Sri Lanka 236 and 326 (Kamindu 113, Chandimal 79, Potts 3-47) lead England 358 (Smith 111, Brook 56, Asitha 4-102) by 204 runs
England will want 205 for victory within the first Take a look at at Emirates Outdated Trafford, after a superb fightback from Kamindu Mendis and Dinesh Chandimal led to a collapse of 4 wickets in 26 balls towards the second new ball.
The innings could have ended a lot because it had begun, with Sri Lanka’s final three wickets falling within the area of ten balls as Matthew Potts ended because the choose of a hard-worked assault with 3 for 47. However in between whiles, the competition was turned on its head by an outstanding stand of 117 in 30 overs between Kamindu, who recorded his third hundred within the area of 4 Assessments, and Chandimal, who was final man out for 79 regardless of having retired harm on the third afternoon.
Between them, the pair powered via the morning session with scarcely a second of alarm. Having let a promising place slip with the ball on the third morning, Sri Lanka’s focus was unwavering as they resumed on 204 for six, with a slender lead of 82, and had greater than doubled that benefit earlier than Gus Atkinson prised out Kamindu for 113 shortly after lunch, to create a gap that Chris Woakes and Matthew Potts have been primed to pile via.
That set the tone for a proactive half-hour, with Chandimal following his companion’s lead as he constructed on his in a single day 20 not out. He quickly picked off two boundaries in a 13-run over off Atkinson, neither of them fairly timed, although the intent was plain as he centered on seizing his scoring alternatives whereas the ball was providing little.
The truth that Chandimal was there in any respect was exceptional, given the ugly blow to the thumb that Wooden had inflicted on the third afternoon. He had retired harm on 10, however after an X-ray had given him the all-clear, returned with no ill-effects, though he did later relinquish the wicketkeeping duties, with Kusal Mendis taking up behind the stumps.
Ollie Pope rang the modifications for England, however none of them had any reply to a burgeoning stand. Kamindu got here into this contest with a mean in extra of 100 after two centuries and an unbeaten 92 in his three earlier Assessments, and the vary of his strokeplay was obvious in back-to-back boundaries off Atkinson, pushed and pulled respectively, plus a ruthless eye for something free from the spin of Bashir.
By the point of a heavy cloud burst, he had moved alongside to 90 not out, and when play resumed with an over of spin apiece from Dan Lawrence and Joe Root to hasten the arrival of the brand new ball, Kamindu was ready to money in, with a nudge for 2 off his pads and the decisive slash via deep third, to ship England into lunch with an actual battle on their palms.
Their speedy prospects after the resumption did not look significantly better. Kamindu surged onto the offensive after the break with a trio of off-side boundaries as Atkinson struggled along with his line, however after an intervention from Pope, he switched to around the wicket with instantaneous success. Kamindu fenced on the unique approach, shaping into his left-handed stance, and Root at first slip held on a pointy low probability.
Atkinson was instantly yanked from the assault, with Potts including his second of the innings courtesy of a juggled take from Harry Brook at second slip, who parried Prabath Jayasuriya’s punch off the again foot, however recovered properly to snaffle the rebound. Potts celebrated with a pat of his fluttering coronary heart, having watched two key probabilities go down throughout his glorious however under-rewarded spell on day three.
Chris Woakes added his third when Vishwa Fernando performed down the flawed line to be struck in entrance of center and leg, and although Chandimal tried to chop free with solely Asitha Fernando for firm, the substitute fielder Harry Singh stayed cool at deep cowl to finish a perfectly gutsy innings.
Andrew Miller is UK editor of ESPNcricinfo. @miller_cricket
