Sri Lanka bossed the second day of the final Test against England at The Oval. The bowlers dealt the opening punches with a strong morning session to keep England to 325 after the hosts looked primed for a total in excess of 400, if not 450. However, not for the first time in this series, Sri Lanka imploded, slipping from 70/1 to 93/5 before Dhananjaya de Silva (64*) and Kamindu Mendis (54*) put on a fluent unbeaten stand of 118 to resuscitate the innings.
Most 50-plus scores in first six Tests
9 – Sunil Gavaskar
7 – Bert Sutcliffe
7 – Harry Brook
7 -Saud Shakeel
7 – Kamindu Mendis
Kamindu Mendis in Tests so far:
61, 102, 164, 92*, 9, 12, 113, 74, 4, 54*(today)#ENGvSL pic.twitter.com/xEfrLZYXKk
— Cricbuzz (@cricbuzz) September 7, 2024
After the shellacking endured on the pruned opening day, Sri Lanka produced a drastically better bowling performance to claw their way back into the game. Ollie Pope kicked on to accomplish the 150-plus mark, the quickest by any batter at this venue, but that was arguably the only applause-worthy moment of the morning session for the hosts as they failed to build on the platform provided by the openers.
The initial hour seemed more like a deja vu of the previous day for the islanders as luck eluded the pacers, who were bowling in decent channels. Pope and Harry Brook both survived close calls, given out initially only for them to put technology to the rescue. Much to Sri Lanka’s chagrin, a few inside edges and top-edges also fell short.
Luck finally blessed Sri Lanka in the second hour when Brook mistimed one to extra cover. The breakthrough opened the floodgates, with the bowlers keeping up the good work to amplify the pressure. Jamie Smith whipped one straight to mid-wicket. Part-timer Dhananjaya de Silva, Sri Lanka’s captain, brought himself on and managed to remove Chris Woakes and Gus Atkinson, while Vishwa Fernando bid Pope goodbye to ensure that England’s lower-order won’t hurt them again.
Asitha Fernando and Milan Rathnayake mopped up the tail as England lost their last seven wickets for just 64 runs. Make no mistake, their total of 325 is still a competitive one, given the nature of the surface but Sri Lanka have certainly balanced the scales of the contest with their disciplined bowling.
