Sri Lanka's tour of England has so far gone to script with England backing up their strong display in the first Test to win the second Test by 9 wickets, sealing a series victory with a Test still to play. While England once again dominated, Sri Lanka did show some fight in their second innings, showing that they can compete in English conditions as they rolled through a much-improved batting display to ensure that England had to bat twice.

The loss of young pace bowler Dushmantha Chameera gave the Sri Lankan bowling attack a less threatening look about them, but they still went alright in their first and only major effort with the ball. Nuwan Pradeep took 4/107 off 33 overs and Suranga Lakmal took 3/115 off 29 overs as England made their way to 498 before declaring. 

Sri Lanka's first innings with the bat was another example of far they have to go in this transition period as they were skittled for 101. Their second innings however was far better and we saw the foundations, of which Sri Lanka can build upon with the bat as Dinesh Chandimal hit 126, with 13 fours and a six. Chandimal was in great touch and he was alone as Kaushal Silva scored 60, Angelo Mathews scored 80 and Rangana Herath chipped in with 61 down the order.

From a Sri Lankan perspective, this innings couldn't help them win this Test or even come close to salvaging a draw but in a wider context it was hugely positive. Mathews' knock was crucial in offering some 'follow me' leadership and Chandimal has quickly become a key figure in Sri Lanka's middle order while also wearing the wicket-keeping gloves. Chandimal is only 26-years-old and while it feels like he's been around for a while (107 ODIs to his name), he has just played 27 Tests and has a Test average of 45.18. This was his 6th Test century, 

Chandimal is 26 and has a Test average of 45 while Mathews is 28 and has a Test average of 49.25. That is a nice middle order combination right there, they just need to bring through some talented top order players, or get their current top order players firing and there's scope for growth.

This was however all about England as they continue to prove that they could hang with the best Test nations in the world - they aren't too far behind. The star of their big first innings was Moeen Ali and his 155, which came with 83 from Alex Hales and 80 from Joe Root. Ali got a cheeky promotion up the order as Chris Woakes came in for Ben Stokes and after a brief stint at the top of the order for England, Ali is loving his work down the order where he can play his strokes with his natural freedom.

Without Stokes, Ali gives England a free-flowing run-scoring threat down the order while his technique is good enough to also hold the fort if needed. You don't need runs from Ali every innings as he doubles as England's No.1 spinner, but when Ali isn't quite as effective with the ball as Alistair Cook would hope as was the case in this Test, Ali can still contribute with the bat. As Sri Lanka battled to 475 in their second innings, Ali bowled 28 overs and conceded 136 runs at 4.85rpo for just a single wicket. Besides Joe Root's 2 overs, Ali was England's most expensive bowler in that innings.

Hales has gone back to back in the two Test with scores in the 80's, which should see him hold down an opening spot alongside Mr 10,000 runs Alastair Cook for the mid-term future. England's only minor concern is the form of Nick Compton (0, 9, 22*) and newbie James Vince (9, 35) who haven't quite made the most of their opportunities, don't expect any changes for the third Test though as Tevor Bayliss will rightfully gives these lads time I suspect.

Not a whole lot to report about England's bowlers, they did exactly what we expected of them after that dominant display in the first Test. Perhaps they didn't quite show the same potency in the second innings, James Anderson still picked up 5/58 however to go with 3/36 in the first innings. Chris Woakes is making a strong case to leap-frog Steven Finn as the third seamer as well which could be an interesting story to follow; Woakes took 3/9 off 7 and 2/103 off 27.2 while Finn took 0/15 off 7 and 1/78 off 19.

Just a note on Cook, who passed 10,000 Test runs in the second innings, raising his bat on 5* to celebrate the glorious moment. Cook now has 10,042 Test runs at an average of 46.49, 28 hundreds and 47 half-centuries which will undoubtedly put him in the history books but I think we often sleep on Cook and his standing in the game right now. Cook is definitely the best Test opener in the world and displays the sort of batsmanship that we would expect of a traditional Test opener. While T20 cricket grows and Test batsmen show a greater fondness for attacking strokes, Cook is a throwback to the technically efficient opening batsman who's strength is in his defensive game, patiently waiting to pounce when the bowler slips in their line or length.