Sri Lanka v England: KP keeps England at the top

The end was gloriously unfettered. Three were required to win, and the field was duly brought up. Tillakaratne Dilshan bowled, and Kevin Pietersen smashed him over mid wicket for six. England had defeated Sri Lanka by eight wickets to square the series and remain on their perch as the world's No?1-ranked Test team.

England's winter of discontent, encompassing four straight and horrible Test defeats, had ended in joyous victory. To watch Pietersen and Alastair Cook bat with such freedom in chasing 94 to win, with all of Sri Lanka's 19.4 overs coming from spinners, was to wonder what all the fuss had been about. But at last England's batsmen had been extricated from the spinners' web in which they had long been entangled.

Pietersen was duly named man of the match, and rightly so. His first-innings 151, made off just 165 balls, changed the game. The pitch was slow, and every other batsman had struggled to score with any fluency. Pietersen simply batted on a different plane. He had had enough. A little man called 'form' had been mocking him all winter. So while, say, Andrew Strauss dealt with the same individual with diplomacy in making a careful first-innings 61, Pietersen just took him outside and gave him a hiding. It was a brutal innings.

He merely continued that form yesterday (Saturday), making 42 not out from just 28 balls. Cook was no less impressive with 49 not out from 69 balls, proving himself a more savage cutter than Sweeney Todd.

England had lost Strauss to the last ball of the first over, caught on the crease and bowled for a duck by Dilshan, and Jonathan Trott lbw pushing forward to Herath upon review. But they had also learnt their lessons from the calamitous run chase earlier this winter in the second Test against Pakistan in Abu Dhabi. There they were chasing 145 to win, but were all out for 72. The crucial statistic was that after 13 overs, they had only made 14 runs. When Cook went at the end of the 15th over England were 21 for one. They were paralysed. Here they were liberated, as they picked up singles eagerly and then looked for boundaries once set.

Finally the bowlers' magnificent winter work had found reward. And here again they were magnificent. James Anderson's first-day efforts, taking three early wickets, and his general spikiness thereafter, deserved so much more than the record books will show.

And Graeme Swann produced a masterly display, taking 10 wickets in a Test for only the second time, with this a more noteworthy performance than the 10 for 217 he took against Bangladesh in Chittagong in 2010. In taking six for 106 yesterday Swann managed his 13th five-wicket innings haul in Test cricket. Only Ian Botham, Sydney Barnes, Fred Trueman, Derek Underwood, Bob Willis and Alec Bedser have taken more Test five-fors for England.

It is illustrious company, and Swann's two wickets in the fourth day's penultimate over belonged in any company for their timing, importance and manifestation of sheer guts. England were out on their feet then in the heat, with eight overs of the new ball not having garnered a wicket. Swann ensured they entered the final day with confidence, and with only four wickets to take.

Yesterday morning Swann claimed the prize scalp of Mahela Jayawardene, the man of the series for his 354 runs at 88.50. Anderson had earlier been given an lbw decision against him on 58, but Jayawardene's review picked up an inside edge. Now Swann produced a magical delivery, spitting from just short of a length. Given that earlier in the over a ball pitched similarly had scuttled low, it was little surprise that Jayawardene could only glove it upwards.

The catch was taken at short leg by Cook, even if his dive forwards on to the pitch resembled the motion of a felled tree. It was a relief for him, though, because he had already dropped Angelo Mathews twice in that position off Swann. They were both difficult chances but both eminently catchable, too. Top teams do not often have such blemishes.

Prasanna Jayawardene soon followed, bowled around his legs sweeping at Swann, and Herath edged Samit Patel to Anderson at slip. Mathews, an untypical Asian batsman with his stiff wrists and penchant for driving hard on the up, did rally in making 46, but he was last man out when Steven Finn was recalled to the attack, top-edging for Strauss to take a fine catch running back from square leg.

To bowl out Sri Lanka for 275 and 278 was a remarkable effort, especially after losing the toss. England now add to the statistical oddity at the P.Sara Oval that, in six of the last seven Tests here, the side fielding first has prevailed. It suggests that batting is easiest on days two and three. But this was as flat as a table top on day one too. It was just that England bowled expertly well, even if they may actually have erred in selection.

Victory always justifies a selection, but there was not the uneven bounce that the choice of three seamers prompted. Monty Panesar should really have played.

It would have been fascinating to witness England's selection in a third, deciding Test this week. Alas, no. Instead some overhyped, pension-fund Twenty20 tournament in India takes precedence.

Pietersen will doubtless cause havoc in that Indian Premier League, but he should be here in Sri Lanka this week. As should the rest of the England team.

It's Sri Lanka's fault, and to their shame.