Sri Lanka sniff win against England in 3rd Test, reach 94/1 in 219 chase |
NEW DELHI: Pathum Nissanka’s impressive unbeaten fifty positioned Sri Lanka for a potential victory over England in the third Test at the Oval on Sunday.
By the end of third day’s play, Sri Lanka stood at 94 for 1, requiring only 125 more runs to achieve the win and end a streak of seven consecutive Test defeats by England.
Dimuth Karunaratne was dismissed for eight when he was caught and bowled by Chris Woakes after a drive hit his pad and ballooned into the air.
However, Nissanka continued his excellent form, remaining unbeaten at 53, having reached his second fifty of the match by powering debutant Josh Hull through covers for his seventh four in just 42 balls.
Meanwhile, Kusal Mendis made the most of several loose deliveries to score an unbeaten 30, which included 24 runs from boundaries.
Sri Lanka’s challenging target of over 200 runs was primarily due to Jamie Smith’s superb counter-attacking 67, which pulled England out of a significant collapse. Following a dramatic slump where England lost five wickets for 26 runs to fall to 82 for 7, Smith’s determined display at his home ground in Surrey helped them recover to post a total of 156.
Smith’s innings gave England a renewed hope of achieving a first home Test series clean sweep since 2004, when Michael Vaughan led them to seven consecutive wins. Smith’s aggressive approach provided a brief respite, scoring 67 off just 50 balls, comprising 10 fours and a six, but he fell on the stroke of tea, chipping a ball from Vishwa Fernando to short midwicket.
Fernando, exploiting significant swing, claimed three wickets for 40 runs, including the valuable wicket of Joe Root for just 12.
Lahiru Kumara also made a remarkable contribution, taking four wickets for 21 runs in seven overs.
Former England captains Vaughan and Alastair Cook criticized the hosts for their poor batting performance, which saw them collapse from 221-3 to 325 all out in their first innings.
Ben Duckett was another early casualty for England, falling for seven after an ill-judged shot off Asitha Fernando. The problems continued as Ollie Pope, fresh off a 154 in the first innings, also fell cheaply for seven by chopping onto his own stumps off Kumara’s bowling.
Dan Lawrence, having been promoted to open in place of the injured Zak Crawley, managed to score 35 runs, including a six off Asitha Fernando, but ultimately edged behind to wicketkeeper Dinesh Chandimal off Kumara’s delivery.
As Sri Lanka closes in on a potential victory, Nissanka’s role has been crucial in keeping their hopes alive for a memorable win over England in the Test series.
Root falls cheaply
Root’s square-driven boundary off Vishwa Fernando meant he surpassed Sri Lanka great Kumar Sangakkara’s tally of 12,400 Test runs to go into sixth place in the all-time list.
Two balls later, however, Vishwa Fernando’s excellent inswinging yorker struck Root on the boot and he was lbw.
Brook was also lbw to another fine inswinger from Vishwa Fernando.
Smith counter-attacked, scoring 20 runs in one over from fast bowler Milan Rathnayake that featured a flashing cut for four and crunching pull for six off successive deliveries.
He also lofted Rathnayake down the ground for four before ending the over by punching the paceman through the covers for another boundary.
Earlier, Olly Stone and 20-year-old quick Hull did the bulk of the damage as Sri Lanka, who resumed on 211-5, lost their last five first-innings wickets for 52 runs in 16.2 overs, with captain Dhananjaya de Silva and Kamindu Mendis unable to add signficantly to their overnight unbeaten fifties.
Stone took 3-35 in nine overs and the towering Hull 3-53 in 11.
By the end of third day’s play, Sri Lanka stood at 94 for 1, requiring only 125 more runs to achieve the win and end a streak of seven consecutive Test defeats by England.
Dimuth Karunaratne was dismissed for eight when he was caught and bowled by Chris Woakes after a drive hit his pad and ballooned into the air.
However, Nissanka continued his excellent form, remaining unbeaten at 53, having reached his second fifty of the match by powering debutant Josh Hull through covers for his seventh four in just 42 balls.
Meanwhile, Kusal Mendis made the most of several loose deliveries to score an unbeaten 30, which included 24 runs from boundaries.
Sri Lanka’s challenging target of over 200 runs was primarily due to Jamie Smith’s superb counter-attacking 67, which pulled England out of a significant collapse. Following a dramatic slump where England lost five wickets for 26 runs to fall to 82 for 7, Smith’s determined display at his home ground in Surrey helped them recover to post a total of 156.
Smith’s innings gave England a renewed hope of achieving a first home Test series clean sweep since 2004, when Michael Vaughan led them to seven consecutive wins. Smith’s aggressive approach provided a brief respite, scoring 67 off just 50 balls, comprising 10 fours and a six, but he fell on the stroke of tea, chipping a ball from Vishwa Fernando to short midwicket.
Fernando, exploiting significant swing, claimed three wickets for 40 runs, including the valuable wicket of Joe Root for just 12.
Lahiru Kumara also made a remarkable contribution, taking four wickets for 21 runs in seven overs.
Former England captains Vaughan and Alastair Cook criticized the hosts for their poor batting performance, which saw them collapse from 221-3 to 325 all out in their first innings.
Ben Duckett was another early casualty for England, falling for seven after an ill-judged shot off Asitha Fernando. The problems continued as Ollie Pope, fresh off a 154 in the first innings, also fell cheaply for seven by chopping onto his own stumps off Kumara’s bowling.
Dan Lawrence, having been promoted to open in place of the injured Zak Crawley, managed to score 35 runs, including a six off Asitha Fernando, but ultimately edged behind to wicketkeeper Dinesh Chandimal off Kumara’s delivery.
As Sri Lanka closes in on a potential victory, Nissanka’s role has been crucial in keeping their hopes alive for a memorable win over England in the Test series.
Root falls cheaply
Root’s square-driven boundary off Vishwa Fernando meant he surpassed Sri Lanka great Kumar Sangakkara’s tally of 12,400 Test runs to go into sixth place in the all-time list.
Two balls later, however, Vishwa Fernando’s excellent inswinging yorker struck Root on the boot and he was lbw.
Brook was also lbw to another fine inswinger from Vishwa Fernando.
Smith counter-attacked, scoring 20 runs in one over from fast bowler Milan Rathnayake that featured a flashing cut for four and crunching pull for six off successive deliveries.
He also lofted Rathnayake down the ground for four before ending the over by punching the paceman through the covers for another boundary.
Earlier, Olly Stone and 20-year-old quick Hull did the bulk of the damage as Sri Lanka, who resumed on 211-5, lost their last five first-innings wickets for 52 runs in 16.2 overs, with captain Dhananjaya de Silva and Kamindu Mendis unable to add signficantly to their overnight unbeaten fifties.
Stone took 3-35 in nine overs and the towering Hull 3-53 in 11.
