A captain's gamble: How Sri Lanka outwitted England at The Oval

The third Test between England and Sri Lanka at The Oval in London had all the makings of a thriller.

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The match swung like a pendulum, before Sri Lanka wrested back control in a decisive session where their pacers proved to be the difference.

All thanks to bowling heroics of Lahiru Kumara and Vishwa Fernando, who rattled the English batting in their 2nd innings on Day 3,  the hosts were reduced to 82/7.

The Lankan pace duo shared seven wickets between them but a counter-attacking half-century from Jamie Smith (67 off 50 balls) saw England fight back to build a decent lead.

'This is how you put England under pressure,' said Aaqib Javed, Sri Lanka's bowling coach after stumps were drawn on Day 3.

Praising Fernando, who took the big wicket of Joe Root, Javed said: 'He came to the dressing room and went back and gave everything.

'He bowled some superb inswingers like Chaminda Vaas. Sometimes people go for safer options. But he went flat out. He gave everything'

Chasing a small target is always a tricky one but opener Pathum Nissanka made chasing 219 look easy.

He brought up his half-century off just 42 balls -- he had also made a brilliant 51-ball 64 in the first innings -- and with an enterprising Kusal Mendis at the other end, and at 94-1 at close on Day 3, Sri Lanka looked well at truly in the box seat.

Gus Atkinson took out Mendis early on Day 4, but Nissanka was unstoppable as he bludgeoned the bowling for an unbeaten 127 to guide the team home alongside veteran Angelo Mathews.

This was their first win Test win in England in a decade! It was also just their fourth win overall, with their last win in the country in Tests coming at Leeds in June 2014.

This is also the most successful run chase (219) by an Asian country in England, outdoing Pakistan's chase of 180 runs against Australia in 2010.

England completed the series win, but Sri Lanka’s victory at The Oval saw them go above England in the ICC World Test Championship standings.

In seven Tests, Sri Lanka have three wins in this cycle, giving them a points percentage of 42.857% whereas England, with eight wins in 16 Test matches, are mere decimal points below with 42.187%.

Speaking after the game, Sri Lanka captain Dhananjaya de Silva couldn't contain his joy.

'For now there was no emotion in the team but it's one of the happiest moments in my career. We had a tough time in the last two weeks and to come back here and get a win against English conditions and the England team is great, taking the 20 wickets and that's what I have been talking to the boys and they were up to it,' he said at the post-match presentation.

Speaking on Nissanka, Dhananjaya hailed him as the 'best batter in Sri Lanka'.

'I wanted him (Nissanka) in the team, but only 11 can play and the moment he came in, he proved he is the best batsman in Sri Lanka right now.

'We have a fixed batting line-up in Tests and it is hard to get in a new batter and Kamindu (Mendis) was scoring runs in domestic so we had to get him in and here they are doing well. When we go back home, in the back of our minds, we got a win in England, so we can beat the others.'

Centurion Nissanka also drew praise from Ravichandran Ashwin.

'Pathum Nissanka is easily one of the best batters to have come out of Sri Lanka in the recent past and he has delivered once again. Quality 4 innings ton,' he tweeted with an applause emoji.

Sri Lanka have tough assignments remaining in the World Test Championship cycle, with two home series against New Zealand and Australia either side of a tour to South Africa.

England, meanwhile, head to Pakistan for a three-match series and have another away assignment in New Zealand to end the cycle.