Lahiru Kumara’s fiery spell, combined with Vishwa Fernando’s crucial breakthroughs and Pathum Nissanka’s composed knock, firmly turned the game in Sri Lanka’s favour against England in the third Test at The Oval.
In the third over of the day, Sri Lanka lost Dhananjaya, who top-edged a pull shot to fine leg as debutant Josh Hull made amends for dropping him the previous day by claiming his wicket.
Kamindu’s stay at the crease wasn’t much longer in the morning, as he was caught by Root at slip off an excellent delivery from Woakes, reducing the visitors to 233/7.
Sri Lanka added another 30 runs with the tail before being bowled out, handing England a first-innings lead of 62 runs. Hull impressed on his debut, picking up three wickets, while Stone also claimed 3 for 35.
The hosts had 6 overs to bat before lunch, but they suffered early setbacks, losing both of their top scorers from the first innings and being reduced to 35/2.
Duckett holed out to mid-on off Asitha’s bowling in the third over. Soon after, Kumara struck in his very first over, dismissing Pope, who chopped the ball onto his stumps just before the break.
Lawrence, who hasn’t had a good time as an opener throughout the series, adopted an aggressive approach to counter the bowlers. However, his brisk run-a-ball 35 came to an abrupt end when he was caught behind off Kumara.
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England had lost half of their side at 69 when Vishwa trapped both Root and Brook in front of the stumps, burning a couple of reviews. Atkinson then followed Woakes, leaving the home side reeling at 82/7.
Jamie Smith, who batted cautiously for the first 20-30 balls, shifted gears when Sri Lanka were in control, taking the bowlers apart all around the park. First, the keeper-batter smashed 20 runs off Rathnayake, followed by 16 against Vishwa, bringing up a 43-ball fifty.
He continued his assault, striking three more boundaries in the next over from the left-arm pacer. However, Vishwa had the last laugh, dismissing him at the stroke of the tea break. Smith’s aggressive 67 came off just 50 balls, including 10 fours and a six.
After the break, England were eventually bundled out for 156, setting Sri Lanka a target of 219 to win. Kumara was outstanding in his 7 overs, claiming 4 wickets for just 21 runs, while Vishwa added three scalps to his tally.
In Sri Lanka’s chase, Nissanka played positively right from the start but lost his senior partner, Karunaratne, to Woakes after they had added 39 for the opening wicket.
Nissanka was then joined by Kusal Mendis, and the pair ensured that the hosts had no chance to stage a comeback for the remainder of the day. The stylish opener, continuing his form from the first innings, notched up his second fifty of the match off just 42 deliveries.
Mendis contributed well, finding a few boundaries early on as the two right-handers shared an unbeaten half-century stand when stumps were called a bit early due to bad light. Sri Lanka needed just 125 more runs to secure another famous win in England.
Result
| Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ben Duckett | c Dinesh Chandimal b Milan Rathnayake | 86 | 79 | 9 | 2 | 108.86 |
| Dan Lawrence | c Pathum Nissanka b Lahiru Kumara | 5 | 21 | 0 | 0 | 23.81 |
| Ollie Pope | c Dimuth Karunaratne b Vishwa Fernando | 154 | 156 | 19 | 2 | 98.72 |
| Joe Root | c Vishwa Fernando b Lahiru Kumara | 13 | 48 | 1 | 0 | 27.08 |
| Harry Brook | c Kusal Mendis b Milan Rathnayake | 19 | 39 | 1 | 0 | 48.72 |
| Jamie Smith | c Kusal Mendis b Vishwa Fernando | 16 | 31 | 2 | 0 | 51.61 |
| Chris Woakes | c Milan Rathnayake b Dhananjaya de Silva | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 50.00 |
| Gus Atkinson | c Milan Rathnayake b Dhananjaya de Silva | 5 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 41.67 |
| Olly Stone | not out | 15 | 12 | 1 | 1 | 125.00 |
| Josh Hul | c Dhananjaya de Silva b Asitha Fernando | 2 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 20.00 |
| Shoaib Bashir | c Lahiru Kumara b Milan Rathnayake | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 33.33 |
| Extras | 7 (b 4 , lb 2 , nb 0, w 1, pen 0) |
| Total | 325/10 (69.1 Overs, RR: 4.7) |
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Asitha Fernando | 20 | 0 | 88 | 1 | 4.40 | |
| Vishwa Fernando | 13 | 0 | 46 | 2 | 3.54 | |
| Lahiru Kumara | 16 | 1 | 97 | 2 | 6.06 | |
| Milan Rathnayake | 13.1 | 2 | 56 | 2 | 4.27 | |
| Angelo Mathews | 3 | 0 | 14 | 0 | 4.67 | |
| Dhananjaya de Silva | 4 | 0 | 18 | 2 | 4.50 | |
| Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pathum Nissanka | c Chris Woakes b Josh Hull | 64 | 51 | 9 | 0 | 125.49 |
| Dimuth Karunaratne | run out (Olly Stone) | 9 | 16 | 1 | 0 | 56.25 |
| Kusal Mendis | c Harry Brook b Chris Woakes | 14 | 13 | 3 | 0 | 107.69 |
| Angelo Mathews | c Ollie Pope b Olly Stone | 3 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 27.27 |
| Dinesh Chandimal | lbw b Olly Stone | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Dhananjaya de Silva | c Shoaib Bashir b Josh Hull | 69 | 111 | 11 | 0 | 62.16 |
| Kamindu Mendis | c Joe Root b Chris Woakes | 64 | 91 | 7 | 0 | 70.33 |
| Milan Rathnayake | c Jamie Smith b Olly Stone | 7 | 21 | 1 | 0 | 33.33 |
| Vishwa Fernando | lbw b Josh Hull | 0 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Lahiru Kumara | not out | 5 | 29 | 0 | 0 | 17.24 |
| Asitha Fernando | c Jamie Smith b Shoaib Bashir | 11 | 14 | 2 | 0 | 78.57 |
| Extras | 17 (b 8 , lb 2 , nb 1, w 6, pen 0) |
| Total | 263/10 (61.2 Overs, RR: 4.29) |
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chris Woakes | 13 | 0 | 42 | 2 | 3.23 | |
| Gus Atkinson | 9 | 0 | 46 | 0 | 5.11 | |
| Josh Hull | 11 | 0 | 53 | 3 | 4.82 | |
| Olly Stone | 9 | 0 | 35 | 3 | 3.89 | |
| Shoaib Bashir | 11.2 | 0 | 37 | 1 | 3.30 | |
| Dan Lawrence | 6 | 0 | 29 | 0 | 4.83 | |
| Joe Root | 2 | 0 | 11 | 0 | 5.50 | |
| Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ben Duckett | c Vishwa Fernando b Asitha Fernando | 7 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 87.50 |
| Dan Lawrence | c Dinesh Chandimal b Lahiru Kumara | 35 | 35 | 3 | 1 | 100.00 |
| Ollie Pope | b Lahiru Kumara | 7 | 16 | 1 | 0 | 43.75 |
| Joe Root | lbw b Vishwa Fernando | 12 | 18 | 2 | 0 | 66.67 |
| Harry Brook | lbw b Vishwa Fernando | 3 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 21.43 |
| Jamie Smith | c Kusal Mendis b Vishwa Fernando | 67 | 50 | 10 | 0 | 134.00 |
| Chris Woakes | c Dinesh Chandimal b Lahiru Kumara | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Gus Atkinson | lbw b Milan Rathnayake | 1 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 7.14 |
| Olly Stone | c Nishan Madushka b Lahiru Kumara | 10 | 31 | 1 | 0 | 32.26 |
| Josh Hull | not out | 7 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 116.67 |
| Shoaib Bashir | c Nishan Madushka b Asitha Fernando | 4 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 66.67 |
| Extras | 3 (b 0 , lb 3 , nb 0, w 0, pen 0) |
| Total | 156/10 (34 Overs, RR: 4.59) |
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Asitha Fernando | 12 | 2 | 49 | 2 | 4.08 | |
| Milan Rathnayake | 7 | 0 | 43 | 1 | 6.14 | |
| Lahiru Kumara | 7 | 1 | 21 | 4 | 3.00 | |
| Vishwa Fernando | 8 | 1 | 40 | 3 | 5.00 | |
| Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pathum Nissanka | not out | 127 | 124 | 3 | 2 | 102.42 |
| Dimuth Karunaratne | c & b Chris Woakes | 8 | 21 | 1 | 0 | 38.10 |
| Kusal Mendis | c Shoaib Bashir b Gus Atkinson | 39 | 37 | 7 | 0 | 105.41 |
| Angelo Mathews | not out | 32 | 61 | 3 | 0 | 52.46 |
| Extras | 13 (b 4 , lb 8 , nb 0, w 1, pen 0) |
| Total | 219/2 (40.3 Overs, RR: 5.41) |
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chris Woakes | 12 | 0 | 52 | 1 | 4.33 | |
| Gus Atkinson | 11 | 1 | 44 | 1 | 4.00 | |
| Josh Hull | 6 | 0 | 38 | 0 | 6.33 | |
| Olly Stone | 8 | 0 | 45 | 0 | 5.62 | |
| Shoaib Bashir | 3.3 | 0 | 28 | 0 | 8.48 | |
