Sri Lanka v England
3rd
Test Day 4: Tea Kills Sri Lankan Hopes of a Miracle
November 26th 2018
There have only been 8 successful fourth innings chases at the SSC,
while twelve times, including today, the chase has ended in defeat. The highest
successful chases are:
·
326-5: Sri Lanka v Zimbabwe, 1988
·
172-4: Sri Lanka v West Indies, 2005
·
142-5: Sri Lanka v England, 1993
·
131-5: Pakistan v Sri Lanka, 2000
·
74-6: England v Sri Lanka, 2001.
For a significant part of the afternoon session, Sri Lankan fans started
to dream of pulling-off an incredible heist. Had Tea come half an hour later,
it is possible that Sri Lanka would have won, given how Lakmal and Pushpakumara
had added 58 in 12 overs and were grinding-down the bowling to helplessness with
a mixture of solid defence and hard swinging.
The deficit at Tea was 43 and horrible thoughts were rising in the backs
of the minds of the visiting fans, as the home fans started to wonder if they
were going to see a historic turnaround. Numerous times though a significant
Sri Lankan partnership has broken just after Tea, changing the momentum of a
match: what Joe Root could not obtain with a bowling change, he invariably managed
with a cup of Ceylon tea – rival to Darjeeling as the best cuppa in the world
and, in this series, a lethal wicket-taker. While Pushpakumara was swinging
merrily, they were distracted from the nerves that come with knowing that a target,
previously out of reach, was almost within touching distance. A tenth wicket
partnership can be gloriously uninhibited when it knows that victory is
impossible. Had Tea come with fewer than 20 wanted to win, you can imagine that
the nerves would have been transferred to the fielding side and that Sri Lanka
would have been, perhaps, the favourites. As it was, the batsmen trooped back
to the pavilion just before the fielding side reached a state of total disarray.
The result was almost inevitable. You felt that the first two overs
after the interval would be the danger: if the batsmen got through them, they
might yet knock off the runs; if they survived five overs after Tea, panic
might set in to the fielding side, but that those first two overs might well be
decisive.
Fourth ball after Tea, Lakmal got a ball that straightened just enough
to hit the stumps. Before Tea, most likely he would have dealt with it. After
Tea, the instincts and the concentration were dulled just enough for the ball
to miss Lakmal’s prod. Jack Leach had the last wicket of the series, sealed the
0-3 win and, to boot, equalled Moeen Ali’s tally of wickets for the series and
ensured that even though Ben Stokes topped the bowling averages for the series,
he would pip Perera, Moeen and Sandakan to top the averages for spin bowlers.
England had made heavy weather of finishing off a spirited opposition.
As predicted last night, the biorhythms were off in the morning, the
nightwatchman did hang around and the momentum was lost, with a substantial
sixth wicket partnership threatening to bring Sri Lanka back into the match. As
though has been the Sri Lankan wont throughout the series, just when their
batsmen were getting on top, they threw it away. The stand was at 102. Mendis
was approaching a century. And a senseless runout stopped both Mendis and the
partnership. There were 22, fifties in the series – 11 by England, 11 by Sri
Lanka – yet the only four centuries were scored by Englishmen. No England
batsman was dismissed between 64 and 107, but six Sri Lankan batsmen were. Adil
Rashid bowled a googly. Roshen Silva pushed it away and set off for two. Leach
fielded and threw, right-handed, with lethal precision at the non-striker’s end
and an end was opened. A flat England side were re-invigorated and Moeen and
Leach shared the last four wickets: the first two to catches to Keaton Jennings,
who took six in the match, eight in the series and, surprisingly, was pipped to
the title of leading catcher, not by either of the wicket-keepers, but by Ben
Stokes, with 9[1].
Jennings only went to the Short Leg position after Rory Burns took a sickening
blow there: you wonder how many catches he might have had in the series if he
had fielded there for all three Tests.
Much has been made of the retirement of Herath for Sri Lanka, but this
is largely a red herring as he has not for the last couple of years wanted to
play even a full 3-match series. While he played both Tests at home against
South Africa, he played just one in the shared series in the Caribbean. The overall
impression was of two limited sides, with England always just a little too good
for their opponents, particularly at the critical moments. Sri Lanka though are
nowhere near as poor as some of the apologists have claimed: you do not beat
South Africa 2-0 with a poor team and, in that series, all five Sri Lankan
bowlers, all of whom also played against England too, averaged under 17.3 with
the ball. Against bowlers who had been devastating against South Africa,
England found a method that worked so well that the same bowlers took their
wickets at triple the cost.
It is not a brilliant England side. There are too many manifest
weaknesses for that, but it has the makings of a pretty good one if it can
consolidate in the New Year in the Caribbean.
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