Only 12.2 overs were possible on day five as England and Sri Lanka settled for a tame draw due to rain in their 3 rd Test which ended on Monday at Lord’s Cricket Grounds.
In-form, Kaushal Silva who was named as the Sri Lanka man-of- the-series was the sole wicket to fall on the final when he was lbw to James Anderson, before play was halted for the first time after an initial delay of 140 minutes. Dimuth Karunaratne finished unbeaten on 37, while Kusal Mendis made 17 not out, slog-sweeping Joe Root for six off the final ball of the match.
England were deprived of pushing for a series whitewash while Sri Lanka maintained their record of staying undefeated at Lord’s since 1991. The hosts’ won the series three-match series, 2-0 to remain fourth on the ICC Test rankings. England are well ahead in the Super Series with 10 points while Sri Lanka earned 2 points from this draw.
Earlier in the match, man-of- the-match and man-of- the-Series, Jonny Bairstow made an unbeaten 167 to help England post 416. The visitors in reply were bowled out for 288 with an improved bowling display on day three. Kaushal Silva top-scored for the Islanders with a well-calculated 79.
Alex Hales’ made a career-best 94 in the England second innings to set a victory target of 362 initially from 110 overs but Sri Lanka got the opportunity to bat only 24.2 overs to score 78 for the loss of 1 wicket.
“We started off pretty poorly but came into the series in the second innings at Durham. It would have been an interesting chase, and a result, but unfortunately the weather had the final say. We wanted to go for it, we’d rather lose 3-0 while trying to win the game.” – Angelo Mathews said at the post-match presentation ceremony.
Sri Lanka will now travel to Ireland to play two ODIs before returning to England to play five ODIs which starts on 21 st June and a T20I in July.
