England made light work of a dramatic late run chase to wrap up a 10-wicket victory over Sri Lanka in the third and final Test at Old Trafford tonight.
Two wickets in two balls from Ashley Giles (four for 62) set up a target of 50 runs from six overs in the Manchester gloom, Sri Lanka bowled out for 308 in their second innings despite Russel Arnold's 109.
The hosts therefore won the series 2-0 thanks to Giles as well as the performance of the new guard of their pace attack which was led by Alex Tudor in the absence of the injured Andrew Caddick and Darren Gough.
Tudor added three more wickets today to finish with match figures of seven for 109 - a notable peformance on a wicket of undoubted pace but true bounce which favoured the batsmen throughout.
Bad weather, which ate into playing time on each of the first four days, combined with Arnold's 211-ball ton looked sure to frustrate England.
But they stuck to their task to bowl out Sri Lanka despite determined rearguard batting from Aravinda de Silva (40) and Hashan Tillekeratne - and then openers Michael Vaughan and Marcus Trescothick got them home with one over to spare at 7.35 p.m..
Arnold finished with 172 runs to his name in his first match as an opener for three years - but it was not quite enough for Sri Lanka to salvage some much-needed pride at the end of a most disappointing series for them.
PA