England’s Jonny Bairstow celebrates reaching a half-century with Joe Root (Photo: Reuters)
England were close to securing victory against Sri Lanka in the first Test on Friday after reducing the tourists to 107-4 in their second innings.
Sri Lanka were still 15 runs behind England and may have just five wickets left, with Dinesh Chandimal taken to hospital after being forced to retire injured following a blow to his right thumb from a fast bowling by Mark Wood.
England took a 122-run lead after the first innings thanks to a maiden Test century from wicketkeeper Jamie Smith, whose 111 helped the hosts post 358 all out after resuming Day 3 at 259-6.
Sri Lanka fell to 6-3 in their first innings and did not start their second innings any better after trailing 2-1 following the dismissals of Nishan Madushka and Kusal Mendis before lunch.
Dimuth Karunaratne was the first to go in the second session when he was outpaced by Wood’s pace off his first ball and hit an inside edge to his body and Harry Brook at second slip for 27.
Chandimal appeared to be in pain after Wood twisted his thumb backwards with his powerful delivery and after receiving treatment he went to hospital for an X-ray. He could still miss the rest of the series in what would be another blow for the Sri Lankans.
Angelo Mathews (48 not out) continued to contain England’s seam attack but was losing partners, with captain Dhananjaya de Silva trapped lbw for 10. Sri Lanka reviewed, but without success.
Kamindu Mendis was 6-0 out and in the middle with Mathews.
Smith was enjoying a fine day, taking a catch to remove Kusal Mendis after a century that contained eight fours and a six as he guided the tail to a big total, considering England were 67-3 at one stage on Thursday.
Smith, 24, was chosen ahead of Ben Foakes and Jonny Bairstow to be England’s wicketkeeper for this summer international and has not let his country down, impressing behind the stumps and with the bat. He hit 70 and 95 in England’s 3-0 Test series win over the West Indies last month and now has a century in his fourth Test match.
(Only the headline and image of this report may have been reworked by Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
First published: August 23, 2024 | 21:55 IS
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