning to get nervous, straining for the final wicket.

The overs ticked by. Three successive maidens were played out, two of them by Anderson. Herath changed ends as the sun burst through. Moeen advanced down the pitch and took his first run for 15 balls to move to 97. Seven overs left. On came Nuwan Pradeep and Moeen leg-glanced his first ball fine to the boundary to reach his hundred, greeted in understated fashion. It had been beautiful batting over almost six hours from a talented batsman.

Finally, it came down to the last over, just as it had at Lord’s and, for England, a little over a year ago in Auckland.

That Sri Lanka deserved to win the match is without question, but England deserve credit for the manner in which they battled through the day after such an horrendous last session on the penultimate evening. Joe Root stayed with Moeen for the first 30 overs of the day until he was caught in the gully off Pradeep, and Prior was in for 71 minutes before he was caught at short leg, fending off a short ball from Prasad to give the bowler a fifth wicket: twice in three innings Prior has been dismissed in this fashion which is a concern. Next, Jordan lasted for 70 more minutes, before he became the first of two lbw victims for Herath. The second was Broad, who batted half an hour without scoring. There was no need for a review.

The guardian