Bazball 2024

[Admin]

England 358 (Smith 111, Brook 56, Asitha 4-102) and 205 for 5 (Root 62*) beat Sri Lanka 236 (Dhananjaya 74, Rathnayake 72) and 326 (Kamindu 113, Chandimal 79) by five wickets

Joe Root provided the calm head for a crisis, while Jamie Smith capped a Player-of-the-Match-winning performance with a vital late injection of impetus, as England overcame a spirited Sri Lanka display with bat and ball to seal a five-wicket win in the first Test, late on the fourth afternoon at Emirates Old Trafford.

The victory made it four out of four in the 2024 summer to date, following July's 3-0 win over West Indies, but as had sometimes been the case in that series, England were not allowed to dictate terms with the authority that they might have envisaged at the halfway stage of the match.

Thanks to a sublime century from Kamindu Mendis, the bulk of which came in a 117-run stand with Dinesh Chandimal that spanned the entirety of the morning session, Sri Lanka were able to post a taxing target of 205 for victory.

And when a bowling display led once again by Asitha Fernando and Prabath Jayasuriya picked off each of the top three inside the first 16 overs of the chase, it required England to swallow their Bazball pride to chisel a path to victory at an unusually sedate rate of 3.58 an over.

Sedate, that is, until Smith got into his stride. Though fresh from his maiden century in the first innings, when Smith strode out to replace Harry Brook with the chase still in the balance at 119 for 4, he found himself pitched into a pressure situation unlike anything he'd yet surmounted in his short career.

Jamie Smith drags one into the leg side, England vs Sri Lanka, 1st Test, Emirates Old Trafford, 4th day, August 24, 2024
Jamie Smith drags one into the leg side•Gareth Copley/Getty Images
Smith's defensive technique soon proved up to the challenge as he crept along to six from his first 26 balls, in which period England went 14.4 overs, spread across a full hour, between boundaries: an uncommonly fallow passage of play for this regime. But then, after cracking back-to-back boundaries through the leg-side off Jayasuriya, the shackles were off. A subsequent six bounced off down an access tunnel and onto the concourse, and he added two further hooks for four off Vishwa Fernando to send Sri Lanka's pressure scattering, before Asitha castled him with a superb inswinger for 39 from 48.

By then, England needed just 22 to win, and with the evening light holding up well despite the torrential rain that had dogged much of the rest of the country, Root and Chris Woakes did the needful shortly after 7.15pm, with Root notching the 96th half-century of his career before blazing the winning boundary over long-on… though not before attempting to seal the deal with a miscued scoop into his grille - a final flourish that proved the team's prescribed ethos may have been dormant on this occasion, but it won't be kept down indefinitely.

England's target may have been surprisingly stiff, but they would have been chasing significantly more had it not been for a disciplined docking of Sri Lanka's tail by England's seamers, armed with the second new ball, shortly after lunch. In losing their final four wickets in the space of 26 balls, including the last three for five in ten, Sri Lanka's innings ended much as it had begun (on first day and third), but up until that point, their seventh-wicket stand had all but turned the contest completely on its head.

Between Kamindu, who recorded his third hundred in the space of four Tests, and Chandimal, who was last man out for 79 despite having retired hurt on the third afternoon, Sri Lanka transformed their match prospects, and with scarcely a moment of alarm across their 30-over alliance.

Related
Story Image
Thigh injury makes Wood a doubt for remainder of Sri Lanka series

Story Image
Smith quells keeper debate as credentials shine through

Story Image
Mathews: Replacement ball 'changed the entire momentum of the game'

Having let a promising position slip with the ball on the third morning, Sri Lanka's focus was unwavering as the pair resumed on 204 for 6, with a slender lead of 82. They had more than doubled that advantage before Gus Atkinson prised out Kamindu for 113 shortly after lunch, to create an opening that Woakes and Matthew Potts were primed to pile through.

From the outset, England's problems had been compounded by the absence of their fastest bowler, Mark Wood. He left the field after feeling a twinge in his right thigh on Friday evening, and may now be a doubt for the rest of the series.

There had been some controversy overnight about the advantageous nature of a ball-change after the 41st over that allowed England's seamers to obtain significant swing on the third evening. However, after 20 further overs of wear and tear, there was little lateral movement on show as Kamindu seized on a hint of width in Woakes' first over to flash his first boundary of the day through point.

That set the tone for a proactive half-hour, with Chandimal following his partner's lead as he built on his overnight 20 not out. The fact that he was there at all was remarkable, given the gruesome blow to the thumb that Wood had inflicted on the third afternoon. He had retired hurt on 10, but after an X-ray had given him the all-clear, returned with no ill-effects, although he did later relinquish the wicketkeeping duties, with Kusal Mendis taking over behind the stumps.

Kamindu Mendis celebrates his third Test hundred, England vs Sri Lanka, 1st Test, Emirates Old Trafford, 4th day, August 24, 2024
Kamindu Mendis celebrates his third Test hundred•Gareth Copley/Getty Images
Pope rang the changes for England, but none of them had any answer to a burgeoning stand. Kamindu came into this contest with an average in excess of 100 after two centuries and an unbeaten 92 in his three previous Tests, and the range of his strokeplay was apparent in back-to-back boundaries off Atkinson, driven and pulled respectively, plus a ruthless eye for anything loose from the spin of Bashir.

Neither a 30-minute rain delay in the second hour of the morning, nor a brief sighting of the new ball before the interval could disrupt Kamindu's focus, as he rushed through to his third Test hundred with a decisive slash through deep third off Woakes, to send England into lunch with a real battle on their hands.

Their immediate prospects after the resumption didn't look much better. Kamindu surged onto the offensive after the break with a trio of off-side boundaries as Atkinson struggled with his line, but after an intervention from Pope, he switched to round the wicket with instant success. Kamindu fenced at the new angle, shaping into his left-handed stance, and Root at first slip held on a sharp low chance.

Atkinson was immediately yanked from the attack, with Potts adding his second of the innings courtesy of a juggled take from Brook at second slip, who parried Jayasuriya's punch off the back foot, but recovered well to snaffle the rebound. Potts celebrated with a pat of his fluttering heart, having watched two key chances go down during his excellent but under-rewarded spell on day three.

Woakes added his third when Vishwa Fernando played down the wrong line to be struck in front of middle and leg, and though Chandimal attempted to cut loose with only Asitha for company, the substitute fielder Harry Singh stayed cool at deep cover to end a superbly gutsy innings.

England's reply so nearly got off to a disastrous start when, on 2, Ben Duckett jabbed his third delivery down the leg-side, to be brilliantly caught by Kusal in his outstretched right glove. However, in an echo of Duckett's reprieve against Mitchell Starc in last year's Ashes, the decision was overturned because Kusal's palm was pushing the ball into the ground as he completed the catch.

Dan Lawrence launched a huge straight six off Prabath Jayasuriya, England vs Sri Lanka, 1st Test, Emirates Old Trafford, 4th day, August 24, 2024
Dan Lawrence launched a huge straight six off Prabath Jayasuriya•Gareth Copley/Getty Images
Asitha was the unlucky bowler, but he made amends in superb fashion in his third over, flipping the shiny side of his swinging new ball to graze a more regulation edge through to Kusal, as Duckett played for the inswinger that had done him in in the first innings.

Dan Lawrence, by this stage, had launched Jayasuriya for a wonderfully clean straight six, but in his unfamiliar role as opener, his frailties outside off were consistently probed, not least by Asitha, whose command of seam and swing once again made him the pick of Sri Lanka's attack.

It was Jayasuriya who made the next breakthrough, however, as Pope - familiarly skittish at the start of his innings - climbed into a reverse-sweep on a deliberate leg-stump line, but managed only to toe-end a simple chance to Dhananjaya de Silva at slip for his second score of 6 in the match. And when Lawrence, on 34, was pinned lbw by a nip-backer soon afterwards, England had slipped to a dangerous scoreline of 70 for 3.

Root's and Brook's response was to bed in for an old-school rebuilding job, adding 49 for the fourth wicket at a rate of less than 3.4 an over - a reflection both of Sri Lanka's disciplined attack, but also of the relative lack of depth in England's batting in the absence of Ben Stokes.

Jayasuriya maintained his restrictive line from over the wicket, frequently tempting Brook to sweep his way through a packed field behind square, and England could have been four-down before lunch had the substitute fielder Ramesh Mendis clung on his outstretched right hand at backward square, when Brook had just 4 to his name.


However, it was Jayasuriya's reversion to round the wicket that prised the next opening. On 32, Brook failed to account for the drift back into his stumps, and chipped a toe-ended drive back to the bowler, whose catch was upheld despite Root's initial belief that the ball had again been grounded - a stance that earned him a hard stare from Kusal as the replay flashed up on the big screen.

With 86 more needed, then, out came Smith. His selection ahead of Ben Foakes had been largely a consequence of Foakes' perceived limitations as an attacking batter, particularly when marshalling the tail. But here was the polar opposite challenge: an onus on defence, to provide a trusty sidekick to England's most admirable and obdurate matchwinner.

Smith duly proved worthy of the task, and more. But it was Root - his senior status all the more towering in Stokes' absence - who was England's main man in the final analysis.

[Admin]

England 358 for 7 (Root 143, Atkinson 74*, Kumara 2-75, Rathnayake 2-80) vs Sri Lanka

Was it brave or foolhardy to insert England beneath clear blue skies at Lord's? As Joe Root peeled off his sixth Test hundred at the grand old ground, the verdict erred towards the latter. Gus Atkinson added to Sri Lanka's pain with a maiden Test half-century and, although the bowlers toiled manfully until late in the day to repay the faith shown in them by their captain, Dhananjaya de Silva, England had grappled their way into an increasingly sturdy position.

After Root, there was daylight on the England batting card - and Dhananjaya might rue the inability of Lahiru Kumara to persuade Paul Reiffel to raise his finger to an lbw appeal when Root was on 11, with the DRS returning a verdict of umpire's call. The next-highest score was Atkinson's unbeaten 74 from No. 8, with his 92-run stand alongside Root the chief reason that England did not have what looked a perfectly respectable batting rug pulled from under them.

Root's 143 took him level with Alastair Cook on 33 Test centuries for England; during the course of his innings, he overtook Cook for most Test runs scored in England (and Wales) - and it is now surely only a matter of weeks, if not days, before he passes Cook's overall mark for his country. Once the engraver has done his work, no one will have more entries on the batting honours board at Lord's than Root, Graham Gooch and Michael Vaughan.

Having steered England past the winning post at Old Trafford a few days ago, Root was again the batting bulwark for his side. As in the first Test, Sri Lanka bowled well to put England's first innings in peril without quite finishing the job. England were 130 for 4 and then 216 for 6, only for Root to bolt together the two biggest partnerships of the innings alongside Atkinson and Jamie Smith. Atkinson and Matthew Potts then added an unbroken stand of exactly 50 as the shadows lengthened.

This was not quite a mid-2000s Lord's shirtfront but conditions remained placid throughout. Dhananjaya had reasoned that there is "always swing in the first hour" when opting to bowl but, while there was occasional lateral movement to deal with, few of England's top order could claim that to have been genuinely gotten out.

Ollie Pope, in particular, departed in a manner that might have made for uncomfortable viewing back in the dressing room. Pope, England's stand-in captain, had spoken before the game about separating his duties in leading the team from the processes required to bat at No. 3; perhaps he was wrongfooted by Dhananajaya's decision at the toss, having been expecting to be told he was fielding, but the ungainly flap at Asitha Fernando suggested he still has plenty of work to do on that front.

England's top three were all back in the hutch before lunch, and Asitha struck again after the break. Harry Brook produced a volley of attacking shots to put the hosts back on the front foot only for a marginal lbw call to this time go in Sri Lanka's favour. Brook aimed an expansive drive at Asitha only to be defeated by a hint of seam movement back in, with Reiffel agreeing that it would have hit leg stump.


ESPNcricinfo Ltd
A stand of 62 between Root and Smith helped the Lord's crowd settle into a more appropriate state of post-prandial relaxation. Smith was largely watchful, despite picking off the spinner Prabath Jayasuriya for three boundaries, before being caught behind with tea approaching as he aimed a more expansive drive at Milan Rathnayake.

Root had got off the mark with a four from his first ball but went about his business in typically unobtrusive fashion. Other than the Kumara lbw appeal, his one moment of genuine anxiety came when chopping Rathnayake just past off stump on 59; he edged the same bowler between slip and gully in the following over. The nerves were more evident in the crowd as he bided his time for 12 balls on 99, before opening the face to steer Kumara down to third, punching the air as soon as the ball had sped through the cordon.

Root eventually departed trying to reverse-ramp Rathnayake but, although the day ended with Atkinson and Potts taking liberties against the second new ball, this was a stuttering effort from England. The new-look opening pair for this series produced their third consecutive stand in the 30s, before Dan Lawrence edged tamely behind trying to walk down the pitch at Kumara. Ben Duckett looked assured in making 40 from 47 balls, only to reverse-swipe the fourth ball of spin in the match down the throat of deep point with 20 minutes to go until lunch.


Dhananjaya's decision at the toss caused more than a few raised eyebrows around the ground as it basked in late August sunshine. When Duckett clipped three boundaries from Asitha's second over of the morning, it seemed as if England were in the mood to ram home the point about Lord's being a "look up, not down" ground. But Kumara, brought into the side for Vishwa Fernando, struck in his first over as Lawrence edged through to Nishan Madushka, deputising with the gloves after the blow to the hand sustained by Dinesh Chandimal in the first Test.

Pope's average as Test captain then dipped from 6.00 to 4.33, as Asitha switched to the Nursery End and induced an ungainly pull across the line that took the top edge and ballooned to a gleeful Dhananjaya at square leg.

Sri Lanka, who have not lost a Test in London since 1991, had their tails up, with Asitha and Kumara probing for openings while Rathnayake kept things tight. Kumara was wholehearted, pushing the speed gun up towards 90mph, and he might have had another when bringing one down the slope into Root's knee roll. The bowler bellowed an appeal, fully aware of the fine margins involved in umpire's call: DRS duly had it clipping the top of leg stump, so Reiffel's not-out stood. On such margins did the day turn.

[Admin]

England 427 (Root 143, Atkinson 118, Asitha 5-102) and 25 for 1 lead Sri Lanka 196 (Kamindu 74) by 256 runs

Gus Atkinson's magnificent maiden Test century set the tone for another dominant England performance at Lord's.

By the end of a second day that had begun with England sitting pretty on 358 for 7 in their first innings, Ben Duckett and Ollie Pope were back out there in their second, nudging the lead along to an already imposing 256. Pope, in need of a score after 13 runs in his first three innings as captain, endured a handful of jitters but endured to the close unscathed, after Dan Lawrence had been given out on review for 7, England's only truly duff note of the day.

In between whiles, Sri Lanka were bowled out for 196 in 55.3 overs, a first-innings deficit of 231, having relied once more on the indomitable skills of Kamindu Mendis to haul them out of a familiar top-order tail-spin.

By the time he was last man out for a punchy 74 from 120 balls, Kamindu had rescued his side from a nadir of 118 for 7 - and briefly lifted his remarkable Test average back above 100 - with his sixth fifty-plus score in only eight Test innings. However, none of his colleagues could manage more than Dinesh Chandimal's 23 and, with more than three days remaining on a pitch that is already showing signs of turn, England never gave the follow-on any serious consideration.

While it lasted though, Kamindu's latest onslaught was proof of the spirit that still courses through this Sri Lanka team, even in the midst of another desperate display. On his watch, a previously dominant England attack were given the run-around by an innings containing eight fours and three sixes, one which flew through the window of the MCC Committee Room, and another which left a spectator by the pavilion steps needing treatment for a painful, but thankfully non-serious, blow to the head.

Olly Stone dismissed two of Sri Lanka's top-three on Test return, England vs Sri Lanka, 2nd Test, Lord's, 2nd day, August 30, 2024
Olly Stone dismissed two of Sri Lanka's top-three on Test return•AFP/Getty Images
Until his intervention, Sri Lanka's performance had been every bit as off-colour as their dreadful display on the third day of the first Test at Old Trafford. Then, as now, their foothold in the contest came loose during a muddled morning with the ball, with Atkinson the prime beneficiary as he converted his overnight 74 not out into a sublime 103-ball hundred. It was the first of his professional career, and the first by a designated England No.8 or lower since Stuart Broad's 169 on this same ground against Pakistan in 2010.

Despite having had the chance, overnight, to overthink his opportunity, Atkinson's cool head proved to be almost as remarkable as the feat itself. Just as had been the case on his debut against West Indies in July, when Atkinson had earned himself a total of three honours-board entries with five-fors in each innings and 12 wickets in the match - the prospect of another remarkable slice of Lord's history could not faze him in the slightest.

Facing up to a ball that was only eight overs old, Atkinson launched his day with back-to-back boundaries as Kumara strayed either side of the wicket, and though he was then given out lbw by Paul Reiffel third-ball, the collective groan of the Lord's crowd quickly turned to cheers as Atkinson's review showed the ball to be missing leg.

From then on, there was no stopping him. Milan Rathnayake offered him another leg-stump freebie, tickled through fine leg, and having powered through to 99 with another pull and a drive off the erratic Kumara, Atkinson needed just three more balls - compared to Joe Root's 12 on day one - before another firm and focussed push through long-off landed him his milestone from just 103 balls, the sixth-fastest century in a Lord's Test.

Kamindu Mendis was at the centre of Sri Lanka's resistance again, England vs Sri Lanka, 2nd Test, Lord's, London, 2nd day, August 30, 2024
Kamindu Mendis was at the centre of Sri Lanka's resistance again•Getty Images
Atkinson's disbelieving smile as he saluted all four corners of the ground was the only slight hint that this was no ordinary day out. Matthew Potts, who had played a key role in an 85-run stand for the eighth wicket, fell soon afterwards as Asitha was belatedly called into the attack to strike with a third-ball outswinger.

Sri Lanka soon reverted to a short-ball tactic, which initially suited Atkinson fine as he thrashed two more fours behind square off Asitha. But, in his attempt to dump the same bowler into the Grandstand, he finally came a cropper, courtesy of a wonderfully timed leap from Rathnayake at deep midwicket, who dived towards the rope - feet in the air - to cling on over his shoulder and end a mighty innings.

And though the bumper ploy wasn't the best use of Asitha's merits, he did at least land a deserved moment of personal glory when Stone swung through another short ball to pick out deep fine leg for 15. With figures of 5 for 102, that made him the first Sri Lanka bowler to claim five wickets at Lord's since Rumesh Ratnayake in 1991.

That left Sri Lanka with a tricky 45 minutes to negotiate before the break, and for the third innings in a row, Nishan Madushka wasn't up to the task. He should have fallen for a duck in Woakes' second over when Jamie Smith failed to react to a snick that Root couldn't reach at first slip, but he had made just 7 - his highest score of the series - when Woakes instead found an inside-edge onto his stumps.

Then, in the final over of the session, Stone capped his return to the side with his first Test wicket in three long years, by inducing another inside-edge, this time off Dimuth Karunaratne, who wrecked his own stumps as his poor series continued with 7 from 26 balls.

Forty minutes and five balls later, Stone had his second. Pathum Nissanka, who could have been run out on 3 by Dan Lawrence's instinctive shy from short leg, instead fell for 12 as he aimed a gullible flick off the toes and picked out Potts, stationed for that precise shot at leg slip.

Angelo Mathews and Chandimal, two of the mainstays of Sri Lanka's fightback at Old Trafford, picked up the pieces in a fourth-wicket stand of 48. But into the attack came Potts, who was excellent if under-rewarded in the second innings of that first Test.

With a relentless stump-to-stump line, allied to a hint of each-way movement, Potts duly struck with the first ball of his fourth over, as Mathews was turned inside-out by one that nipped round his edge and into the top of off. Then, three balls later, Dhananjaya de Silva was caught for a duck, off the splice at second slip by another ball that straightened off the pitch, and Kamindu's innings had barely begun when Chandimal, looking tentative after another blow to his injured thumb, flicked weakly off his toes to Lawrence at leg gully to leave the innings in tatters on 87 for 6.


Thereafter, however, England didn't find the going quite so easy. Rathnayake, like Atkinson, is flushed with confidence after his unlikely batting heroics at Old Trafford, and he launched his own innings with 14 runs from four balls before Woakes returned to the attack to snick him off for 19, with Smith completing a fine diving take.

England then turned to spin, with Shoaib Bashir - finally given a spell at Lord's after going unused in the West Indies Test - settling into an excellent rhythm before prising out Jayasuriya for a previously resolute 8 from 46 balls, as he finally lost patience to be bowled through the gate on the charge.

Kamindu then got a life on 62 at Root, at deep square leg, made a hash of a top-edged pull off Stone and, with sturdy support from Kumara, whose 22-ball duck ended with a direct-hit run-out from Pope, he set about restoring a veneer of respectability. Atkinson, however, lured him into one too many liberties to finish his day on the high it had deserved. By the close, and even allowing for Lawrence's latest disappointment as a makeshift opener, it didn't look like changing the destiny of this match, or this series.

[Admin]

Sri Lanka 196 and 53 for 2 (Karunaratne 23*, Stone 1-1, Atkinson 1-15) need a further 430 runs to beat England 427 and 251 (Root 103, Asitha 3-52, Kumara 3-53)

For the second time in three days at Lord's, it was all about Joe Root. England's batting bellwether continued a bumper Test match by producing twin tons for the first time in his storied career, his 34th century in the format setting new records for his country - and setting his team on their way towards what would be a series-sealing win.

England began the day in a position of comfort, 256 runs ahead with nine wickets standing, and Root allowed an expectant crowd to drink in the experience of a Lord's Saturday. If there was data on champagne corks popped, Root would probably set have another benchmark. As it was, his innings of 103 was garlanded by several entries in the record books: his seventh Test hundred the most by an individual at Lord's, as he surpassed Graham Gooch as the leading run-scorer on the ground. Cook's overall England run-scoring records is now less than 100 runs away.

This effort, coming from 111 balls, was also his fastest in the format. He reached the mark, in the company of the No. 10, Olly Stone, by swatting Lahiru Kumara's bouncer in front of deep point, amid a rising crescendo of "Roooooooot!" rolling around the ground. The next-highest score by one of his team-mates was Harry Brook's 37 off 36 balls.

With Sri Lanka asked to chase a target of 483, Root was at it again in the field - his two catches at first slip to remove Nishan Madushka and Pathum Nissanka making him the fourth man to take 200 in Tests. Rahul Dravid, the record-holder with 210, is very much in his sights.

That Sri Lanka finished the day only two down was in part due to an early finish brought about by bad light. A world-record target looked a long way off for a team short on batting confidence, though Dimuth Karunaratne survived being given out lbw to his third ball - a poor decision from Paul Reiffel overturned - to negotiate 90 minutes in the gloom after tea. He walked off in the company of "lightwatcher" Prabath Jayasuriya after England had been instructed to bowl their spinners for a second time, with Ollie Pope preferring to preserve the condition of the ball for Sunday.

Madushka was the first wicket to fall, edging Gus Atkinson to slip to continue a difficult first tour of England - having been replaced behind the stumps by Dinesh Chandimal on the third morning, he also dropped two catches in the field (although one still resulted in the dismissal of Ben Duckett, as Angelo Mathews snaffled the rebound). Nissanka survived on 2 when the faintest of under-edges to leg slip off Shoaib Bashir went undetected, only to be dismissed by a snorter in Olly Stone's first over as the light briefly improved enough to allow a return to pace.

Joe Root passes by as Joel Wilson puts the light meter to work, England vs Sri Lanka, 2nd Test, Lord's, 3rd day, August 31, 2024
Bad light forced an early finish on day 3•AFP/Getty Images
England left the field at just after 5pm, content that there is plenty of time left for them to take the eight wickets required for a 2-0 lead in the series. Kamindu Mendis had held out the hope on the second evening that Sri Lanka could find a way back into the game if they could get England out for "under 150-175" - they gamely chipped out five wickets by that stage but couldn't prevent a Root march carrying the hosts to 251 and a seemingly impregnable position.

Root's reliability had allowed England to negotiate the morning session with few alarms, and the game continued to revolve around him after the interval. A nudge down the ground off Jayasuriya took him to fifty from 65 balls, and he began to push the tempo with three fours - two hauled through wide long-on, one delicately reverse-swept - in four balls.

Sri Lanka kept at it, Jayasuriya removing Jamie Smith lbw despite a review from the batter, before Chris Woakes flat-batted Milan Rathnayake to cover. Atkinson's dismissal, meanwhile, came in complete contrast to the elegant simplicity that characterised his maiden hundred in the first innings: caught behind the keeper at long-stop when top-edging a reverse-pull at Asitha Fernando. Potts then gloved the same bowler behind but Stone hung in to get Root to his milestone.


Getty Images
Stone was caught at fine leg in the same over, and although England's approach had seemed to have a declaration in mind, they batted on. Root eventually gave Kumara a third wicket, top-edging a tired heave to deep-backward square leg, with tea taken early at the close of the innings.

England's batting effort was uneven, Root aside, reflective of their strong grip on the game. Three wickets went down during the morning session, including that of Pope, England's stand-in captain, who made his highest score while deputising for Ben Stokes but again fell in perplexing fashion, slashing an Asitha bouncer straight to deep backward point for 17, shortly after Sri Lanka had put four men back for the ploy.

The hosts resumed on 25 for 1, after Dan Lawrence's dismissal on the second evening, and Ben Duckett was the first to depart, thanks to accidental piece of choreography between slip and gully. Rathnayake pitched the ball up from round the wicket, tempting the drive - and while Madushka could not hold on diving to his right, he managed to scoop the chance back towards Mathews for a regulation catch.


At the other end, Pope was looking to quell some of the noise around his batting. He moved into double-figures for the first time in the series with a clip off his legs, then survived a review for lbw against Rathnayake, with ball-tracking showing the ball would have cleared the stumps. But he did not last much longer, as Asitha targeted him from round the wicket.

The first of Root's four boundaries was a thick outside edge between slip and gully, but he was otherwise serene in progressing towards a third consecutive 50-plus score. Jayasuriya was picked off on the sweep and twice down the ground, though Root was initially happy to tick along at a strike rate in the 70s, allowing Brook and then Smith to play the aggressor.

Brook's intent during a half-century stand seemed to suggest that England were already thinking about the declaration. Brook was badly dropped on 9, Madushka making a mess of a skied slog-sweep at midwicket, then launched Jayasuriya's next delivery into the Tavern Stand to rub in the pain. Sri Lanka's spinner bore the brunt of the attack, but he had the satisfaction of removing Brook when another attempt to haul him leg side was safely held by Madushka in front of the rope.

[Admin]

England 427 (Root 143, Atkinson 118, Asitha 5-102) and 251 (Root 103, Asitha 3-52) beat Sri Lanka 196 (Kamindu 74, Potts 2-19) and 292 (Chandimal 58, Karunaratne 55, Dhananjaya 50, Atkinson 5-62) by 190 runs

Gus Atkinson produced his fifth performance worthy of the Lord's honours boards in his debut summer as an England Test cricketer, adding a second-innings five-for to his maiden hundred as Sri Lanka's resistance in the second Test was finally broken.

The touring side, set an unlikely target of 483 to keep the series alive, put on a gutsy fourth-innings display in a bid to avoid a first Test defeat at Lord's since 1991. There were valiant half-centuries for Dimuth Karunaratne, Dinesh Chandimal and Dhananjaya de Silva, as well as more dogged lower-order resistance from Milan Rathnayake, in only his second Test. But in the end, they were well beaten, going down by 190 runs inside four days.

There was only a sparse crowd in at Lord's to appreciate the contest, but there were ripples of applause for Sri Lanka's endeavour - followed by the latest ovation of Atkinson's fledgling Test career, as he raised the ball aloft after removing Rathnayake to leave Sri Lanka nine down. It took his tally to 19 Test wickets at 10.94 in two Test appearances at Lord's (three entries on the board for five wickets in an innings, one for ten in the match), to go alongside the first century of his professional career.

Atkinson's exploits also put him in select company as an allrounder, becoming only the third England Men's player to score a hundred and take a five-wicket haul in the same Test.

Hundred and five-for at Lord's
ESPNcricinfo Ltd
England returned on Sunday morning needing eight wickets to seal a 2-0 lead in the series - and their fifth consecutive Test win this summer. They were made to work hard for it, with Chris Woakes, Olly Stone and Shoaib Bashir contributing alongside Atkinson as Sri Lanka's batters applied themselves to their task.

If chasing 483 to win seemed unlikely, they certainly had a chance of taking the game into a fifth day. "Bat simple and bat long," was the message, according to Dhananjaya, and Karunaratne's first fifty of the series set the tone during the morning session as Sri Lanka lost just two wickets, one of them the "lightwatcher", Prabath Jayasuriya.

Karunaratne dug in for 129 balls for his 55, before being bounced out by Stone, then Chandimal changed gears to blitz a 43-ball fifty either side of lunch. Dhananjaya was typically cool in putting up the highest partnership of the innings alongside Rathnayake, notching his own fifty after tea; but when he played on against Atkinson with the second new ball, the end for Sri Lanka was nigh.

Ollie Pope shuffled his hand regularly, trying out different combinations and tactics - although his success with the DRS did not improve, with three burned reviews taking his record as England's stand-in captain to eight without managing to overturn a single on-field call.

The review system also led to England's one moment of palpable frustration, when Chandimal had an lbw decision reversed on the strength of the minutest of flickers on UltraEdge - "He's not hit that," Woakes could be seen to say on replay. But Chandimal's skittish innings featuring 11 boundaries eventually came to an end via a bat-pad catch at short leg off Atkinson, who struck again in his next over as Kamindu Mendis flashed a drive to third slip.

Dhananjaya and Rathnayake threw up another roadblock, as they had done in the first innings at Old Trafford, to extend the day into a third session. Rathnayake showed his bravery in taking on Stone's short-ball attack and after being dropped by Joe Root at slip off Atkinson looked set to add a second fifty in as many Tests only to nick a pull behind, before Woakes' slower ball finished the innings off, Lahiru Kumara chipping to mid-on.

Dinesh Chandimal hits on the up in his energetic innings, England vs Sri Lanka, 2nd Test, Lord's, 4th day, September 1, 2024
Dinesh Chandimal hits on the up in his energetic innings•Getty Images
It was a long way from an eventful start, which saw Karunaratne survive a review for lbw off the second ball of the morning - replays showing Woakes' delivery had pitched fractionally outside leg stump. The Sri Lanka opener had another life when a slash at Atkinson evaded the diving Root, a tough, one-handed chance at slip; England then lost a second review when thought they had him caught behind off the same bowler.

Woakes removed Jayasuriya after an obdurate innings of 4 from 41 balls, a thick-edged drive well held low at second slip by Harry Brook. But the fourth-wicket stand between Karunaratne and Angelo Mathews kept England at bay, with a run-out seemingly their likeliest method of a breakthrough.

With just one fifty from 13 previous innings in England, Karunaratne was largely watchful in his approach, although he did take three boundaries off an over from Atkinson: a cover drive followed up with a controlled pull, before a low edge flew between slip and gully. Another steer down to deep third off Matt Potts took him to 49 before a tap to point allowed him to raise his bat for the first time on tour.


Mathews looked to take on Bashir, who found some turn but was perhaps not as threatening as England would have hoped, and Pope asked Stone to go short again with lunch approaching. The move worked, Karunaratne dislodged when gloving a lifter through to Smith down the leg side.

Chandimal seemed intent on counterattacking and took Woakes for back-to-back fours at the start of his spell after lunch, then hit Bashir for three boundaries in an over. A wild swipe at Woakes that flew over the slips took him to fifty, and he did the bulk of the scoring during a stand of 59 with Mathews.

They were separated when Bashir tempted Mathews to try and go over the top, only to drill his shot into the hands of Woakes, going to his left at mid-off. Woakes then thought he had removed Chandimal on 55, hitting the knee roll with one coming back down the slope - only for the third umpire, Chris Gaffaney, to conclude there was bat involved, much to Woakes' chagrin. The delay was temporary, as England closed in on a clean sweep ahead of the final Test of the summer at The Oval next week.

[Admin]

The last Test of the summer all rushed through with 6 tests in 8 weeks next year the last Test will end in the first week of August, nonsense, also first time ever don't actually recall listening to Test mathc special this summer, how times change

[Admin]

England 221 for 3 (Pope 103*, Duckett 86) vs Sri Lanka

Ollie Pope planted his front foot, fixed his eyes on the ball, puffed out his cheeks and cut to the boundary to raise a century that mattered.

Every one matters, of course, but with England all over Sri Lanka on the opening day of this third Test and in a series already won, this was personal.

Pope's seventh Test ton, scored against as many different opposition teams in a first for the game, came amid the intense pressure of four previous failures in a series where he is standing in for injured captain Ben Stokes. That role in itself has thrust Pope under greater scrutiny but Stokes' knowing nod as he applauded the milestone from the changing-room balcony said it all, appreciating a defiant innings that was right up his street.

Moments later, with Pope unbeaten on 103 from as many balls, boos rang out followed by slow clapping from a three-quarters-full Kia Oval as the umpires directed the players from the field for bad light for a second time in the day. On this occasion, the decision was final as stumps were called just before 6.30pm with England 221 for 3, Harry Brook the other not-out batter on 8.

Earlier, play was halted for nearly three hours. Whether the skies were dark enough or the rain heavy enough to keep players off the field for so long was up for debate but once they returned, Ben Duckett and Pope ensured it was raining runs, the pair sharing a 95-run partnership for the second wicket after Dan Lawrence failed to stake his claim as opener for the longer term with another poor innings in the absence of the injured Zak Crawley.

Duckett produced a commanding knock of 86 from just 79 balls before he fell during the afternoon followed by Joe Root, who managed just 13 off 48 balls. But, after scores of 6, 6, 1 and 17 previously in the series, Pope had things covered.

Ollie Pope looked relieved upon reaching three figures, England vs Sri Lanka, 3rd Men's Test, Day 1, The Oval, September 6, 2024
Ollie Pope looked relieved upon reaching three figures•Gareth Copley/Getty Images
He and Duckett made up for lost time following the first stoppage, which lasted two hours and 50 minutes spanning the lunch break.

Duckett's wayward ramp off Lahiru Kumara bounced just inside the boundary rope at deep third before disappearing into the crowd rather than clearing fine leg as he apparently intended, but no matter for England. At the other end, Pope looked well set too, thumping Kumara through midwicket with beautiful timing moments later.

Duckett continued to toy with Kumara, nailing his next attempt at a ramp shot over the fine-leg fence and guiding a bouncer over deep third for another maximum in the same over.

He survived an appeal for lbw two balls later on umpire's call after Kumara struck him high on the back thigh, but the shot that had been so productive for him - and entertaining for the crowd - proved to be his undoing as Duckett tried to scoop a slower delivery from Milan Rathnayake only for wicketkeeper Dinesh Chandimal to pouch a simple catch.

Pope stepped up, top-edging Kumara over the keeper's head for six, followed immediately by four through backward point to raise his fifty from 58 balls.

After a relatively quiet period which yielded just four runs in as many overs and coincided with the introduction of Angelo Mathews, Pope broke through again, driving Mathews through the covers for four. He then chanced another boundary between slip and gully with his heart in his mouth for a moment before the gap was pierced.

Root was caught at fine leg by Vishwa Fernando to give Kumara his second wicket but England remained in total control.

The day began with Sri Lanka trying to make good on Dhananjaya de Silva calling correctly at the toss for the third game running. After perilous twin flashes at Asitha Fernando deliveries outside off stump and a fortuitous inside edge off the same bowler which travelled all the way to the fine leg boundary, Duckett was assertive, a clip off his toes through square leg off Vishwa much more assured.

Lawrence, meanwhile, was yet to score after facing 10 balls in five overs and finally made it off the mark when he turned Kumara to square leg and ran two to ironic cheers from the stands.


Duckett raised the tempo when he despatched Rathnayake for consecutive fours over extra cover but the contrast continued with Lawrence, who dropped his head and spun on his heel in the direction of the changeroom even before his mess of a pull shot off Kumara had dropped into the hands of Pathum Nissanka at gully. Lawrence's 5 off 21 balls came after scores of 30, 34, 9 and 7 in the series.

Pope back-cut a short, wide delivery from Rathnayake for four to get going almost immediately and punished a Kumara short ball for six over deep backward square before Duckett struck two fours in three balls off Rathnayake to move to 48 and brought up his fifty by crashing Vishwa through the covers and running three.

But it was safe to say it was Pope's day.

[Admin]

Sri Lanka 211 for 5 (Dhananjaya 64*, Nissanka 64, Kamindu 54*) trail England 325 (Pope 154, Duckett 86, Rathnayake 3-56, Dhananjaya 2-18) by 114 runs

Dhananjaya de Silva and Kamindu Mendis rebuilt Sri Lanka on a see-sawing second day that closed early due to bad light yet again, but this time the tourists could claim the better of the contest.

After their bowlers had staged a remarkable turnaround to bundle England out for 325 from their overnight 221 for 3, Sri Lanka slumped to 93 for 5 before Dhananjaya and Kamindu staged an unbroken stand worth 118 for the sixth wicket to close the deficit.

There was still plenty of work to be done when the players left the field at 5.36pm with the prospect of returning equally as dim as the overhead conditions at The Oval, and stumps were indeed called half an hour later without any further play.

Dhananjaya returned from tea on 16 but by the close he had passed Kamindu to be 64 not out. That was after being dropped on 23 by debutant Josh Hull, who let a straightforward catch off the bowling of Shoaib Bashir slip through his hands and into his chest at mid-on.

Hull's desire to disappear was as palpable as his relief upon claiming his maiden Test wicket, the dangerous-looking Pathum Nissanka for a quick-fire 64 via Chris Woakes' catch at cover.

That was part of England's dismantling of their opponents' good work during an eventful afternoon session in which Olly Stone snared two wickets and Woakes chimed in with one after Nissanka's errant call and Stone's direct hit from short cover had run out Dimuth Karunaratne.

In bizarre scenes, Woakes was forced to send down four offspin deliveries when the umpires ruled the light to be too poor for the seamers midway through his fourth over.

As the skies brightened in the very next over and Gus Atkinson was allowed to bowl off his full run, so too Woakes returned to his stock in trade, and in his sixth over he had Kusal Mendis taken by Harry Brook at second slip.

Stone struck with his fourth delivery, Angelo Mathews caught by Ollie Pope at gully, and after Hull had removed Nissanka, Stone pinned Dinesh Chandimal lbw to leave Sri Lanka in deep trouble.

Josh Hull made Pathum Nissanka his first Test wicket, England vs Sri Lanka, 3rd Men's Test, The Oval, 2nd day, September 7, 2024
Josh Hull made Pathum Nissanka his first Test wicket•Richard Heathcote/Getty Images
Kamindu brought up Sri Lanka's 100 with the first of three gorgeous drives in one Stone over and by tea he was unbeaten on 34.

Due to bad light, England had to bowl spin for the duration of the evening session, 17 overs in which Dhananjaya and Kamindu added 69 runs.

Earlier, Sri Lanka's bowlers responded to fast-bowling coach Aaqib Javed's call at stumps on the first evening to "rest and come up with something better than this".

England were fallible in a collapse of 6 for 35 in 56 balls, with poor shot-selection and too often falling into the traps Sri Lanka's bowlers set for them, but it was an undeniably improved performance from the visitors as their bowlers employed greater patience and probing lines while making the ball swing.

Pope pushed his dazzling first-day score of 103 not out to 154 but apart from him and Ben Duckett, no England batter reached 20.

Brook looked streaky when he resumed on 8, particularly against anything wide of off stump, and he had added just four more runs before skying Milan Rathnayake to deep point, where Asitha Fernando had eons to wait underneath it before inexplicably putting it down.

So frustrated was Brook by Sri Lanka's nagging fifth- and sixth-stump line that at one point he took up his stance a foot outside off stump and gesticulated with outstretched arms that seemed to question their tactic. The answer came soon enough when his frustration appeared to boil over into a slash at Rathnayake's outswinger and Kamindu made no mistake with the sharpest of catches diving to his right at short cover.

Related
Story Image
Stone, Hull get full marks for effort on day of larking about

Story Image
Harry Brook approach in spotlight after Sri Lanka hit back

Story Image
De Silva: First-innings runs are what's crucial to victory

Story Image
More bad-light farce at The Oval as Woakes is forced to bowl spin mid-over

Vishwa Fernando entered the attack after about an hour and had Pope given out lbw on 139, roaring "ah yes!" in celebration. Pope reviewed, somewhat speculatively, and managed to overturn his dismissal when the ball was shown to have pitched so narrowly outside leg stump Pope probably couldn't believe it himself.

With all the luck heading his way, Pope got an inside edge onto the penultimate ball of the over and it was Vishwa who could scarcely comprehend when the ball missed the top of leg stump by a whisker and raced to the boundary.


Vishwa had genuine cause to celebrate a short time later though, his first wicket of the match finally coming in the form of Jamie Smith's flick straight to midwicket.

Captain Dhananjaya brought himself on and removed Woakes and Atkinson cheaply with his offspin and while Pope had brought up his 150 in just 151 balls, it was Vishwa who ended his wonderful knock with a short ball hooked to deep square leg.

Pope's dismissal brought Hull to the crease but his stay was short-lived after Asitha had him caught at square leg for just 2 and Bashir was the last man out, spooning Rathnayake to mid-off for 1.

[Admin]

Oh dear me



ri Lanka 263 (Dhananjaya 69, Kamindu 64, Nissanka 64) and 94 for 1 (Nissanka 53*) need 125 more runs to beat England 325 and 156 (Smith 67, Kumara 4-21, Vishwa 3-40)

In a match as changeable as the weather in south London, Sri Lanka took control of the third and final Test against England on the third day at The Oval.

After an abject performance on the opening day when their bowlers failed to capitalise in prime conditions upon winning the toss, Sri Lanka had to watch Ollie Pope and Ben Duckett shine through the overhead gloom.

Then, two incisive passages of swing bowling - on a dark second day, then under bright skies on the third - had the tourists back in contention, but not before Jamie Smith had bludgeoned England out of dire trouble. Still, by the time bad light stopped play just before quarter to seven on Sunday evening, the match was Sri Lanka's to lose.

But it is the detail around those key moments that tell the story of where this Test sits heading into the final day.

Apart from Pope and Duckett, no England batter passed 20 in their first innings, as they were bowled out for an unremarkable 325. Despite Dhananjaya de Silva, Kamindu Mendis and Pathum Nissanka all passing fifty, no one pressed onto a big score that would have taken Sri Lanka past England, who led by 62 runs on first innings.

Jamie Smith pulls over square leg for six, England vs Sri Lanka, 3rd Test, The Oval, London, 3rd day, September 8, 2024
Jamie Smith pulls over square leg for six•Rob Newell - CameraSport via Getty Images
Then a struggling Dan Lawrence looked like top-scoring for England's second innings with his series-best 35 before Smith's brutal 67 off 50 balls made them the only home batters to pass 12 on the third day as Lahiru Kumara and Vishwa Fernando - with his devastating inswingers - kept them in check.

And so, when bad light brought another early close, Sri Lanka were 94 for 1 and needing 125 more for a consolation win. Chris Woakes' superb return catch removed Dimuth Karunaratne for just 8, but that was the only wicket to fall in Sri Lanka's free-scoring fourth innings.

Nissanka reached his second half-century of the match from just 42 balls by crunching a Josh Hull delivery to the rope wide of mid-off just before the light intervened, leaving him unbeaten on 53 with Kusal Mendis 30 not out.

Sri Lanka's bowlers, led by Vishwa, were making the ball move in what were by far the brightest conditions of the match so far, despite a couple of short interruptions for what amounted to sun-showers.

But then Smith pummelled 52 runs off the last 19 balls he faced, helping himself to 20 runs off one Milan Rathnayake over to lead England's second-innings recovery from 82 for 7 to 140 for 8.

Vishwa Fernando trapped Joe Root lbw in his first over, England vs Sri Lanka, 3rd Men's Test, The Oval, 3rd day, September 8, 2024
Vishwa Fernando trapped Joe Root lbw in his first over•Andy Kearns/Getty Images
By the time Olly Stone fell to give Kumara his fourth wicket and Asitha Fernando had Shoaib Bashir also caught behind by Nishan Madushka - standing in for the injured Dinesh Chandimal - England had stretched their advantage to 218.

Two early strikes had given Sri Lanka hope during a morning session extended because of bad weather over the first two days as Duckett and Pope fell cheaply.

Lawrence smashed Asitha for six over long-off and, two balls later, carved deftly through point for four. But, having bettered his previous series best by one run, he was brought undone by a Kumara delivery that moved away late and kissed the edge of the bat before landing in Chandimal's gloves.

Vishwa entered the attack in the 15th over and he struck third ball with a superb inswinging yorker that hit Joe Root on the boot directly in front.

Olly Stone had his third when he dismissed Milan Rathnayake, England vs Sri Lanka, 3rd Men's Test, The Oval, 3rd day, September 8, 2024
Olly Stone had his third when he dismissed Milan Rathnayake•Getty Images
Harry Brook had come under fire for his petulant reaction to Sri Lanka's successful bid to frustrate him by bowling outside off stump in the first innings. This time, he succumbed to another late inswinger which nailed the front pad with pin-point accuracy on leg stump in Vishwa's next over.


Kumara had Woakes caught behind for a six-ball duck but then Chandimal had to be helped off the field after diving stop a wayward Kumara delivery down the leg side to Gus Atkinson, hurting his lower back in the process. Atkinson was trapped lbw by Rathnayake, having faced 14 balls for his 1 before Smith got stuck in.

Earlier, Hull and Stone had preserved England's advantage after Sri Lanka resumed for the day on 211 for 5, trailing by 114. Hull made amends for dropping Dhananjaya on the second evening when he had the Sri Lanka skipper caught for 69 with his 11th ball of the day, an attempted pull looping off the top edge to deep backward square.

That sparked a procession of five wickets for 52 runs in 13.3 overs, Hull, Stone and Woakes sharing four of the five wickets to fall with Atkinson off the field nursing a thigh problem from which he recovered sufficiently to bowl in the fourth innings.

[Admin]

It's all so esy to play on flat tracks and hit 800 plus but on raging turners they are hapless. As Jack Russell put it the kind of tracks we get in August when they used to play County Cricket Championship matches

[sillypoint]

Their spinners much better than ours, though we didn't pick easily our best one ie. Liam Dawson.

Still not convinced by Pope and Stokes can't defend against spinners, he's one who is much better playing full Bazball.

[oldhamexile]

Good knock by reportedly Lancashire player, Liam Livingstone, in a hotly anticipated and widely reported one day international against the West Indies. Paced his innings well, there wasn't much to come if he got out, some devastating hitting at the end. 50 for Salt too although he rather chucked it away when he got to his 50.

[Admin]

Nov 3, 2024 10:14:52 GMT oldhamexile said:

Good knock by reportedly Lancashire player, Liam Livingstone, in a hotly anticipated and widely reported one day international against the West Indies. Paced his innings well, there wasn't much to come if he got out, some devastating hitting at the end. 50 for Salt too although he rather chucked it away when he got to his 50.

Reportedly Lancashire player 😂

[sillypoint]

Nov 3, 2024 10:48:18 GMT Admin said:

Nov 3, 2024 10:14:52 GMT oldhamexile said:

Good knock by reportedly Lancashire player, Liam Livingstone, in a hotly anticipated and widely reported one day international against the West Indies. Paced his innings well, there wasn't much to come if he got out, some devastating hitting at the end. 50 for Salt too although he rather chucked it away when he got to his 50.

Reportedly Lancashire player 😂

Two more reportedly Lancashire players Phil Salt and Jos Buttler played match-winning innings in the equally hotly anticipated T20 internationals against the West Indies. I've been kissing the badge all week.