Excellent Sri Lankan fight back leaves them sensing victory

Pathum Nissanka led Sri Lanka’s run chase with his second 50 of the match 

• Bowlers make splendid comeback after erratic first day

Vishwa Fernando gets the prize wicket of Joe Root lbw for 12

Lahiru Kumara gets the wicket of England Acting Captain Ollie Pope

Kamindu Mendis and Dhananjaya de Silva during their 127-run partnership

THE OVAL: Sri Lanka had their best day of the series yesterday at the Oval in the third and final Test, and have given themselves a great chance to win another Test in England and end the series on a high.

The position Sri Lanka are in at present – 94-1, chasing 219 – was set up by their bowlers Vishwa Fernando and Lahiru Kumara who, between them, took seven wickets to bowl England out for 156 in their second innings, their third lowest total against Sri Lanka and lowest against Sri Lanka in England.

Sri Lanka followed up the good work of their bowlers with Pathum Nissanka leading the run chase with another classy knock of 53* off 44 balls (7 fours) to follow his first innings’ 64, and with Kusal Mendis contributing 30* off 25 balls (6 fours), putting together an unbroken partnership of 55 for the second wicket to leave the game nicely poised, with Sri Lanka needing a further 125 runs with nine wickets in hand and two days of the match remaining to pull off a famous victory. 

It was here at the Oval in 1998 that Sri Lanka first won a Test match in England and they have played themselves into a position to record their fourth Test win in England.

Sri Lanka lost Dimuth Karunaratne in the run chase for 8, but not before he had become the fourth Sri Lankan batsman to complete 7,000 Test runs playing in his 94th Test, after Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene, and Angelo Mathews. 

Sri Lanka lost the grip they had at the end of the second day at 211-5, when they were dismissed for 263 when play resumed on the third day – their highest first innings total of the series.

Dhananjaya de Silva and Kamindu Mendis got the bulk of their 127 runs of the partnership (69 off 17 overs) when England were forced to switch to spin late on the second day due to poor light. Yesterday morning, their fast bowlers were back in business and captured Sri Lanka’s remaining five wickets for 52 runs, to give themselves a first innings lead of 62.

de Silva started the rot in the third over of the morning when he and Kamindu were motoring along well with their partnership, top edging a pull to fine leg to be caught out for 69, adding only five runs to his overnight total. de Silva hit 11 fours in his 111-ball innings. 

After that, it was pretty much a procession as Chris Woakes accounted for the wicket of solid-looking Kamindu with a ball that would have got most quality batters out. He made 64 off 91 balls (7 fours). With both set batters gone, it was always going to be a matter of time as the tail couldn’t add much to the tally.

England achieved their success in the morning without Gus Atkinson, who did not take the field being sidelined by a tight quad. The ball swung a lot in the conditions despite the sun cover, and England bowling aggressively were duly rewarded for their efforts with debutant Josh Hull finishing with three wickets along with Olly Stone.

Sri Lanka ended the first session capturing two England wickets for 35 with Ben Duckett and Ollie Pope both perishing for seven apiece. 

The afternoon was perhaps the best of the series. It had everything in it. England looked to build on their lead but it didn’t go too well for them. The ball started to swing and Sri Lanka bowled brilliantly with it. Kumara removed an aggressive David Lawrence for a run-a-ball 35. It was quickly followed by Vishwa Fernando trapping both Joe Root and Harry Brook lbw, after Root had gone past Kumar Sangakkara’s aggregate of 12,400 Test runs.

England’s trouble only got worse as both Chris Woakes and Gus Atkinson were dismissed and they slumped to 82/7. At this point, Sri Lanka were in the driver’s seat and would have easily skittled England out cheaply, but Sri Lanka lost the plot a little when they tried their short ball tactic that saw Jamie Smith, the last of the recognised batsmen, taking full advantage of it to plunder 67 off 50 balls (10 fours, 1 six) and shift the balance once again towards England as he got the lead over the 200-run mark. Smith fell on the stroke of tea and Sri Lanka managed to prize out the two remaining wickets cheaply.

Asitha Fernando, with 17 wickets in the series, became the second highest wicket-taker for Sri Lanka in a series in England after Muttiah Muralitharan’s 24 wickets in 2006.

On a day when 16 wickets fell, Sri Lanka looked composed and played good cricket shots, whereas England were frenetic in their batting and would become the architects of their own downfall if they lose this Test.