England heading for whitewash
On a typical second day SSC wicket; initially the Lankans came up with heady performance thanks to a workmanlike second wicket stand of 142 runs between opener Dimuth Karunaratne and one-drop batsman Dhananjaya de Silva.
The wicket carried no terrors on the easy paced wicket. It promised good batting conditions on day two in spite of the overnight rain. Yet, it was a repeat performance of the second Test at Pallekelle. Both these batsmen added 96 runs for the second wicket and then gave away the initiative. In this game the story is no different.
Then hell broke loose. The reason was the anticipation of the England short- leg fielder Keaton Jennings. He proved that he is a pivotal part of the England spin attack’s success. When the fifth Lankan wicket fell at the score of 205, Jennings had already sent back four of the Lankan top order and mostly through some hard to believe blinders, especially the two catches to send home opener Danushka Gunatillaka and Roshen Silva.
From a promising 183 for 2 at tea, the Lankans played havoc with their batting talents and were all out for a low 240 all out; trailing by 96 runs on the first inning.
Nevertheless a series it’s a dead rubber and if there is anything to be salvaged is the Lankan cricket pride which has taken a severe beating in all fronts.
What were the learnings factors for both sides? For sure the England side is happy. They now have learned how to win on slow low wickets. An exercise that they started to practice almost five years ago when they sent five young English cricketers to train in Lankan conditions. Two of them are Moeen Ali and Ben Foakes who respectively turned out for Badureliya CC and Colts in the Premier League Tournament. Seemingly a promised three- nil white wash vindicates this argument. England, they did their homework.
Are we preparing for the post Herath era? May be yes on our own wickets. Lakshan Sandakan bagged his second fifer in his short Test carrier, Malinada Pushpakumara also is taking wickets in his formative period, while Dilruwan Perera also could be responsible for a few scalps. But, the success ends at that point. We are still woefully looking for someone pair off with Dimuth Karunaratne, but, Kausal Silva’s replacement Danushka Gunatillaka is no better than the rest. During the series there were four centuries scored by the Englishmen so far, but, the Lankans have managed none. There is no point in showing the bat after a fifty if the overall result is negative.
The day began with the Englishmen at the crease with their score reading 317 for 7, but, inning lasted only 25 minutes with Angelo completing a fine running catch at long on to get rid of last man Jack Leach off Perera when the England score read 336.
Batting for the second time the visitors were 3 for no loss in 4 overs, when bad-light and rain stopped play, with twelve remaining.
With three days of play remaining, I fear there are no predictions needed. The side that prepared best would come out with the positive result, may by the fourth day of the third and final Test.
At the end of all at the press briefing Dhananjaya de Silva came up with a meek excuse of not being able to adapt to the situation. But, that has been our tale of woes right along.