STOKES RUN RIOT
Dynamic duo put Joe’s boys in command
and that, teasing and testing, 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, with a white-ball only contract with Yorkshire – who claimed his career best figures of 5-49. A pure matchwinner in the one-day team, Rashid has come a long way over the past six months in the Test side and he deservedly led them off the field.
“It may well be the best I’ve bowled in Tests,” said Rashid. “It is certainly right up there, 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.
“We all know what Stokesy brings to the table, he is a worldclass performer and he showed it again today.
‘‘He had a gameplan to be aggressive, run in hard and rough them up and it worked perfectly.
“I didn’t expect myself to be here 12 months ago, it’s been a bit of a journey, but things can change very quickly and it is nice to be involved in a squad that’s tight and playing a different brand of cricket now.” 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, both off the luckless 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: “He was the man who turned the game around. Jennings was moving around all the time, grabbing all the catches, he was brilliant.”
To cap it all off, 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 really know that things are going your way.
JONNY BAIRSTOW is on alert to deputise for wicketkeeper Ben Foakes, who injured his left little finger during the Sri Lankans’ first innings.