Eng v SL 2nd Test Day 3 Review: Sri Lanka show resilience after early collapse

The 2^nd Test between England and Sri Lanka was the only chance for the visitors to stay alive in the tournament. After having lost the first Test at Headingley, Sri Lanka needed to win this to set an equalizer or at least secure a draw.

However, it was the same story that unfolded when the second Test commenced. England won the toss and elected to bat. English batsmen Alex Hales and Joe Root propelled them to a decent total on day one with scores of 83 and 80 respectively. Nuwan Pradeep was the most impactful bowler for the Lankans as he scalped 3 wickets on the first day.

The second day saw a new hero rise to the occasion for the hosts. Moeen Ali batted with the tail and took the English score to a gigantic total of 498/9 decl with an unbeaten knock of 155. His century was his second century of his Test career and the score of 155, his career best. The Sri Lankans had a horrid start of their first innings. They lost their openers cheaply just before the tea session. The post tea session wasn’t great either. The entire batting line up collapsed. A 21 run partnership between Rangana Herath and Lahiru Thirimanne saw Sri Lanka end at 90/8 at stumps.

The day three unfurled as Lahiru Thirimanne walked in to bat with Suranga Lakmal. The English bowlers took just under 4 overs to wrap up the Sri Lankan innings at 101. Thirimanne was the last man dismissed on 19. England skipper Alastair Cook had no hesitation in enforcing the follow-on. Sri Lanka, in their second innings, started off cautiously.

Openers Dimuth Karunaratne and Kaushal Silva put on a gritty 38 run stand, the best opening stand for Sri Lanka in the series. However, it was Karunaratne who was dismissed by Chris Woakes on 26. Kusal Mendis made a quick 26 off 22 before edging one to the keeper off the bowling of James Anderson. Lahiru Thirimanne was promoted up the order to join Silva.

In the meantime, Kaushal Silva brought up his 10^th half century in Test cricket and looked set for more. He lost Thirimanne on 13, who was bowled by Moeen Ali on a classical off-spin delivery. Skipper Angelo Mathews walked into the middle to join the settled Silva. For the first time in the tour, the Sri Lankan batsmen looked to be in control of the conditions. Mathews took his time to settle in and then started playing his shots.

They put together 82 runs for the 4^th wicket before Kaushal Silva lost his calmness and was dismissed by Steven Finn. Dinesh Chandimal was the new batsman. The skipper Mathews brought up a crucial half century, much needed for him as the skipper and for the team too. He raced to 80 after his half century but his knock was halted when James Anderson got an edge to dismiss him. His knock came in just 105 balls. His departure saw half the side back to the pavilion.

Milind Siriwardana then gave good support to Chandimal, who looked to play the anchor role then. Without taking too many risks, Chandimal also brought up his half century in 95 balls as Sri Lanka went past 300 run mark. The two batsmen hung on to see Sri Lanka 309/5 at stumps on day 3. Chandimal remained unbeaten on 54 while Siriwardana looked good for his unbeaten 35.

Brief Scores:

England 1^st Innings: 498/9 decl (Moeen Ali 155*, Nuwan Pradeep 4/107)

Sri Lanka 1^st Innings: 101/10 (K Mendis 35, Broad 4/40)

Sri Lanka: Following on 2^nd Innings 309/5 (Mathews 80, Anderson 2/40)