England took control of the second Test match against Sri Lanka with an impressive all-round performance on day two at Lord’s. Gus Atkinson scored a quickfire century to help the Three Lions post a total of 427 and then the fast bowlers dominated the day to bowl Sri Lanka out for 196 in their first innings on Friday, August 30.
Atkinson began Day 2 at 358/7 and converted his maiden Test fifty into a brilliant century. Joe Root The team top-scored with 143 runs and Atkinson contributed 118 runs in just 115 balls as England displayed their brand of attacking cricket to score a huge total.
After showing some promise in the first Test, Sri Lanka’s batsmen failed to impress at Lord’s as the English batsmen proved too strong from the start. Chris Woakes, Gus Atkinson, Olly Stone and Matthew Potts took two wickets each and spinner Shoaib Bashir claimed one for the hosts.
England decided not to apply a follow-on despite having taken a healthy 231-run lead in the first innings. Openers Ben Duckett and Dan Lawrence managed to add just 22 runs for the first wicket before the latter was dismissed by Lahiru Kumara in the closing stages.
The Three Lions scored a total of 25/1 in 7 overs to take a shock 256-run lead when officials called for stumps on Day 2. England are expected to score quick runs and declare their innings after extending their lead to more than 500 on Day 3.
Sri Lanka’s starting XI: Dimuth Karunaratne, Pathum Nissanka, Nishan Madushka (week), Angelo Mathews, Dinesh Chandimal, Dhananjaya de Silva (c), Kamindu Mendis, Prabath Jayasuriya, Asitha Fernando, Lahiru Kumara, Milan Priyanath Rathnayake.
England’s starting XI: Ben Duckett, Daniel Lawrence, Ollie Pope (c), Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jamie Smith (wk), Chris Woakes, Gus Atkinson, Matthew Potts, Olly Stone and Shoaib Bashir.
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