Sri Lanka v England, third Test in Colombo ’DIL AND BEN
CRICKET Bowling duo flower as Sri Lankans batters go to pot
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.
The two English bowlers bullied the home side with pace and bamboozled them with spin on a sluggish subcontinent pitch.
And with Keaton Jennings producing his 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 by the close.
Stokes and Rashid, England’s very own Glenn Mcgrath and Shane Warne, were simply magnificent to cause a collapse of 8-53 after tea and leave the Sri Lankans reeling.
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 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 with a white-ball only contract with Yorkshire, who claimed his career best figures of 5-49.
A pure match-winner in the oneday team, Rashid has come a long way over the past six months in the Test side and he deservedly led the team 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 and I got my rewards.
“We all know what Stokesy brings to the table, he is a world-class performer and he showed it again.
“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 has been a bit of a journey, but things can change very quickly and it is nice to be involved in a squad like this that is tight and we’re playing a different brand of cricket now.”
However it wasn’t all good news. Fellow Yorkshireman and batting hero in the first innings Jonny Bairstow is on red alert to get his wicket-keeping gloves ready if a finger injury to Ben Foakes (below) develops into something more serious.
Foakes took a nasty blow on his left little finger yesterday and needed several bouts of treatment from England’s doctor amid fears he may have cracked the bone at the top. And it didn’t start that well for England, taking just two wickets – 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 who did well not to lose his cool, Jennings was in a different league at short-leg, moving up the pitch as Danushka Gunathilaka 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.
Sri Lanka’s Dhananjaya de Silva said: “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, 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 things are going your way.