Brilliant Root ton puts England on top against Sri Lanka
PALLEKELE, Sri Lanka, (Reuters) - England captain Joe Root hit a brilliant century to put his team in a strong position in their quest for a series-clinching victory on the third day of the second test against Sri Lanka yesterday.
Opener Rory Burns had earlier struck his maiden fifty as England, who lead the three-match series 1-0 after last week’s win in Galle, reached 324 for nine in their second innings at stumps, a lead of 278 on a pitch offering plenty of turn.
Wicketkeeper Ben Foakes, playing his second test, further stretched England’s lead after the dismissal of Root for 124 and was unbeaten on 51 with James Anderson four not out when bad light and rain brought an end to the day’s play.
Root and Foakes added 82 for the seventh wicket, dampening Sri Lanka’s hopes of restricting England’s lead to a manageable target at Pallekele after reducing them to 219-6 at one stage. Akila Dananjaya, who was reported for a suspect bowling action after the Galle test but is free to play, notched up career-best figures of 6106 but his third-five wicket haul in only his fifth test might still prove inadequate.
When play resumed in the morning, the tourists lost nightwatchman Jack Leach for one in the second over of the day, bringing regular openers Burns and Keaton Jennings together. While Burns looked at ease against Sri Lanka’s spinners with his nimble footwork, Jennings opted to utilise the reverse sweep to thwart the threat. The duo added 73 before Jennings’ most productive shot brought an end to his knock for 26, the ball clipping the batsman’s glove before carrying to the slip fielder Dhananjaya de Silva for a simple catch.
Burns, playing in his second test, hit seven boundaries in his knock and was out leg before for 59 to Malinda Pushpakumara while trying to sweep the left-arm spinner. The batsman reviewed the decision but was unsuccessful. England suffered a further jolt in the next over when all-rounder Ben Stokes also fell leg before, for a duck, missing a sweep against offspinner Dilruwan Perera.
Stokes, who faced just two deliveries, also opted to go for a review but lost it. Root, who received a reprimand and one demerit point from the International Cricket Council on Thursday for a show of dissent, and Jos Buttler looked to attack the spinners during their stand of 74 to give England the upper hand.
Buttler’s entertaining knock of 34 came to a premature end when he dragged spinner Akila Dananjaya on to his stumps with an attempted reverse sweep.
Moeen Ali also did not last long and was out leg before to Dananjaya, but Root appeared unmoved by the fall of wickets around him. He brought up a deserving 15th test hundred with 10 fours and two sixes in his knock, using the sweep shot to good effect against Sri Lanka’s slow bowling attack.
Root leapt for joy and punched the air after reaching the three-figure mark with a streaky boundary.
Dananjaya removed Root and Sam Curran, who smashed 64 in the first innings, in consecutive deliveries and also dismissed Adil Rashid, who was unfortunate to be given out lbw as replays showed he had got an edge. Extras 4b 3lb 0nb 5pen 0w Total (75.4 overs) Fall of Wickets : 1-7 Jennings, 2-44 Stokes, 3-65 Root, 4-89 Burns, 5-134 Ali, 6-165 Foakes, 7-171 Buttler, 8-216 Rashid, 9-225 Leach, 10-285 Curran Bowling Ov Md Rn Wk Econ Ex Suranga Lakmal 12 1 44 1 3.67 Dilruwan Perera 24.4 5 61 4 2.47 Malinda Pushpakumara 23 4 89 3 3.87 Dhananjaya de Silva 2 0 4 0 2.00 Akila Dananjaya 14 1 80 2 5.71
Sri Lanka 1st innings Dimuth Karunaratne Run Out Ben Stokes Kaushal Silva b Jack Leach Malinda Pushpakumara c Rory Burns b Moeen Ali Dhananjaya de Silva c Ben Foakes b Adil Rashid Kusal Mendis c Ben Stokes b Jack Leach Angelo Mathews c Ben Foakes b Adil Rashid Roshen Silva c Moeen Ali b Adil Rashid Niroshan Dickwella lbw Joe Root Dilruwan Perera lbw Jack Leach Akila Dananjaya lbw Moeen Ali Suranga Lakmal Not Out Extras 6b 6lb 0nb 0pen 0w 12 Total (103.0 overs) 336 all out Fall of Wickets : 1-22 Silva, 2-31 Pushpakumara, 3-127 Karunaratne, 4-136 Mendis, 5-146 de Silva, 6-165 Mathews, 7-211 Dickwella, 8-252 Perera, 9-308 Perera, 10-336 Silva Bowling Ov Md Rn Wk Econ Ex James Anderson 14 2 40 0 2.86 Sam Curran 4 0 19 0 4.75 Jack Leach 29 5 70 3 2.41 Moeen Ali 25 1 85 2 3.40 Adil Rashid 22 2 75 3 3.41 Joe Root 8 0 26 1 3.25 Ben Stokes 1 0 9 0 9.00
England 2nd innings Jack Leach lbw Dilruwan Perera Rory Burns lbw Malinda Pushpakumara Keaton Jennings c Dhananjaya de Silva b Akila Dananjaya Joe Root lbw Akila Dananjaya Ben Stokes lbw Dilruwan Perera Jos Buttler b Akila Dananjaya Moeen Ali lbw Akila Dananjaya Ben Foakes Not Out Sam Curran b Akila Dananjaya Adil Rashid lbw Akila Dananjaya James Anderson Not Out Extras 4b 9lb 0nb 0pen 0w Total (76.0 overs) Fall of Wickets : 1-4 Leach, 2-77 Jennings, 3-108 Burns, 4-109 Stokes, 5-183 Buttler, 6-219 Ali, 7-301 Root, 8-301 Curran, 9-305 Rashid Bowling Ov Md Rn Wk Dilruwan Perera 19 2 87 2 Malinda Pushpakumara 26 1 97 1 Akila Dananjaya 23 0 106 6 Dhananjaya de Silva 4 0 7 0 Suranga Lakmal 4 0 14 0 Umpire Sundaram Ravi Umpire Marais Erasmus Video Christopher Gaffaney Match Referee Andrew Pycroft Econ 4.58 3.73 4.61 1.75 3.50 Ex