Muralitharan also hit 21 not out on the final day

"Bowling 230 overs in 20 days is very tiring but I enjoyed it because I got 26 wickets," the spin bowler said.

"I should thank my team-mates for taking their catches because without them it wouldn't have been possible."

Muralitharan took 4-63 in England's second innings and now has 485 wickets in 85 Test appearances at a superb average of 22.9.

Sri Lanka's victory in the third Test was the first for captain Hashan Tillakaratne and new Australian coach John Dyson.

And although Tillakaratne had a modest series with the bat and also came in for criticism for some conservative field placings, he was delighted by his side's 1-0 series win.

"It has been a long wait but still worth it. After we lost two series (against West Indies and New Zealand), I really wanted to turn the tables this time.

"In the first two Tests we were very close but could not finish it off. This time I thought we played very well throughout."

We obviously did not get enough runs England skipper Michael Vaughan More England reaction

Coach Dyson, in his first series in charge, praised the attitude of his players.

"The boys have been very professional in their work in all aspects of their cricket," he said.

"They tried hard and practised hard and they are not a bad bunch of blokes either."

"They were self-motivated and worked really hard on their games.