Sri Lanka v England, 3rd Test Day 2: Two Sessions of Total Sri Lankan Dominance Before Surrender

 

Sri Lanka v England

3^rd Test Day 2: Two Sessions of Total Sri Lankan Dominance Before Surrender

November 24^th 2018

 

Can this series get any odder? Sri Lanka totally dominated the first two sessions of play and looked set to punish a sloppy England and set up an utterly invincible position when, somehow, after Tea, they found a way to hand the initiative straight back.

173-1, twenty-two balls before Tea, Karunaratne and De Silva were both sailing through the 70s. Both looked set for a century and England looked utterly devoid of ideas. Joe Root had dropped two catches – both, of course, off Stuart Broad – and had cost England some way north of one hundred runs already. It looked set for a difficult post-Tea session with an old ball that was doing precisely nothing. Moeen had been flogged out of the attack. Stuart Broad had retired to the outfield after a second, luckless spell, presumably to be as far from his captain as possible. And, after a long spell, Jack Leach was being picked-off, without threatening to take a wicket on the best batting pitch of the series.

Where is Ben Stokes (just a single over in the 2^nd Test)? Where is Adil Rashid, the fans asked? Finally, they came on in tandem and, after a long spell when the scoring was accelerating and the match was drifting away, suddenly things happened. Stokes had an LBW shout that was turned down, but was umpire’s call. Adil Rashid bowled a ball full. De Silva turned it to leg. And Keaton Jennings swooped. Whatever his problems in the slips last summer, Jennings is not missing a thing under the helmet.

While both Stokes and Adil Rashid can have the control of a paint spray, both are able to make things happen. While Stokes roughed the batsmen up – an achievement on a pitch that offered him absolutely nothing – the odd ball started to turn prodigiously. Karunaratne got one in the ribs just before Tea, which ensured that there would not be an extra over before the break. That will have allowed time for the blow to get cold and may explain why, straight after Tea, Karunaratne played outside a googly that turned beautifully, edged on the pad and straight to Jennings when a century appeared his for the taking. Two new batsmen at the crease and Sri Lanka fell apart. There was a period of four overs at 205-5 when a wicket did not fall but then four fell in three overs as Ben Stokes and Adil Rashid gave the batsmen the holy terrors.

Apart from the first wicket, that had fallen to Leach, the other nine all involved combinations of Jennings, Foakes, Stokes and Adil Rashid. If Jennings did not catch it with cat-like reflexes, Foakes did and when neither was involved, it was Adil Rashid with a dead-eyed throw to produce a run-out off the bowling of Stokes.

240ao represented a barely believable collapse. After the highest partnership of the series – a small matter of 142 between Karunaratne and De Silva – the highest partnership for the last eight wickets was just 14. After two sessions in which the last three wickets surrendered cheaply and tamely and then the Sri Lankan batsmen made merry, with England far below the level of the first two Tests, the match had been turned on its head. From facing a potential large deficit, England had a totally unexpected 96-run lead, extended to 99 before bad light intervened.

Best-ever Test figures for Adil Rashid. Four catches for Keaton Jennings – one short of Yajuvendra Singh’s Test record. Three wickets for Ben Stokes, in a series in which seamers have been passengers. And after three very poor sessions, one good session was all England needed to set up a potential 0-3 whitewash.

A bizarre series has taken another very odd turn.

Quite apart from the victory in the Test, there is plenty for England to play for. Burns and Jennings both need a score to seal their places. Jonny Bairstow will be keen to add more runs at #3. Moeen would like some runs too. And the bowlers will need a score to defend in the fourth innings. And, poor Stuart Broad will hope that someone does take a catch off his bowling, should he manage to induce one.