Sri Lanka were left struggling on 142 for 5 at tea on the second day of the third and final cricket Test at the London Oval yesterday as England hit back claiming five wickets in just a session.
Opener Pathum Nissanka appeared to have taken hold of the bowlers but the way he batted also indicated he lived dangerously to be dismissed for 64 in 51 balls with nine fours.
But what was alarming in the session was that the rest of the top order batting crumbled against the England fast bowlers with Dimuth Karunaratne, Kusal Mendis, Angelo Mathews and Dinesh Chandimal failing to make headway.
Earlier England collapsed from what looked like a well secured 261 for 3 to 325 all out after resuming from an overnight 221 for 3.
England captain Ollie Pope stood in the way of the Sri Lanka bowlers as he made 154 from an overnight 103 while the rest of the home team’s batters failed in the quest for runs.
Pope was the eighth out with the total at 307 falling to paceman Vishwa Fernando after hitting 19 fours and two sixes made off 156 balls as England went for some quick scoring with rain a bad light threatening to disrupt play.
But Sri Lanka also found a lucky bowler in captain and spinner Dhananjaya de Silva who accounted for the wickets of Chris Woakes (2) and Gus Aitkinson (5) in successive overs to check the England batting.
De Silva finished with two wickets for 18 runs off just four overs while Milan Ratnayake was the most successful bowler claiming three wickets for 56 runs that included the scalp of Harry Brook for 19 that triggered the collapse. Lahiru Kumara and Wishwa Fernando also picked up two wickets each.
