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England claimed their first away Test victory in 13 matches on Friday with a commanding 211-run win against Sri Lanka in Galle, with Moeen Ali claiming his second four-wicket haul of the game.

Last out was silver fox Rangana Herath, cricket's most successful left-arm spinner in his swansong before retirement, run out for five.

The hosts, chasing a notional 462 victory in the first match of a three-Test series, could only muster 250 on day four, with Jack Leach taking three wickets to go with Ali's four, with Adil Rashid and Ben Stokes getting one each.

England had secured a first-innings lead of 139 thanks to a century on debut by Ben Foakes — Man of the Match — and a formidable spin attack led by Ali and assisted ably by Leach and Rashid, restricting Sri Lanka to 203.

In England's second innings, an assured unbeaten 146 by Keaton Jennings, his first century since a ton on his 2016 debut that has silenced his critics for now at least, allowed Root to declare at 322 for six.

"Our batting was below-par during the game, you can't stay in the game (with this kind of batting)," Sri Lanka's captain Dinesh Chandimal said.

"Credit goes to England, they played some outstanding cricket. We had a really good start in the first session but we couldn't capitalise on it," he said.

After resuming from their overnight score of 15/0, Sri Lanka's openers Kaushal Silva and Dimuth Karunaratne withstood the pressure from England's formidable bowling attack for the first hour of day four on Friday.

But both fell after going for attacking shots, with Kaushal leg-before trying to sweep Leach for 30 and Karunaratne caught-and-bowled by Ali for 26 as he skipped down the pitch for an attempted heave.

Dhananjaya de Silva, after a confident start, was caught at first slip by skipper Joe Root off Stokes in the last over of the morning session for 21.

One ball earlier, de Silva had been given out caught behind flashing at a Stokes delivery wide of the off stump, but he was reprieved on review.

After lunch Kusal Mendis hit Leach for four over his head but attempting a repeat the next ball skied the ball to Ali and departed for 46.

He had earlier appeared confident at the crease, employing the sweep shot especially well against all England's spinners, while secure in defence.

Chandimal, suffering from a groin injury that kept him off the pitch all of Thursday, was bowled by Leach for 11.

The final session began badly for the hosts. Niroshan Dickwella fell the first ball after tea, caught adroitly by Stokes one-handed at slip off Ali for 16.

Soon afterwards Angelo Mathews -- dropped on 18 by James Anderson -- went for 53, caught by Jos Buttler at midwicket with Ali again the wicket-taker.

He was followed into the pavilion by Akila Dananjaya for 8 before Herath -- perhaps a yard or two slower than in his pomp -- was beaten by Stokes's quick arm as the 40-year-old dived for his crease.

England's varied attack, with three quicks and three spinners, applied substantial pressure, with the slightly expensive Rashid the only minor disappointment.

"To be able to contribute to the team is just amazing," Foakes said after being named man-of-the-match.

"One of the best weeks of my career so far, if not the best. Yes, it's a dream come true to be fair," said the Surrey wicketkeeper-batsman, brought in to replace the injured Jonny Bairstow.

Scorebord

 England  1st innings

 Rory Burns       c Niroshan Dickwella b Suranga Lakmal              9

 Keaton Jennings  b Dilruwan Perera                                 46

 Moeen Ali        b Suranga Lakmal                                   0

 Joe Root         b Rangana Herath                                  35

 Ben Stokes       b Dilruwan Perera                                  7

 Jos Buttler      c Niroshan Dickwella b Dilruwan Perera            38

 Ben Foakes       c Dhananjaya de Silva b Suranga Lakmal           107

 Sam Curran       c Dinesh Chandimal b Akila Dananjaya              48

 Adil Rashid      c Dhananjaya de Silva b Dilruwan Perera           35

 Jack Leach       c Dhananjaya de Silva b Dilruwan Perera           15

 James Anderson   Not Out                                            0

 Extras           1b 1lb 0nb 0pen 0w                                 2

 Total            (97.0 overs)                             342 all out

Fall of Wickets : 1-10 Burns, 2-10 Ali, 3-72 Root, 4-98 Jennings, 5-103 Stokes, 6-164 Buttler, 7-252 Curran, 8-306 Rashid, 9-330 Leach, 10-342 Foakes

 

 Bowling              Ov  Md  Rn  Wk  Econ  Ex

 Suranga Lakmal       18   5  73   3  4.06

 Dilruwan Perera      31   6  75   5  2.42

 Akila Dananjaya      20   2  96   1  4.80

 Rangana Herath       25   4  78   1  3.12

 Dhananjaya de Silva   3   0  18   0  6.00

 

 Sri Lanka  1st innings

 Dimuth Karunaratne   c Ben Foakes b James Anderson             4

 Kaushal Silva        lbw Sam Curran                            1

 Dhananjaya de Silva  b Moeen Ali                              14

 Kusal Mendis         c Ben Stokes b Jack Leach                19

 Angelo Mathews       c Keaton Jennings b Moeen Ali            52

 Dinesh Chandimal     st Ben Foakes b Adil Rashid              33

 Niroshan Dickwella   c Jos Buttler b Moeen Ali                28

 Dilruwan Perera      c Jos Buttler b Jack Leach               21

 Akila Dananjaya      c Ben Foakes b Moeen Ali                  0

 Suranga Lakmal       c James Anderson b Adil Rashid           15

 Rangana Herath       Not Out                                  14

 Extras               0b 2lb 0nb 0pen 0w                        2

 Total                (68.0 overs)                    203 all out

Fall of Wickets : 1-4 Karunaratne, 2-10 Silva, 3-34 Mendis, 4-40 de Silva, 5-115 Chandimal, 6-136 Mathews, 7-171 Dickwella, 8-173 Perera, 9-175 Perera, 10-203 Lakmal

 

 Bowling         Ov  Md  Rn  Wk  Econ  Ex

 James Anderson  10   0  26   1  2.60

 Sam Curran       6   1  16   1  2.67

 Jack Leach      18   2  41   2  2.28

 Moeen Ali       21   4  66   4  3.14

 Adil Rashid      9   1  30   2  3.33

 Ben Stokes       4   0  22   0  5.50

 

 England  2nd innings

 Rory Burns       Run Out Dimuth Karunaratne                   23

 Keaton Jennings  Not Out                                     146

 Moeen Ali        c Rangana Herath b Dilruwan Perera            3

 Joe Root         c Niroshan Dickwella b Rangana Herath         3

 Ben Stokes       b Dilruwan Perera                            62

 Jos Buttler      c Kaushal Silva b Rangana Herath             35

 Ben Foakes       c Kusal Mendis b Akila Dananjaya             37

 Extras           4b 7lb 2nb 0pen 0w                           13

 Total            (93.0 overs)                           322 decl

Fall of Wickets : 1-60 Burns, 2-67 Ali, 3-74 Root, 4-181 Stokes, 5-258 Buttler, 6-319 Foakes

Did Not Bat : Curran, Rashid, Leach, Anderson

 

 Bowling                Ov  Md  Rn  Wk  Econ  Ex

 Dilruwan Perera        30   3  94   2  3.13

 Suranga Lakmal          9   2  30   0  3.33  2nb

 Rangana Herath         23   1  59   2  2.57

 Akila Dananjaya      18.5   2  87   1  4.62

 Dhananjaya de Silva  12.1   2  41   0  3.37

 

 Sri Lanka  2nd innings

 Dimuth Karunaratne   c&b Moeen Ali                        26

 Kaushal Silva        lbw Jack Leach                       30

 Dhananjaya de Silva  c Joe Root b Ben Stokes              21

 Kusal Mendis         c Moeen Ali b Jack Leach             45

 Angelo Mathews       c Jos Buttler b Moeen Ali            53

 Dinesh Chandimal     b Jack Leach                          1

 Niroshan Dickwella   c Ben Stokes b Moeen Ali             16

 Dilruwan Perera      c Ben Stokes b Adil Rashid           30

 Akila Dananjaya      c Ben Stokes b Moeen Ali              8

 Suranga Lakmal       Not Out                              14

 Rangana Herath       Run Out Ben Stokes                    5

 Extras               0b 1lb 0nb 0pen 0w                    1

 Total                (85.1 overs)                250 all out

Fall of Wickets : 1-51 Silva, 2-59 Karunaratne, 3-98 de Silva, 4-144 Mendis, 5-154 Chandimal, 6-190 Dickwella, 7-197 Mathews, 8-229 Perera, 9-239 Perera, 10-250 Herath

 

 Bowling           Ov  Md  Rn  Wk  Econ  Ex

 Sam Curran         5   1  15   0  3.00

 James Anderson    12   2  27   0  2.25

 Moeen Ali         20   2  71   4  3.55

 Adil Rashid     18.1   0  59   1  3.25

 Jack Leach        21   1  60   3  2.86

 Ben Stokes         8   2  16   1  2.00

 Joe Root           1   0   1   0  1.00