Captain Paul Collingwood hailed the ''character'' of his side after England claimed back-to-back one-day wins in Sri Lanka for the first time at the Rangiri International Stadium.

Chasing a Duckworth-Lewis target of 164 after dismissing Sri Lanka for 164 despite losing the toss, England's hopes seemed lost when they slipped to 107 for seven.

But man of the match Graeme Swann, who had earlier claimed four for 34, added a crucial 25 in a 40-run partnership with Stuart Broad, who finished off the eight wickets triumph with seven balls remaining.

''It would have been great to have knocked the runs off three or four down, but that's not the England way,'' admitted Collingwood.

''I'm not too sure whether we made hard work of it, but I'm just delighted we got over the line at the end - I think that's what we deserved.

''We set the challenge today if we did lose the toss to still prove we could go out and win a game and that was a massive hurdle to get over today.''

He stressed: ''It was a pitch you had to scrap on and we proved we had the scrap in us tonight, that's what took us over that line.

''It was an exceptional effort full of character and I think every single person went out there and put a lot of pride on their wicket.

''If you can win games from seven or eight down, it's proving we're batting further and further down all the time. It is vital that everybody can hold a bat and perform under those situations and under that pressure.''

Swann revealed how a chat in the dressing room with last man James Anderson calmed his nerves before he went out and contributed his crucial innings to England's cause.

''I sat there before I went out to bat talking to Jimmy Anderson and he was great because he got me talking all sorts of rubbish to take my mind off the pressure,'' he explained.

''That was perfect for me because it cleared my mind and I just tried to basically keep a cool head. I played a couple of rash shots early on, but in the back of my mind there was always Peter Moores saying 'back yourself'.

''I'd have loved to have been there at the end with Stuart Broad. He was the one keeping me calm. He's only a young lad but you could tell he had been there before and he certainly taught an old dog a new trick.''

Swann justified his selection ahead of Monty Panesar by claiming four for 34 and hit a determined 25 in the rain-affected contest as England secured their first back-to-back one-day victories in Sri Lanka with seven balls remaining.

His efforts were matched by those of his Trent Bridge team-mates Ryan Sidebottom and Stuart Broad, who both claimed key wickets early in the match.

Having lost the toss to face the more difficult conditions replying under the lights, England were always underdogs to match their 65-run triumph on Thursday - their first one-day international win in Sri Lanka since 1982.

But another stunning bowling display to dismiss Sri Lanka for 164 upset the formbook and, despite another top order collapse, the tourists held their nerve and move onto Colombo for the final two matches with a 2-1 series lead. Controversially preferred to Panesar as the spin option so far in the series, Swann claimed the best one-day figures by an England bowler since Michael Vaughan claimed four for 22 against the same opponents at Old Trafford five years ago.

Those figures included a burst of three for 11 in 16 balls which tore the heart out of Sri Lanka's middle order and prevented a recovery after a second successive failure from the home side's multi-talented top order.

Swann then returned to claim the key wicket, ending the innings of the day from Tillakaratne Dilshan.