The tables have turned in Pallekelle. Sri Lanka is in the driver’s seat after a fighting, extraordinary batting display on Thursday in difficult batting conditions.
Reporting from Pallekelle….
Three valiant fifties by Dimuth Karunarathne, Dhananjaya De Silva and Roshen Silva have given the edge to the hosts. The pitch is turning sharply and will get tougher and tougher to bat as the game goes on.
Gutsy Roshen Silva gives Sri Lanka edge
But, the way Sri Lanka battled for more than 100 overs with the bat is a fantastic effort as they took a precious 46-run lead at stumps on day two.
In the morning session, Sri Lanka showed how to play spin courtesy of Dimuth Karunarathne and Dhananjaya De Silva. They took singles and hit the odd boundary at will and England looked out of sorts at one stage. Their partnership of 96 runs set an excellent platform for the home team to kick on.
Live by the sweep, Die by the sweep
But, cometh the hour, cometh the man – Ben Stokes, who produced a superb run-out to dismiss Karunarathne and grabbed a scintillating, left-handed catch at first slip. The brilliance of Stokes restricted Sri Lanka to 136 for 4 after being 127 for 2.
“At that time, me and Dhananjaya batted really well. They had no clue to get a wicket and we didn’t want to give wickets away.” Karunarathne said. “But, it happened, Dhananjaya was getting close to a fifty and I wanted to give him one, that’s why I ran, but those things can happen.”
Walking in at 146 for 5, Silva took time to adjust to the spin, pace and bounce of the surface. He played and missed at least 25 times, edged 10 times. But, he managed to stay put in line with the stumps and play the ball with soft hands, which stood out in his 174-ball stay.
Slowly but steadily, Silva scored most of his runs – square of the wicket, except two clean strikes over the bowler’s head. The way he maneuvered the field and guided the tail was heart-warming to see for all cricket lovers in Sri Lanka.
Silva’s temperament was of high quality. The calmness he infused into the lower middle order could well be the game-changer for Sri Lanka as they are desperate to level the series.
>>Photos: Sri Lanka vs England | 2nd Test – Day 02<<
England’s last four wickets managed to add 120 runs to their total on day one, while Sri Lanka bottom four scalps accounted for 171 runs.
The batting of the tail was commendable and sensible. All three in Dilruwan, Akila and Suranga provided able support to Silva and batted bravely which ultimately could be the difference in the end.
Silva had a terrific start to his career scoring four 50+ scores including a century against India and Bangladesh in his first five innings. But, did not go past 50 in his recent 10 innings against West Indies and South Africa. He was eventually dropped for the Galle Test and wouldn’t have made the XI for this game, if not for Dinesh Chandimal’s injury.
“Roshen is a good player of spin, we saw him in Delhi last year where he played well against Ravindra Jadeja and Ashwin. That’s why, on a turner like this, we can take the option of rotating the strike instead of going for big shots. We can see how important Roshen bats because when he keeps on rotating the strike, it’s difficult for a bowler to bowl on one spot. When Akila and Roshen were batting, England found it difficult to bowl. That is the importance of having a player like Roshen.” Karunaratne said of Silva after play.
The way Silva played spin and anchored the innings received plenty of praise from former Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene as well,
So far out of all players who played on this surface Roshen has the best technic to cope with the spin…soft hands and tempo
— Mahela Jayawardena (@MahelaJay) 15 November 2018
Only mistake Silva committed was lazily grounding his bat while running between the wickets in the 86th over after cutting it late towards third-man off Jack Leach. According to rule number 18.5.1, the umpire Marais Erasmus awarded five penalty runs for deliberately not putting the bat over the line. The five penalty runs were added to England’s first innings score, which had to be changed to 290 from the initial score of 285.
Its turning a lot in the middle. If, Dilruwan and Akila bowl well, we can put them under real pressure. We must stop the boundaries and force them to go for big shots, which they did the same thing to us at Galle. We want to use the same tactics for them as well. Karunaratne further stated.
Sri Lanka definitely showed how to bat on their home tracks, which is to play late, use the feet accordingly.
The bowlers have done their job twice – contributing with the bat and bowling out their opposition. It’s up to them now to put up a show with the ball again on day three and tame the free-flowing English batting lineup.
