Sri lankan spinners combined for nine wickets before Kumar Sangakkara hit 86 runs to help the hosts to a tense six-wicket win over England in the fourth one-day international on Sunday.
Electing to bat first, England was 265 all out in 50 overs and Sri lanka chased down the runs with only two balls to spare at R. Premadasa Stadium.
Spinners Rangana Herath, Ajantha Mendis and Tillakaratne Dilshan took three wickets each for Sri lanka with Herath returning best bowling figures 3-36 in 10 overs.
Sangakkara's innings came off 105 deliveries and included seven boundaries. He shared 96 runs in 103 deliveries with Mahela Jayawardene (44) for the third wicket. Needing three runs to win in three deliveries, captain Angelo Mathews (51 not out) hit a boundary to complete the win as well as his 25th one-day half-century.
Chris Woakes dismissed opener Tillakaratne Dilshan (16) early in Sri lanka's chase, caught by stand-in captain Eoin Morgan. Off spinner Moeen Ali induced an edge off Kusal Perera (31) for a catch to Chris Jordan at slip to leave the hosts at 69-2. Sangakkara and Jayawardene then combined to lay a solid foundation.
England took the match until the final over and it required an unbroken 53-run partnership between Mathews and lahiru Thirimanne (19 not out) for Sri lanka to clinch victory. But Alex Hales dropping Mathews at 33, when Sri lanka needed a run-a-ball 24 to win, and some wayward bowling resulting in 12 wide balls did not help England's cause.
Earlier, James Taylor made his maiden international fifty - but missed out on a century - to give England a strong platform. Playing his third match, Taylor scored 90 runs off 109 balls and was involved in an important 93-run partnership for the third wicket with Joe Root (36) after the tourists lost two wickets for 29 runs.
Morgan hit four boundaries and three sixes for a 47-ball 62 and was out to the last delivery of the innings.
Regular captain Alastair Cook served a one-match suspension for a slow over rate in the third game that England won in Hambantota.
Hales was out for a first-ball duck Sunday in the second over of the match bowled by seamer Dhammika Prasad, caught by Jayawardene. Ali was caught behind for 19 in 20 deliveries.
England were left to rue bowling 12 wides in what eventually turned out to be a close game. Steven Finn, Chris Jordan and Joe Root sent down three each.
Taylor and Root then rebuilt the innings over 18 overs before left-arm spinner Herath bowled Root.
Sri lanka leads the seven-match series 3-1 and the fifth match will be played in Pallekele on Wednesday.
"It was a good, close game," said Mathews, who hit the winning boundary off Finn. "We had to fight hard. I was a bit nervous at the end, but I knew we had wickets in hand. It was a good team effort."
Taylor, given a chance to play his third one-day match only because skipper Alastair Cook was serving a one-game suspension due to slow over-rates, seized the chance with delectable strokeplay. "Taylor played outstandingly well," said Morgan. "We were good in patches, but if we had got Mahela (Jayawardene) or Sanga (Sangakkara) early, it would have opened up the middle order and given us a chance."
Morgan admitted he missed a second spinner in James Tredwell to partner Moeen Ali on the slow pitch that assisted turn. "It probably would have been nice to have another spinner in the side," he said. Eoin Morgan, leading England in Cook's absence, struck 62 off 47 balls.Morgan smashed 18 off the final over bowled by Tillakaratne Dilshan before he was dismissed off the last ball of the innings.
Brief Scores: England 265 all out ( James Taylor 90, Eoin Morgan 62 lost to Sri lanka 267 (Kumar Sangakkara 86, Angelo Matthews 51).