England thump Lanka to seal Test series after Cook's milestone

London, May. 30 (ANI): England skipper Alastair Cook joined the elite club of cricketers with 10,000 runs as his side secured a comfortable nine-wicket win over Sri Lanka to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match Test series in Chester-le-Street on Monday. The hosts chased down a paltry target of 79 in the final session of the fourth day after a brilliant batting display by Dinesh Chandimal and Rangana Herath helped Sri Lanka post 475 all-out in the second innings while avoiding another embarrassing innings defeat. Chandimal (126) found an able ally in Herath (61) as the duo fought back by stitching a 116-run partnership for the eight wicket before England paceman James Anderson completed a hard-earned five-wicket haul to increase his tally of wickets to 18 in the series. England lost the wicket of Alex Hales (11) before completing the victory, with Cook and Nick Compton remaining unbeaten on 47 and 22 respectively. England also saw Cook become the youngest batsman to score 10,000 Test runs, surpassing Indian batting legend Sachin Tendulkar's record at the age of 31, five months and five days. He became the first Englishman to join the elite club comprising stalwarts like Sunil Gavaskar, Allan Border, Steve Waugh, Brian Lara, Rahul Dravid, Ricky Ponting, Jacques Kallis, Mahela Jayawardene and Shivnarine Chanderpaul. Former Sri Lankan cricketer Kumar Sangakkara was the last man to join the club in December 2012. Earlier, the inexperienced Sri Lankan batsmen failed once again to adapt themselves to the England conditions as they were bundled out for a meagre 101 in response to the hosts' first innings total of 498 for nine declared. Facing a 397-run deficit, Sri Lanka produced a much better performance in their second innings as captain Angelo Mathews led from the front with a solid 80 while receiving a substantial support from opener Kaushal Silva (60). (ANI)