There were too many soft dismissals in the England innings with only two batsmen, captain Nick Knight and Owais Shah, apparently prepared to dig in. On a slow pitch that turned and did not make shotmaking easy, any score of 200 or more was always going to be a decent one. England, however, perhaps mindful of Sri Lanka's 326 in the first match, took too many risks and failed to play enough percentage shots in the conditions.

Ben Hollioake fell to a useful delivery that cut back and Knight was run out after Shah sent him back. Too many others got themselves out.

Shah's sorties down the pitch were as productive as his sweeping as he made a skilled 65 in 84 balls. He fell to the left arm-spinner, Niroshan Bandartilleke, who, along with the World Cup leg-spinner, Upul Chandana, proved too canny for the middle order and tail.

Hollioake took a wicket with the first ball of the innings, courtesy of an inside edge, and appeared to have Russel Arnold caught behind in the same over. Arnold took advantage of that reprieve to play the key anchor role, 88 not out in 136 balls. Dougie Brown bowled an excellent 10-over opening spell, but Ashley Giles and Dean Cosker, for once, had off days.

With Sri Lanka cruising, it was left to Darren Maddy, with his dead-eyed medium pace, to bring England back into the game with a wicket in each of his first three overs. But Pubudu Dassanayake, with 30 from 33 balls, steered his side home.

``We're disappointed we lost the series but it was a magnificent effort in the field. The 186 was a bit short of a good total,'' said Knight.