Cook vows to battle on despite another England defeat

LEEDS, England: A defiant Alastair Cook vowed to fight on as captain after England slumped to another defeat in the second test against Sri Lanka at Headingley on Tuesday, losing the two-match series 1-0.

The home team fought gallantly on the final day and almost snatched a highly unlikely draw before last man James Anderson spooned a Shaminda Eranga delivery to Rangana Herath at square leg, handing Sri Lanka their first series victory in England.

Anderson (duck) and Moeen Ali, who compiled a brilliant backs-to-the-wall 108 not out, defended valiantly as the last-wicket pair negotiated 20 nail-biting overs in the final session before succumbing off the penultimate ball of the day.

The real damage, though, for England was caused on Monday when they let slip a good position as Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews struck a magnificent 160 and paceman Dhammika Prasad took four wickets to reduce the hosts to 57 for five.

Defeat came on the back of a humiliating 5-0 Ashes rout in Australia at the start of the year but Cook, who has also struggled for runs and is now without a test century in 24 innings, said he would fight on.

Cook said he would take a few days off in the hope of arresting his form slump before starting to prepare for the five-test series against India which begins next month.

Sri Lanka batsman Kumar Sangakkara praised the efforts of man of the match Mathews after his captain turned the game around on Monday.

Mathews was on the receiving end of much criticism after Sri Lanka ran out Jos Buttler while backing up at the non-striker´s end in the one-day series.

The visiting captain said he was overjoyed with the Test series victory.