Mahela Jayawardene bagged his seventh one-day international hundred as Sri Lanka outplayed England at Riverside to wrap up the NatWest Series with two matches to spare.
Sri Lanka captain Jayawardene's unbeaten 126 carried his team to 265 for two - coasting to victory with almost eight overs unused, in reply to a hard-working yet still inadequate 261 for seven.
England owed most to Ian Bell (77) for helping them to put even that total on the board, after choosing to bat first under cloudy skies but on a good pitch.
In contrast to Bell - who managed just three fours from 114 deliveries - Jayawardene found the boundary 16 times in a near run-a-ball hundred, sharing a 140-run third-wicket stand with his deputy Kumar Sangakkara (58no) as England's attack continued to misfire.
Sri Lanka therefore took an uncatchable 3-0 lead in the five-match series, while England have now lost eight of their last 10 one-day internationals.
