Twitter Reactions: England seal a historic away Test series win for the first time since 2016

Ever since Angelo Mathews lost his wicket late on the fourth day, the writing was on the wall for Sri Lanka in the second Test chasing 301 runs. Though there was a ray of hope for the hosts with Niroshan Dickwella batting well out in the middle as they needed 75 runs to level the series. England, on the other hand, were sensing something special and had a motivation to seal a historic away Test series win.

Sri Lanka resumed at 226/7 on the fifth morning as all the eyes were on Dickwella who was tipped to take his team through. He played some enterprising shots the other day and employed sweeps and reverse sweeps every now and then to churn out some quick runs. Even the Day 5 started similarly with the left-hander looking to play his shots and also added 14 runs in quick time to test the nerves of the opposition.

But Moeen Ali kept his cool and floated a good length delivery beautifully to eke out an expansive drive from Dickwella through the tough patches and Ben Stokes grabbed on to it to effectively seal the fate of the match. Suranga Lakmal soon followed as he was castled in the same over for a second-ball duck.

Leach registers his maiden five-wicket haul

The final duo of Akila Dananjaya and Malinda Pushpakumara were never going to score the remaining 61 runs as they only delayed the inevitable for a few overs. Fittingly, it was Jack Leach, the left-arm spinner, who ended the proceedings by dismissed the latter. It was a caught and bowled dismissal as Leach registered his maiden five-wicket haul only in the third Test match of his career.

He returned with the figures of 5/83 while Ali supported him well with 4/72 as a total of 38 wickets fell to spin in this match which is a World record. As far as England is concerned, they won their first away Test series since 2016 when they had last won in South Africa.

Here’s how Twitter reacted during the short fifth day’s play:

You beauty!!! What a series win!! The boys have been outstanding all trip and deserved this, I couldn’t be happier for them 🙌👏👌 #SRIvENG

— James Taylor (@jamestaylor20) November 18, 2018

Amazing how relatively less experienced players like Burns, Leach & Foakes contributed to a great test series win against Srilanka. What a tough lad Sam Curran is. First India, & now he denies Srilanka a test series win with some crucial runs down the order!#SLvENG #ENGvSL

— Sandesh SK (@Sandesh_Says) November 18, 2018

Just a matter of 30 minutes it was. England won by 57 runs

Jack Leach standing ovation from the crowd and Leach leading the troop.

Maiden five-wicket haul for Jack Leach 28-2-83-5 #SLvENG

— Raghava (@Raghava4mahesh) November 18, 2018

A series win against #ENG was not in the cards not even with @HerathRSL in the team bt I'm really excited & happy abt how our team has played 4th inning in a potential minefield if they put similar application in previous innings we might have a chance #lka #SLvEng @OfficialSLC

— Pavitra Gunasekara 🇱🇰 (@PaViYaz) November 18, 2018

Joe Root played his career best knock and his team won, unfortunately it didn’t happened with Virat Kohli his 3 best Test knocks came in losing causes in Adelaide, Centurion and Birmingham #SLvENG

— Karan Patel (@patelkaran952) November 18, 2018

A lot of character shown by the Englishmen.

Leach with the 5-er, Moeen Ali chipping wickets as usual, Curran's priceless runs down the order in the first inns, young Foakes' impressive show and Root's best hundred ever.

They have collectively forged an overseas win. #SLvEng

— Manya (@CSKian716) November 18, 2018

Great win 💪💪💪#SLvENG pic.twitter.com/zqcHfDs8t9

— SamarImdadGujjar (@imdad_gujjar) November 18, 2018

#SLvEng Well done England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿, Sri Lanka tough team on their own turf. Thanks for finishing it quickly, can go back to bed 🛌 now 😂

— Philip Watts (@w122xs) November 18, 2018

Yes England! Another fantastic Test match victory to win the series! Leach and Moeen Ali were superb. Well played boys, brilliant performance 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 #SLvENG

— Harry 🇬🇧🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 (@AFC_Harry34) November 18, 2018

Winning in Sri Lanka doesn’t happen often,It might be 450am but this is some achievement by the England team,Not the greatest Sri Lankan team but who cares,this England Test team under @root66 are starting to look very nice indeed & some say he isn’t a Captain … #OnOn

— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) November 18, 2018

A fascinating Test but a well deserved win for England. Joe Root played an outstanding innings in that third innings, SL fought hard but the English spinners handled the pressure exceedingly well. A good series win for Eng #SLvENG

— VVS Laxman (@VVSLaxman281) November 18, 2018

England wins the Test series in Asia!
I am repeating, England wins the Test series in Asia.

38 out of 40 wickets for spinners – A RECORD! #SLvENG

— Fazal 🇵🇰 (@Faxal_Aslam) November 18, 2018

A maiden five-wicket haul for Jack Leach , four for Moeen Ali – a grand total of 38 wickets to the spinners in this match, which is the most in history. #SLvENG

— Raghava (@Raghava4mahesh) November 18, 2018

England in their last 10 Test Matches :

W W W W L W W W L D#SLvsENG #SLvENG

— CricfreakZ (@cricfreakz) November 18, 2018

England wins a Test series in Sri Lanka after 17 years. Though Sri Lanka aren't the powerhouse at home they were till a few years ago, it still is a fine feat. England have now won two Test series in Asia this decade! #SLvENG @ECB_cricket

— Navneet Mundhra (@navneet_mundhra) November 18, 2018

England’s first series win in Sri Lanka for 17 years, first win in Asia for 6 years and first overseas anywhere for nearly 3 years. Root era well and truly up and running now

— Nick Hoult (@NHoultCricket) November 18, 2018

First time England have won all Test, ODI & T20i series on an overseas tour… #SLvEng

— Innocent Bystander (@InnoBystander) November 18, 2018

On the winning team for first 7 or more Tests for England:
13 TT Bresnan
8 AJ Strauss
7 KF Barrington & SM Curran

— Andrew Samson (@AWSStats) November 18, 2018

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