Rain intervenes as England on verge of historic series win

England added 22 quick runs to their overnight score on the fourth morning of the 2nd Test, as Sri Lanka were set 301 to square the series. England resuming on 324/9 went on to make 346 all-out as one of their ‘finds of this tour’ Ben Foakes made an unbeaten 65* which included 4 fours and 2 sixes. James Anderson was the last man to fall when Dilruwan Perera cleaned him up to capture his third wicket of the innings, while Akila Dananjaya picked up six wickets on day three.

The Sri Lankan reply got off to a horror start when Kaushal Silva(04) was stumped by Ben Foakes off Jack Leach; adding to the list of his failures on his comeback. Things went from bad to worse as Leach soon dismissed Dhananjaya de Silva and Kusal Mendis to have three wickets in three overs to have Sri Lanka in tatters at 26/3.

The credit for De Silva’s wicket had to go to Keaton Jennings who held on to a brilliant catch at short leg before Mendis’ horror story against Leach continued as he was dismissed for the fourth time in as many innings by the same bowler. He was looking to sweep a very full delivery this time as England successfully reviewed a LBW decision.

Photos: Sri Lanka vs England | 2nd Test – Day 04

Two of the most experienced batsmen for Sri Lanka stood up in the hour of need as Dimuth Karunaratne and Angelo Mathews managed to guide Sri Lanka safely to lunch with no further damage. The duo used the sweep and reverse sweep to very good effect as the Pallekele surface continued to take more wear and tear making life hard for the Sri Lankan batsman.

The partnership (77) ended when the combination of Keaton Jennings and Ben Foakes produces a piece of magic on the field to send back Karunaratne for a hard working 57. Karunaratne paddle swept a delivery from Adil Rashid only to see Jennings move with the ball from short leg and tap it back into the hands of Foakes to complete a remarkable piece of work in the field.

Another useful stand of 73 runs followed with Roshen Silva keeping Mathews in company, before the former was dismissed for 37 by Moeen Ali to leave Sri Lanka at 176/5.  Mathews continued the fight along with Dickwella who batted with positive intent as usual, with the runs required coming down to just double figures and Sri Lankan hopes of pulling off a dramatic Test win improving.

All of a sudden though the skies in Pallekele turned gloomy right after the tea break just like the 3rd evening and so did Sri Lanka’s hopes of a victory when Ali trapped Mathews in front to bring to an end a courageous knock from the former skipper. Dilruwan Perera too soon followed when Jack Leach trapped him in front in which happened to be the final ball of the day’s play, as the heavens opened up in Pallekele.

Sri Lanka were 226/7 when the umpires eventually decided to call off play on day four with Sri Lanka needing a further 75 runs for victory with Dickwella unbeaten on 27* and the tail-enders to follow.