England brought an end to Sri Lanka's defiance to win the second cricket Test by nine wickets and with it the three-match series (2-0), with English captain Alastair Cook reaching 10,000 Test runs, becoming the first Englishman and youngest ever in the world to do so.
Sri Lanka's Dinesh Chandimal made 126 and Rangana Herath 61 at Chester-le-Street to move their overnight 309-5 to 475. Man-of-the-match Jimmy Anderson was the most destructive among bowlers finishing the day with 5-58. England then eased to a target of 79. Chandimal, 54 not out overnight, was fluent throughout. His sixth Test century and first outside Asia was greeted by emotional celebrations, dropping his bat and kissing his helmet in a gesture towards the Lankan dressing room. He received great support from Herath.
England were forced to field for longer in Sri Lanka's second innings was also down to their own mistakes in the field. Anderson already had Milinda Siriwardana held at gully when he got Chandimal to inside-edge through to wicketkeeper Jonny Bairstow, who put down a straightforward chance to reprieve the right-hander on 69. And Herath was given a life on 47 when James Vince made the mess of a skier, back-pedalling towards the point boundary.
Except Anderson, England were below their best with the ball, with Moeen Ali and Steven Finn disappointing. Still, Sri Lanka's stoicism did give the small crowd in the stadium their opportunity for a moment of history, with captain Cook delivering. Needing five to become the first Englishman to hit 10,000 Test runs, the left-hander inside-edged spinner Herath for a single, then clipped the pace of Nuwan Pradeep to the leg-side rope. Cook becomes the 12th man in the history of Test cricket to reach the landmark and at 31 years, five months and five days, the youngest, beating the record of India legend Sachin Tendulkar, who was 31 years, 10 months and 20 days.
In England second innings, opening batsman Alex Hales was quickly dismissed by Siriwardana and it was left to Nick Compton to finish the game who pulled Siriwardana for back-to-back boundaries to seal a four-day victory. In the first innings England scored 498 for 9 declared and in response Sri Lanka perished for 101. However, when followed-on, the visitors showed their class and tried their best to bounce back with a respectable 475 in their second innings. However, it was not enough to defend and England easily chased 79 needed to win the Test finishing the Test at 80 for 1.
England will have the opportunity to complete a series whitewash in the final Test at Lord's, which begins on 9 June.
FOR THE RECORDS
* Cook has scored more runs than any other England batsman as captain, passing Michael Atherton.
* James Anderson is the first England bowler to take 3 five-wicket hauls in a series since Ryan Sidebottom against New Zealand in 2008.
* Anderson trapped Herath lbw for his 450th wicket in Test cricket.
* Dinesh Chandimal is only the eighth wicketkeeper to make a Test century when following-on.
The most relieved was the Durham County Cricket Club, because they did not incur losses. Having paid £952,000 to host the Test, they were hoping that the match would last four days. There were some in the North East who were hoping that Sri Lanka would bat at least 25 overs on Monday in order to constitute a 'full day' for non-refundable ticket purposes.
