Gus Atkinson takes another five-wicket haul at Lord’s as England clinch series

Chris Woakes and Olly Stone each chipped in with a couple of wickets and England are now just one victory away from completing a clean sweep of home Test triumphs for the first time since 2004.

England, who beat the West Indies 3-0 in July, had drawn their past five Tests against Sri Lanka at Lord’s dating back to 1991 but Atkinson’s all-round contribution and Joe Root’s twin centuries downed the tourists.

Half-centuries from Dimuth Karunaratne, Dinesh Chandimal and Dhananjaya de Silva all held up Ollie Pope and his team, who needed eight wickets on the penultimate day, but they seemed to be merely delaying the inevitable and they were all out in 86.4 overs, shortly after the tea interval.

The one disappointment on a warm, sunny day was the sparse crowd. While tickets for under-16s were just £15, the cheapest available for adults turning up on Sunday morning to watch England claim a first win in six attempts over these opponents at this ground – after five draws – were priced at £95.

Atkinson made light of the low turnout just a couple of days after registering his maiden first-class century. Having shone against the Windies here in July, he is one of only six players who have taken five wickets in an innings, 10 in a match and made a century at the home of cricket.

It was initially a subdued start for England as while Chris Woakes snaffled the edge of nightwatcher Prabath Jayasuriya, Joe Root spilled a difficult head-high chance when Karunaratne was on 25.

England also unsuccessfully reviewed not out verdicts against the opener twice, and while there was a hint of variable bounce early on, there was precious little else for the seamers to work with.

Stone was therefore deployed as a short-ball battering ram and he was rewarded as his extra zip got one to lift off the surface and tickle Karunaratne’s glove as he tried to fend off underneath his armpit.

After seeing off Karunaratne for 55, Stone dug another one in to Chandimal, who got off nought with a periscope single before the former Sri Lanka captain went on the attack either side of lunch.

He contributed 51 to a 59-run stand with Angelo Mathews, who grafted unobtrusively for 36 only to suddenly grind to a halt. After soaking up 19 successive dots, the pressure finally told as he skewed uppishly to wide mid-off to give Shoaib Bashir his first wicket.

Chandimal, who flicked unwittingly over the slips to reach a 42-ball half-century, was saved by a faint inside edge after being given out on 55 but he added just three more before flicking on to his pad off Atkinson, with Pope vindicated for putting in a short-leg as Dan Lawrence took an easy catch.

Kamindu Mendis has been the biggest batting thorn in England’s side in this series but he lasted five balls before throwing his hands at Atkinson from round the wicket, with Ben Duckett taking the edge.

There was no quick finish, though, and while Stone sconed Milan Rathnayake in the helmet, the batter had his revenge with three fours in an over off the quick.

England burned their final review on Rathnayake, with Bashir’s delivery sliding down leg to continue Pope’s luckless use of DRS – in his eight reviews, he is yet to overturn the on-field decision.

Dan Lawrence’s unorthodox off-spin was given an airing before England took the new ball after tea, with Root grassing his second of the day off Atkinson and third of the Test to reprieve Rathnayake on 33.

Atkinson took the fielders out of the equation as Dhananjaya under-edged on to his stumps for 50 while the Surrey man had his five-for when Rathnayake got a tickle on an attempted pull through to Smith.

Woakes claimed the final wicket and a comprehensive England win in the next over when Lahiru Kumara spooned to Stone at mid-on.