By Srian Obeyesekere
Sri Lanka fought back as England reached 259 for the loss of 6 wickets having recovered from a shaky 67 for 3 by 14.3 overs after seamers Asitha Fernando and Vishwa Fernando struck and when Asitha claimed the prize wicket of Joe Root for 42 the hosts were 125 for 4 after 25.3 overs before Harry Brook and 56 and Jamie Smith 72 steadied the innings by a fifth-wicket 62 partnership as the hosts reached 187 for 5 when leggy Prabath Jayasuriya bowled Brook by a ripping delivery on an eventful see sawing second day’s play of the first Test at Old Trafford, Manchester yesterday.
Asitha Fernando, whose 3 wickets came off 14 overs conceding 68 runs, led Sri Lanka’s fight back claiming 3 wickets as he triggered an England collapse by trapping Ben Duckett leg before wicket for 18 and clean bowling England skipper Ollie Pope for 6 as the Brits lost both openers with the score 40 after 8.4 overs followed by the prize wicket of Joe Root whom he had nicking to wicket-keeper Dinesh Chandimal with Vishwa Fernando accounting for Dan Lawrence caught behind by Chandimal for 30. Root’s 57-ball knock contained 4 boundaries while Lawrence’s 39-ball stay fetched him 3 boundaries.
Sri Lanka’s thrust for more wickets was foiled by No.6 Jamie Smith who continued to lead a 97-ball lower-order fightback hitting 5 boundaries and a six in adding a further 52 for the sixth-wicket with Chris Woakes who stonewalled to 25 to a 65-ball blunting of the Lankan attack before Jayasuriya bowled Woakes to break the threatening partnership by the third ball of the 58th over. Jayasuriya, who opened the Lankan attack on Wednesday together with skipper Dhananjaya de Silva, ended the day with figures of 2 for 58 off 21 overs. Vishwa Fernando’s one wicket cost him 51 off 13 overs. However, debutant Milan Rathnayake, who played a rescuing knock of 72 to keep Sri Lanka in the game, went wicket less for an expensive 53 off 9 overs.
England batted a further 3.3 overs with bad weather forcing play to be called off. Smith remained unbeaten to bating England, leading by a meager 23, further on and the Lankans obstacle to wrapping up the host innings.
CHIEF SCORES:
Sri Lanka 236 (Dhananjaya de Silva 74, Milan Rathnayake 72, Chris Woakes 3/32, Shoaib Bashir 3/55, Gus Atkinson 2/48)
England 1st Innings 259/6 (61 Overs)
(Jamie Smith n.o. 72, Joe Root 42, Dan Lawrence 30, Chris Woakes 25, Ben Duckett 18, Asitha Fernando 3/68, Prabath Jayasuriya 2/58, Vishwa Fernando 1/51)
