Jennings leaves England on top
GALLE: Opener Keaton Jennings ended his two-year wait for a second Test century with a careerbest 146 not out as England inched towards a comprehensive victory in the opening Test against Sri Lanka on Thursday.
Having taken a handy 139-run first-innings lead, England declared their second innings on 322 for six to set Sri Lanka an improbable 462-run target.
The hosts ended Day Three on 15 for no loss, 447 behind and staring at a crushing defeat inside four days in spinner Rangana Herath’s farewell Test.
Openers Dimuth Karunaratne (seven) and Kaushal Silva (eight) survived seven overs but Sri Lanka will need a near miracle to save the Test.
Earlier, the tourists resumed on 38-0 and their openers consolidated their position until they suffered a mini-collapse.
Debutant Rory Burns’s (23) foolhardy pursuit of a non-existent single culminated in his run-out and Moeen Ali could not justify his promotion to number three for the second time in the match, following up his first-innings golden duck with three.
England captain Joe Root (3) also had a deja vu moment when Herath dismissed him for the second time in the match.
Jennings, however, looked confident against the spinners, often playing the sweep shot -both traditional and reverse -- to negate them.
Ben Stokes, Jennings’ partner in their 107-run fourth-wicket partnership, shrugged off his early tentativeness to clobber three sixes in his 62
Brief scores: England 342 & 322/6 decl (K Jennings 146*, B Stokes 62, B Foakes 37, R Herath 2-59, D Perera 2-94) vs Sri Lanka 203 & 15 for no loss