Ben and Adil just pair-fect for England

ENGLAND’S dream of a 3-0 whitewash is still bang on course after Ben Stokes and Adil Rashid hit Sri Lanka with the old one-two.

Here were two English bowlers on a sluggish subcontinent pitch bullying batsmen with pace and bamboozling them with spin.

And with Keaton Jennings producing his very own masterclass to take FOUR superb catches at short leg, England turned a day that had been drifting nowhere into yet another dominant position with a lead of 99 at the close.

Stokes and Rashid, England’s very own Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne, were magnificent to cause a collapse of 8-53 after tea.

One is at you like a Rottweiler, in your face, making you hop about and worry about getting hit as well as losing your wicket.

The other circles you like a cobra, sliding the ball this way and that, teasing you and testing you, before he gets the ball to spit sharply out of nowhere and take your edge or miss your bat.

And it was Rashid, who had all but given up on Test cricket at the start of the year, who claimed a career-best 5-49.

He said: “It may well be the best I’ve bowled in Tests. The pitch offered a bit of assistance and I tried to be attacking.

“My plan was to get the ball spinning both ways, I was trying to mix it up, bowl my variations and I got my rewards.

“Stokesy is world-class and he showed it again. He had a gameplan to be aggressive, run in hard and rough them up and it worked perfectly.”

England had been struggling to make an impact taking just one wicket apiece either side of lunch thanks to the incredible hands and bravery of Jennings.

While Joe Root spilled two chances at slip off Stuart Broad, Jennings was in a different league at short leg, moving up the pitch as Danushka Gunathilake swiped at one that landed in his midriff.

At 182-2 at tea, Sri Lanka were in control until Jennings linked up again with Rashid to spark the collapse causing Sri Lankan batsman Dhananjaya de Silva to admit: “I think he was the man who turned the game around.

“Jennings was moving around all the time, grabbing all the catches, he was brilliant.” England’s fielding in this series has been largely very good – but when Rashid is able to pick up the ball and throw on the turn to run out a batsman with a direct hit, then you know it’s going your way.

Jonny Bairstow is on alert to get his wicketkeeping gloves ready if a finger injury to Ben Foakes develops into something more serious.

Foakes took a nasty blow on his left little finger and needed several bouts of treatment amid fears he may have cracked the bone at the top.

The stumper had the digit strapped up further and had his inner gloves taped to his wrists to give him enough stability to get through the day.

SCORE England 336 (Bairstow

110, Stokes 57, Sandakan

5-95) & 3-0 v Sri Lanka

240 (Karunaratne 83, De Silva 73, Rashid 5-49).