Moeen Ali had to wait a long time before his sceptical captain gave him a proper bowl on Sunday. But in wrestling back a Test that had been slipping from England’s grasp, he soon showed he might become more than just a bit-part spinner.
- England were all out for 365 on morning of day three at Headingley
- The hosts lost four wickets for 45 runs, and left Matt Prior stranded on 27no
- Sri Lanka lead by 106 runs and are 213-4 in their second innings
- Moeen claimed wickets of Sangakkara and Lahiru Thirimanne in three balls
- Sangakkara scored a record-equalling seventh half-century in a row
- Sri Lanka was bowled out for 257 in their first innings
- Mahela Jayawardene is 55 not out at stumps on day three
Alastair Cook has made it clear with his sparing use of Moeen in this two-Test Investec series that he remains far from convinced the Worcestershire all-rounder is the man capable of stepping into Graeme Swann’s massive shoes. It seemed almost in desperation that the England captain finally threw him the ball with just over an hour of the third day to go. He had given Moeen just one over before then in Sri Lanka’s second innings on this dry Headingley pitch.
A Test that England had dominated for most of the first two days was slowly being turned on its head by the Sri Lankan giants Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene, and Cook’s need of a breakthrough was becoming acute.
Hal a job: Jayawardene acknowledges his 50 milestone but will be key to Sri Lanka setting a big total on day four
Enter the man the New Road marketing men call the ‘beard that’s feared’. Sangakkara, who had just become only the fourth man to record seven consecutive Test scores of 50 or more, was in the mood to turn what might be his last Test innings in England into something considerably more substantial.
Yet Moeen, who had dismissed Sangakkara for his first Test wicket at Lord’s, quickly made him his second victim when one of the greatest of all batsmen played him the old-fashioned way with his pad rather than bat, and was lbw.
Cook could easily have then taken Moeen off to attack Lahiru Thirimanne with either of the men who have tormented him in this series — Jimmy Anderson and Liam Plunkett — but he kept his spinner on and was immediately rewarded.
Thirimanne was dismissed for two and two at Lord’s and was out first ball in the first innings here. Perhaps ominously, with Rangana Herath due to bowl last, Moeen got appreciable turn and Thirimanne was bowled by a beauty to complete his pair.
It was two wickets in three balls for Moeen, and how England needed that double strike. When they had battled their way to 311 for three on Saturday thanks to Sam Robson’s maiden hundred in reply to Sri Lanka’s 257, there seemed only one possible winner of this decisive Test.
Another milestone: Sangakkara earlier reached a record-equalling seventh consecutive half-century
Yet the dismissal of Ian Bell, frustratingly strangled down the leg-side, was the catalyst for a transformation that saw Sri Lanka take England’s last seven wickets for 54 runs and then fight their way to 214 for four by Sunday’s close.
Thanks to Moeen, England remain favourites but if Sri Lanka can extend a lead that currently stands at 106 beyond 200, then a team without a Test win since their third in the Ashes last summer at Durham will be decidedly twitchy.
This was undoubtedly Sri Lanka’s day from the moment their impressive captain Angelo Mathews showed his seamers how to do it by putting the ball in the right place at barely 75 miles per hour and letting the conditions do the rest.
Mathews, little more than an occasional bowler, had struck twice on Saturday and took two of the last four England wickets to fall, with the notoriously fickle Headingley pitch suddenly resembling a minefield.
When England’s last two men in Plunkett and Anderson fell to near-unplayable balls, Cook (below) would have been confident that a lead of 108 would prove decisive. But his seamers got it all wrong and Sri Lanka displayed considerable spirit.
England clearly expected uneven bounce but little came when they kept on bowling a fraction too short. They did not help themselves with yet another fielding lapse, Chris Jordan dropping Dimuth Karunaratne when he was on four.
A wicket then would have exposed Sangakkara to the new ball and things could have been very different. But Anderson and Stuart Broad, worryingly with five Tests to come against India in just six weeks, struggled to make an impression and looked out on their feet by the close.
It was left to Plunkett, seizing his second chance in Test cricket, to take the first two wickets but with Sangakkara and Jayawardene both reaching their half-centuries Cook was running out of ideas before he turned to his spinner.
‘It was nice to contribute and get us back in the game,’ said Moeen, who even bowled his doosra in the seventh of his nine overs. ‘They were playing very well at the time and I just tried to bowl as straight as I can to Sanga because if you get it slightly wrong he can take you apart.’
England still have much to do and Jayawardene, almost certainly playing in his last Test in England, is still there after surviving a reviewed lbw call from Plunkett on 45 that just about went in his favour.
Together with Mathews he could yet push Sri Lanka’s lead beyond the 225 which they think, with Herath in their ranks and the pitch expected to offer more turn on the last two days, will win them their first Test series in England.
It is up to England, who squandered seven chances in Sri Lanka’s first innings before throwing away their position of dominance with the bat, to make sure they make no further mistakes.
