Sri Lanka v England, 2nd Test Days 5: Sri Lankan Spin to Defeat

 

Sri Lanka v England

2^nd Test Day 5: Sri Lankan Spin to Defeat

November 18^th 2018

 

At 176-4 and 221-5, Sri Lanka seemed well on the way to a victory that had appeared to be impossible when Jack Leach had reduced them to 26-3 inside the first eight overs. At Tea on Day 4, Matthews and Dickwella were batting with supreme confidence; England looked out of ideas and Joe Root was wondering where a wicket would come from. Twelve overs later, the match was over.

At the end of the reckoning, neither the five-run penalty was not decisive, nor was this to be the Test match with the highest aggregate without a century partnership. It was not even close in the end: a margin of 57 is quite convincing. In the end, England were just a little better when it counted.

However, the biggest single difference between the sides, apart from the spinners, has been the fact that England have the only three centuries of the series. There have been fifteen fifties in the series so far: eight by England and seven by Sri Lanka. Discounting Ben Foakes’ unbeaten 65, the respective conversion rates have been three of seven England fifties have become centuries, while not one of the seven Sri Lankan fifties has been converted. Six of the eight highest scores so far in the series have come from England. And, in all four innings, England have scored faster than the Sri Lankans by about half a run per over, keeping the Sri Lankan bowlers under pressure.

It has to be said that England’s bowling in this match has not reached the standards of the 1^st Test. Jack Leach bowled three consecutive full tosses before finally hitting his length but, when he did, he was far too good for the batsmen. Credit to him that at least the full tosses showed that he was trying to pitch the ball up further. With Sri Lanka nine-down and both Moeen and Leach with four, it was a race between them to take the last wicket. Leach won it and obtained a first, five-wicket haul in just his third Test, suggesting that a future in which the availability of all-rounders allows England to play Moeen and Leach in a twin-spin attack.

Despite that, too much of the bowling in the Test has been too short and has missed the testing length that would have used the devil in the pitch. Adil Rashid had a spell earlier in the match when he struggled to get the ball anywhere near the correct length and line although, in general, he has been hamstrung by the fact that, when he did get it right, LBW was ruled out because he had to pitch outside leg and the ball usually turned too much to hit the stumps anyway. Moeen bowled some magic balls and quite a few that were not so magical. However, through the series, in the bowler v bowler analysis, England’s bowlers have trumped their Sri Lankan opponents, being just a little better, a little more consistent – although some critics would say that “a little less inconsistent” is more accurate, here – having fewer bad spells. One wonders what Muttiah Muralitharan would have done with this pitch.

A bowler v bowler comparison over the two Tests is interesting:

·       The top wicket-takers of the series are Moeen Ali and Dilruwan Perera, both off-spinners: both have 14 wickets, but Moeen’s have cost two runs fewer each and at a strike rate of 36 instead of 45.

·       Off-spinner, Akila Dananjaya, has made one of the great international starts, with three, five-wicket hauls in his first five Tests, which have brought him 27 wickets, but Jack Leach has taken three more wickets in the series at half the average and with a significantly better strike rate.

·       The support act has been Adil Rashid, for England and the combination of Rangana Herath and Malinda Pushpakumara, both Slow Left Arm, for Sri Lanka. Adil Rashid’s 7 wickets at 30.9 look, on paper, to be a modest contribution to England’s success, but the same number of wickets for Herath and Pushpakumara have cost 46.7 each and their strike rate has been 84 against Adil Rashid’s 57.

Only in one area have Sri Lanka actually had an advantage and, surprisingly, that is in the seamers.

·       Sri Lanka have used just one seamer – the modestly named Ranasinghe Arachchige Suranga  Lakmal – whose 4 wickets at 40, with a strike rate of 65, have easily trumped the 3 wickets at 67 with a strike rate of 138 of Anderson, Curran and Stokes. That said, Lakmal has bowled just 43 overs in 4 innings, while England’s trio have bowled 69 overs, of which almost two-thirds (41 overs) have been delivered by Jimmy Anderson, who is just ahead of Jack Leach as the most economical bowler of the series (we are talking about just one run in a dozen overs as the difference in economy here).

However, the seamers have been bit-players through the series and to have a superiority there is certainly not going to turn a match.

It is facile to say that a not especially good England side have beaten a poor Sri Lanka. No doubt plenty of Australians will be happy to say that things will be very different next summer, but you can only beat what you have in front of you. England fans are not renowned for their lack of cynicism: when their side wins, the opposition is poor, when it loses, it is rubbish. Better sides than England have gone to Sri Lanka and come away a poor second best. South Africa were whitewashed 2-0 in July. Sri Lanka’s previous three series were away against India, Pakistan and Bangladesh: the last two series saw three wins from four matches, while India only beat them 1-0, to give Sri Lanka a W5 D3 L1 record since India won 3-0 in Sri Lanka in August 2017, at least, until England hit their shores.

England go to Colombo with the chance to obtain a rare series whitewash in Asia. It is possible that they could decide to stick with a winning eleven. It is also possible that Jimmy Anderson could be rested and Stuart Broad given a game. There is also a case for Jonny Bairstow to come into the side and to bat at #3, but that would have to be at the expense of a bowler, which, understandably, England would be reluctant to do, although if Sam Curran’s slight niggle were to rule him out, Bairstow for Curran would be one option. It will be interesting to see which way England will go with their selection.