Dominant England set SL world-record chase

England's Keaton Jennings raises his bat and helmet in celebration after scoring a century during the third day of the opening Test match between Sri Lanka and England at the Galle International Cricket Stadium on 8 November – AFP 

England's Ben Stokes raises his bat to the crowd after scoring a half-century during the third day of the opening Test match between Sri Lanka and England at the Galle International Cricket Stadium 8 on No-vember – AFP 

By Madushka Balasuriya 

With a maximum of 180 overs still left to play, Sri Lanka will have to rewrite history if they are to get anything out of this first Test in Galle, after England - inspired by an unbeaten 146 from Keaton Jennings - had virtually batted the hosts out of the game, declaring their second innings on 322/6 and setting a world record target of 462 for an unlikely Sri Lankan victory.

At stumps Sri Lanka were still 447 runs behind, the openers seeing through the final seven overs of the day without incident, though they will have no doubts about the size of the task ahead of them when they return on the fourth morning on an increasingly challenging pitch. 

The highest ever successful fourth innings chase at Galle is 99, while the highest ever chase in Tests is 419. Meanwhile, the most overs faced by a side batting last in Galle has been 114; Sri Lanka lasted just 68 overs in their first innings. Suffice to say, thoughts of a result are beyond even the most optimistic of Sri Lankan fans at this point, though the Lankan batters would do well to take some pointers from their English counterparts.

Having started the day 177 runs ahead, the English innings was a tale of four partnerships with one common denominator - Jennings. In their first innings the visitors almost paid for their proactive approach against the Lankan spinners, only to be bailed out by a long batting line-up, but second time around - while keeping the same aggressive tone - they ensured the mistakes of day one would be minimised.

Jennings was at the heart of this, never retreating into a shell when one would rip past the bat, he would ensure he and his partners stuck to their plans. All the while, he would not allow the home spinners to settle; sweeping and reverse sweeping with aplomb, no Sri Lankan seemed to work.

Among the most telling statistics of Jennings’ knock is the number of boundaries - just the nine - rightly signifying a textbook anchoring knock, tailor-made for Test cricket. It mirrored that of Ben Foakes’ from the first innings and showed the tactical awareness that has made this England side so formidable.

But more importantly, this grounded innings allowed Jennings’ partners to take the lead in terms of racking up quick runs. Following a brief morning blip in which Joe Burns, Moeen Ali and Joe Root had fallen in the space of 14 runs, Jennings was joined by Ben Stokes.

Stokes had been dismissed early in the first innings before he could get his eye in, but with a 200-plus run buffer to work with, he played with a calming assuredness in his second stint. Frequently using his feet to the spinners, in a 93-ball 62 he creamed three sixes and a further four boundaries. With Jennings he put on the first century stand of the match and was looking like he would do some serious damage before one from Perera spit past his edge and rocked off stump.

But that was only a minor reprieve for the home side, as Jennings would proceed to put on two further 50-plus stands - 77 and 61 - with Jos Buttler and first innings hero Foakes, as England’s lead ballooned over 400. 

Foakes in particular took the opportunity to enhance his chances of being retained for the second Test with a timely attacking knock, a 34-ball 37 - including three maximums. Once Foakes fell, caught at deep square leg, it looked like England would play on a bit further to allow Jennings a maiden 150, however, England captain Root did not bow to sentimentality and declared the innings with him four runs short.

Root was solely focused on making Sri Lanka bat again under fading light and while the Lankan openers ended up surviving their mini vigil, it now looks like only rain can stop England’s march towards a 1-0 series lead.