Greatest Tests: Jayawardene's final-day starrer in Colombo or Bazball trumping NZ in Nottingham?

The Test swung wildly, almost every step of it as unpredictable as the one before. Till it came down to Farveez Maharoof, more than competent with the bat, and Lasith Malinga, not quite as adept, needing to score two runs to win the Test. They did, to earn Sri Lanka a one-wicket win in the Test and make it 2-0 for the series.

But how did it get there?

South Africa chose to bat - who would want to bat last on a Sri Lankan pitch? And they got the biggest total of the match, 361. The fifth-wicket stand between Ashwell Prince and AB de Villiers, worth 161, made it possible, despite Muthiah Muralidaran's five-for.

Sri Lanka didn't stop too far away, at 321, but they had the century stand for the eighth wicket between Maharoof and Chaminda Vaas to thank for it even as Dale Steyn and Makhaya Ntini combined for nine wickets.

When South Africa batted again, Muralidaran got seven, and despite Herschelle Gibbs and Mark Boucher hitting half-centuries, South Africa got to 311, setting Sri Lanka 352 to win.

Then, in a Test where all four innings crossed 300, Mahela Jayawardene scored the only century. But when he fell, Sri Lanka still had 11 runs to get, with three wickets in hand, but hope since Maharoof and Vaas were around. Vaas and Muralidaran fell, though, and then it was over to Maharoof to get the scores level, and Malinga to avoid a tie. He did. Driving Nicky Boje, who had taken four wickets in the innings, down the ground to finish the job.

It had to take some Bazballing to score almost 300 in the fourth innings with just over two sessions to go. There would be a maximum of 72 overs, and if England scored at their first-innings scoring rate of 4.20, they would get there comfortably. They scored at 5.98 instead, and pulled it off in 50 overs.

England won the toss and bowled. New Zealand scored 553, with Daryl Mitchell and Tom Blundell scoring centuries. Joe Root and Ollie Pope responded with centuries of their own to give England 539. Not much between the sides. But since England had scored so quickly, New Zealand scoring 284 in their second innings still left them with time to get the 299 they needed.

The big innings came from Jonny Bairstow, who hit 136 in 92 balls. Ben Stokes scored 75 not out in 70 balls. And, not for the first time, finished the game with a cut for four off Trent Boult. England won with the sort of hitting that demoralises oppositions. They had already won the first Test at Lord's. They finished the series 3-0, winning at Headingley while scoring at 5.37 and 5.44 in the two innings. Bazball was here to stay.