Sri Lanka has completed a rare Test victory in England as it reached its target of 219 with untroubled ease on the fourth day at The Oval, with Pathum Nissanka's unbeaten 127 leading it to a consolation win in a 2-1 series defeat.

After an impressive end to the final session on day three, Sri Lanka resumed at 1-94 needing a further 125 to win, and knocked them off in a little over two hours to win by eight wickets.

It was Sri Lanka's fourth victory in 21 Tests in England over 40 years and its first since a 1-0 victory in a two-Test series 10 years ago.

"It is very special, winning in England," Sri Lanka captain Dhananjaya de Silva said.

"The boys were tough enough to handle the pressure and get into some scenarios.

"It is not comfortable. There was hard work put in by the bowlers and batters. We were there in every match — had positive points. The boys wanted to win in the end.

"Credit to all of the bowlers. They have been on target from ball one. In the second innings they were spot on. He (Nissanka) has proved he is the best opener in Sri Lanka right now."

The day three assault had set Sri Lanka up to be favourite but the few England fans scattered around The Oval knew that a few early wickets could make things interesting.

Kusal Mendis had added nine to his overnight 30 before a brilliant running catch by Shoaib Bashir gave Gus Atkinson another wicket, but it proved the only bright note for England on an overcast south London day.

Opener Nissanka, who had hammered a quick 53 not out on day three to set up the chase, was initially more controlled in his approach, but kept the scoreboard ticking and reached his second test century off 107 balls.

He then cut loose with some big hits and, with the experienced Angelo Mathews also looking untroubled for 32 not out, it turned into an absolute cruise that did not even need the entire first session.

England had been hoping for a 6-0 summer clean sweep after crushing West Indies 3-0 and claiming two more convincing victories over Sri Lanka.

The hosts looked well-placed for a third after reaching 3-261 in their first innings but a collapse for a total of 325 kept the tourists in the game.

Sri Lanka still looked up against it after managing only 263 in reply but fought back superbly to bowl England out for 156 in 34 overs and then setting about their chase with gusto.

England now turns its attention to white ball cricket against Australia, starting with a T20 on Thursday (AEST).

Reuters