128.1 -
Woakes to Lakmal, FOUR, length ball on his torso, digs deep into the crease for some room and hacks his away through mid-wicket. Slow roll across the green grass to earn him a boundary
127.3 -
Broad to Pradeep, byes, FOUR, through everyone, like Salman Rushdie's words. Stays low, gets under Pradeep's bat swing and almost hobbles across, through the keeper's legs, to the fences behind
127.1 -
Broad to Pradeep, FOUR, an outside edge that periscopes over the slip cordon, which just looked up and mourned. Full delivery, Pradeep fetched it for a slog only to end up looking not beautiful
126.0 -
Broad to Pradeep, FOUR, that's picturesque from Ali. Runs across at fine leg, slides and then shaves the grass with his right leg to carrom-kick the ball in. But hold on.. the left leg is already hugging the ropes, eh? Yes. An inside-edge tickle from Pradeep this was
124.5 -
Woakes to Lakmal, FOUR, my screen showed no one behind square until a fine leg came rushing across. Where's the bodyline spirit? Short ball down leg, Lakmal is not in control. Off the gloves.. wide of the keeper and to the fences
118.5 -
Moeen Ali to Chandimal, FOUR, straight down the ground. As simple as that. Ali tosses this up, like a pancake in the making, and Chandimal is suctioned out of the crease for a hammer downtown. Full flow of the bat. One bounce and into rundom
116.3 -
Moeen Ali to Herath, FOUR, yes, yes. How old is he? A 38-year old slashing grass with a sweep. This time with a conventional one. Rubbers himself forward, the length's there and chaperones it through mid-wicket
116.2 -
Moeen Ali to Herath, FOUR, this looks like fun. He's getting adventurous. Stretches forward, uses the good bounce and ushers out a reverse sweep to third man
112.3 -
Moeen Ali to Herath, FOUR, ah, that sweep has been knived. Stretches forward, gobbles up the flight and brooms it through mid-wicket
112.0 -
Woakes to Chandimal, FOUR, last ball of the session and Chandimal has gloriously driven it through the covers. Another half-volley, England have been guilty of straying it on either side. Sri Lanka keep fighting..
110.0 -
Woakes to Chandimal, FOUR, Chandimal gets there! He leaps and hollers, punches the air and looks on as his teammates rise in applause. Jayasuriya is a delighted man in the balcony. Length ball just outside off, Chandimal opens the bat-face after pressing across and runs it to the third man fence. Nobody there. Well played!
105.4 -
Woakes to Herath, FOUR, oh, wristy! Back of a length outside off, Herath twirls his wrists to control the bounce and cuts it past backward point
100.4 -
Moeen Ali to Herath, FOUR, runs galore in this second hour of play. Ali drifts one into middle and leg and is swept away to the deep backward square fence
100.0 -
Finn to Chandimal, FOUR, 15 off the Finn over, I think he's bounced himself out of the attack with this bumper. Not a lot of venom and in line with off, Chandimal swivels across fluently and pulls it fine of long leg
99.3 -
Finn to Herath, FOUR, there's hardly any extension of the arms and the ball has raced away. Although in the air, but that off-side is poorly populated so no immediate danger. Back of a length outside off, Herath opens the bat-face while on the hop and steers it through the covers
99.1 -
Finn to Herath, FOUR, Finn is all over the place. Either too short (which is mostly the case), or too full. No rhythm at all which is evident by the speed gun. On a short of length and slanting in towards off, Herath has lots of time as he lifts his front leg and short-arm pulls through mid-wicket. The ball sluggishly rolls across this heavy outfield and only about kisses the cushions
96.5 -
Woakes to Herath, FOUR, short on the stumps, Herath rocks back and pulls it nonchalantly through backward square leg fence
95.1 -
Finn to Chandimal, FOUR, poor delivery, short and width on offer, Chandimal rises on his toes and carves it over the in-field on the off-side. Couple of bounces and into the fence
91.0 -
Anderson to Chandimal, FOUR, half-volley outside off and Chandimal is not going to miss on those. Leans forward and caresses it past cover. The ball races to the fence in a hurry
90.1 -
Anderson to Chandimal, FOUR, nicely timed! The short of length outside off, Chandimal waits for it, opens the bat face and steers it wide of backward point. No need to run for those
89.3 -
Broad to Chandimal, FOUR, cracking shot! Sees this fullish delivery outside off and spanks the drive through cover region. The ball races away to the fence in a jiffy
83.5 -
Broad to Siriwardana, leg byes, FOUR, oh, it came off the pad of Siriwardana as he tried to glance this one fine. Bairstow got his hand to it, had it come off the bat, England would have been left disappointed and it is not nice to end the day in such a way
81.5 -
Broad to Chandimal, FOUR, half-volley outside off and that will help Chandimal get to his fifty. Chandimal leans into the drive and beats a diving man at extra cover with ease
77.3 -
Root to Siriwardana, FOUR, tossed up but wide of off, Siriwardana goes for the square drive and finds the gap, the ball races away to the fence
77.1 -
Root to Siriwardana, FOUR, welcome delivery from Root. Short and wide and Siriwardana cuts it away to the sweeper cover fence
75.5 -
Finn to Siriwardana, FOUR, this has been sweetly timed. Siriwardana just punched this length delivery off the front foot and found the gap through cover, there was no point giving it a chase as it raced along the turf
74.2 -
Moeen Ali to Chandimal, FOUR, Chandimal is not going to hold back. Once again he decides to take Moeen Ali on and flogs him through mid-wicket. It was in the air for a while but there was no man in the deep
73.3 -
Finn to Siriwardana, FOUR, short ball and it did not rise enough to trouble the batter. He rocked back and pulled it with disdain to the deep square leg fence
73.0 -
Moeen Ali to Chandimal, FOUR, and again! Chandimal decides to go over the top and just about gets enough bat behind it to clear a leaping man at mid-on. His heart would have been in mouth on that occasion
72.5 -
Moeen Ali to Chandimal, FOUR, he decides to take the aerial route and flogs this one over mid-wicket, there is no one in the deep and the ball races away
69.5 -
Broad to Chandimal, FOUR, Chandimal gets across and gets an inside edge onto his pads, and the ball rolls away to the fine leg fence, stifled appeal for lbw turned down
66.2 -
Woakes to Siriwardana, FOUR, full and on pads, asking to be hit, Siriwardana clears his front leg and flicks it to deep square leg and finds the fence
65.0 -
Woakes to Siriwardana, FOUR, full length delivery angling away, Siriwardana gets forward and drives it hard, gets a thick outside edge that flies to the right of the diving gully fielder who doesn't get a hand on it and the ball hits the fence
62.3 -
Woakes to Mathews, FOUR, from wide of the crease, Woakes hurls in a low full toss, Mathews nicely clips it to the deep mid-wicket fence. He was aiming for the yorker, but missed the target by a few inches
54.3 -
Moeen Ali to Mathews, no ball, FOUR, Mathews shows pluck by using the reverse sweep to a delivery that was bowled slower through the air and off she goes into the third man fence. What I see? There were three fielders behind square on the leg-side. The umpire has called a no-ball for it
52.1 -
Moeen Ali to Mathews, FOUR, Mathews skips down the track, takes it on the half-volley and lifts it to the mid-wicket fence. Powerful blow from the Lankan skipper
50.5 -
Moeen Ali to Mathews, FOUR, now that was biffed. Mathews charges down the track, takes it on the half volley and pulverises it into the downtown territories
50.1 -
Moeen Ali to Mathews, FOUR, Mathews sits on one knee and sweeps it to the deep backward square leg fence. He kept it all along the ground
46.2 -
Moeen Ali to Mathews, FOUR, tosses this outside off, Mathews shuffles down the ground and times the loft well over the mid-off fielder for another boundary
45.0 -
Moeen Ali to Mathews, FOUR, tossed up again, Mathews is quick to use his feet and gets to the pitch, lofts it wide of mid-off and finds another boundary, Mathews is not letting Moeen settle in here
41.2 -
Broad to Mathews, FOUR, short and wide outside off, Mathews climbs on it and cuts it hard, finds the gap to perfection and the ball raced away to the boundary. There are three manning the cover-region for Mathews. Interesting captaincy that. They are looking to catch him on the drive
39.1 -
Broad to Mathews, FOUR, very full and on the stumps, Mathews gets across this one and clips it in the gap between mid-wicket and mid-on, the ball raced away to the fence
38.5 -
Finn to Kaushal Silva, FOUR, 10th Test fifty for Sliva, Finn slides this down leg, Silva gets across and flicks it fine and the ball races away into the fence. This is only the second 50 by a Lankan in this series. Silva raises his bat and acknowledges the crowd
32.3 -
Finn to Kaushal Silva, FOUR, Finn kept it a touch fuller than his natural length and it was enough for Silva to flay the drive past the man at mid-off
29.5 -
Anderson to Kaushal Silva, FOUR, Anderson served this one full just outside off, Silva was waiting for any such opportunity, leaned into the drive and found the gap through cover with ease
29.0 -
Moeen Ali to Thirimanne, FOUR, this time he finds gap through the cover-point region with a square drive. The ball races away to the fence in no time
28.4 -
Moeen Ali to Thirimanne, FOUR, short and wide and Thirimanne mumbled thank you before cutting this one square of the wicket on the off-side
26.2 -
Moeen Ali to Kaushal Silva, FOUR, rankest of long hops from Moeen Ali and Silva is not going to miss out, camps back and pulls it through mid-wicket
21.5 -
Anderson to Kusal Mendis, FOUR, outside edge and it has run away to the third man fence. It was a length delivery that held its line outside off, Mendis's bat came down a touch late and the edge off the toe of the bat beat the chase of the fielder from gully
21.2 -
Anderson to Kusal Mendis, FOUR, ball's same, result's same the execution was a little different with the bat coming down a touch vertically. But the shot was so well timed that the man at backward point could not do much despite putting a dive to his left
21.1 -
Anderson to Kusal Mendis, FOUR, short, wide, punished. Mendis cuts it uppishly but away from the man at backward point, the ball races away towards the fence in no time
19.3 -
Finn to Kusal Mendis, FOUR, Mendis shows his aggressive intent by whipping this half volley on leg-stump. It zooms away to the mid-wicket fence
18.3 -
Woakes to Kaushal Silva, FOUR, England are so far ahead in this game, but there is no third slip in place. Baffling really. Fullish and a hint of outswing for Woakes, Silva cracks the drive with his feet stationed in clay and gets a thickish outside edge. Root leaps in the air at second slip, but it flies past him and into the boundary boards
18.2 -
Woakes to Kaushal Silva, FOUR, Silva was not in control of that drive, but adds a boundary to his tally. Good length delivery that might have swung away a touch from Silva, he drives it on the up. As a result, he plays away from the body and it goes in the gap between cover-point and backward point and into the fence. His bottom hand came off the bat handle, on that occasion
14.3 -
Woakes to Karunaratne, FOUR, is that the shot of the morning? Nicely executed by Karunaratne for sure. Karunaratne takes a small stride forward and punches it past the mid-on fielder. The ball vroomed away to the fence
11.3 -
Broad to Karunaratne, FOUR, fuller length delivery and outside off, Karunaratne drives it rather uppishly towards the sweeper cover fence and off she goes. The first boundary of the innings for the tourists
128.2 -
Woakes to Lakmal, out Caught by Broad!! Cook rushes back into the pavilion, he's a job to do. Anderson leads the pack back. Sri Lanka's overwhelming resistance runs out of fuel.. at least 78 runs more than what they were expected to. Lakmal slogs across the line to this fullish delivery, ushers a top edge out and a floppy-hatted Broad shuffles across at mid-on to digest this overhead. Lakmal c Broad b Woakes 11(15) [4s-2]
125.5 -
Broad to Chandimal, out Bowled!! End of a lovely innings from Chandimal. The crowd gets up, applauds robotically before waning down ridiculously in sync. But a horror shot to get out, this from Chandimal. Premeditates the slog on this, wields his bat across the line but Broad had done well to stick to the stumps. English bowlers always do. Chandimal misses, Broad hits. Cook's one wicket and 5 runs away, uff. Chandimal b Broad 126(207) [4s-13 6s-1]
121.5 -
Anderson to Eranga, out Bowled!! Anderson continues to harvest wickets. This time of Eranga's to get to yet another five-for. Kohli's fifties and Anderson's wickets.. and mentioning them in a sentence was intentional, I fear. The minutiae of this delivery: brute. Too good. Skids on from a fullish length, the angle in tempts Eranga into a clip through the on-side but the ball just straightens enough to martyr the off-stump. Eranga b Anderson 1(18)
117.1 -
Anderson to Herath, out Lbw!! This looked plumb the moment it hit the pad. 61 runs of awesomeness, 91 balls of genius resistance ends. The inswinger from Anderson this time, Herath was stuck on the crease trying to second-guess which way the ball will move. Comes shooting in with the angle, raps the pad and a referral, albeit a formal one, confirms a plumb LBW. 1-0 to technology. Herath lbw b Anderson 61(99) [4s-8]
89.0 -
Anderson to Siriwardana, out Caught by Hales!! Early strike from Anderson and a brief resistance from Siriwardana comes to an end. Beautifully set-up by Anderson, hits it on a length from round the wicket and seams it away just a touch, Siriwardana played it with hard hands, the ball shaves the outside edge and flies towards gully where Hales nicely pouches it. Siriwardana c Hales b Anderson 35(72) [4s-6]
63.4 -
Anderson to Mathews, out Caught by Bairstow!! The veteran pacer from Lancashire has done the trick. He has troubled Mathews throughout the series with subtle changes of wrist to get it to move in and out from him. Here, he angles it in on a length and then it nips away from Mathews, he is opened up slightly and has a flirty poke at it. It takes the outside edge and Bairstow moves to his right to grab the catch with both hands, inches above the ground. Lovely channel in that corridor outside off from Anderson. Mathews c Bairstow b Anderson 80(105) [4s-9 6s-1]
52.0 -
Finn to Kaushal Silva, out Caught by Bairstow!! Oh! That was close to being called a no-ball. However, Finn was just about fine there as he perhaps had a wee bit of his back-heel behind the line. Dar referred it to the TV umpire, but Finn just about escaped. The banged in delivery from Finn, Silva tries to pull and it gets a touch big on him. Eventually, ekes out a top-edge, Bairstow moves across and snaffles it. Finn got slightly irritated with Sliva. Maybe that made Finn to bend his back and extract more bounce on the short delivery. On the other hand, end of a gritty innings from Silva. Kaushal Silva c Bairstow b Finn 60(145) [4s-6]
30.4 -
Moeen Ali to Thirimanne, out Bowled!! Moeen Ali cannot be kept out of the game for a long time. Perfect dismissal from an off-spinner. Thirimanne played inside the line of the delivery which turned away a soupcon to ping back the off-pole. Just when England were hoping that Anderson will get them one, their centurion has struck. What a ball this was! Thirimanne b Moeen Ali 13(27) [4s-2]
22.0 -
Anderson to Kusal Mendis, out Caught by Bairstow!! This is by far the best I have seen in this Test match. I am sure, it was unplayable. There was not much Mendis could have done about it. Came in with the angle and then moved away, just as much as was needed for the edge. For a moment I thought it came off the pad but it was not the case to be. England have struck early and they have got the man who was looking good in the middle. Kusal Mendis c Bairstow b Anderson 26(22) [4s-4]
16.3 -
Woakes to Karunaratne, out Caught by Root!! It is Woakes who eventually breaks through the gritty opening stand. Good length delivery that seams away a touch from Karunaratne, he falls for it by tentatively pushing forward and gets an outside edge to Root at second slip, who moves to his left and snaffles it. On replays, it is clear that was his change-up scrambled seam ball. He has been using that delivery quite frequently today. Karunaratne c Root b Woakes 26(55) [4s-2]