England seal series in 30 minutes

Captain Joe Root set his sights on taking England to the top of the world rankings after his spin trio finished off Sri Lanka in the second Test on Sunday to seal the series with a match to spare.

England needed just 30 minutes on the fifth day to take the final three wickets. Jack Leach got last man Malinda Pushpakumara to claim his first five-wicket Test haul.

Moeen Ali took four wickets and Adil Rashid one as England's three frontline spinners accounted for the whole innings, as well as 18 of Sri Lanka's 20 wickets in the game overall.

Root's 124 in England's second innings also played a key role in the 57-run victory and earned him the man-of-the-match award.

Celebrating England's first away series win since beating South Africa in 2015-16 and his first away triumph as captain, Root sees England -- who are ranked third in the world -- challenging India for the top Test team spot.

"It was a brilliant Test match," said Root, whose team had to twice fight back after their top order batsmen gave away cheap wickets.

"It ebbed and flowed throughout, like against India in the summer, and it's pleasing to see another close game go our way.

"We said we'd come out here and play bold cricket, and be courageous. It's easy to talk a good game but we've backed it up," Root said.

"We have to keep looking to improve. The team has grown in the last 18 months but we are not the finished article. We want to get to number one in the world and that means performing in all conditions around the world."

Sri Lanka needed 301 in their second innings to register an upset win but managed just 243 at Pallekele.

They started the day needing 75 more runs and with three wickets in hand had an outside chance.

Lakmal insisted his side had been "unlucky". But England's triumph followed a crushing 211-run win in Galle, and was set up by masterful performances from Leach, Ali and Rashid.

The spinners were dominant for both sides, as Sri Lanka's Dilruwan Perera took seven wickets in the game and Akila Dananjaya eight.

"It feels good to have three spinners in the team. We all know our roles and help each other out. It's nice to make history and hopefully we can carry that on now," said Rashid.

Leach, playing just his third Test, said the game was "unbelievable".

Root insisted that England will not ease up for the third and final Test which starts in Colombo on Friday.

He faces some tough selection choices after wicketkeeper Ben Foakes again shone with the bat -- hitting an unbeaten 65 in the second innings -- just as Jonny Bairstow steps up claims for a recall after injury.

Sri Lanka will be looking to strengthen their rebuilding, said coach Chandika Hathurusingha.

"We're looking at the bigger picture," he said. "This is the first series we lost this year. We won against South Africa 2-0. In these two games there were very close games. We had the opportunity to win both games.

"England played better cricket than us. We have to accept that. We have to learn from these mistakes," he added.

SCORES IN BRIEF

ENGLAND: First innings 290

SRI LANKA: First innings 336

ENGLAND: Second innings 346

SRI LANKA: Second innings 243 (Karunaratne 57, Mathews 88; Leach 5-83, Ali 4-72)

Result: England won by 57 runs and win the three-match series 2-0.

Player-of-the-match: Joe Root.