All too easy for England as Sri Lanka fold again
IT TOOK some doing after their Headingley debacle, but Sri Lanka plumbed even greater depths yesterday to endure their worst day yet in what is becoming the most one-sided of series.
From the moment Moeen Ali was dropped just 36 runs into his unbeaten 155 to the fall of the eighth Sri Lankan wicket, this second day of the second Test in Durham belonged to England.
Sri Lanka, thrashed by an innings in Leeds, had shown signs of life when they held four outstanding catches on Friday but it proved an aberration as they were clinically taken apart again.
Firstly, Moeen, aided by awful fielding and lacklustre captaincy, ran Sri Lanka ragged with his second Test century.
Then, led by the man who has had to step into the local hero’s shoes here, England found bounce and life in the slow surface to rip apart a callow batting unit for the third successive time.
Chris Woakes was something of a contentious choice to replace Ben Stokes and had struggled in his six Tests.
Yet England had far from given up on an all-rounder who has a century and a nine-wicket haul to his name already for Warwickshire in the championship this season — and how Woakes justified their faith.
He played an important part in ensuring England did not pay for their top-order fragility by hitting 39 in a stand of 92 with Moeen and then claimed three of the eight wickets to fall.
Woakes was not only the pick of the England attack but he was the fastest, averaging around 86 miles per hour. It was all too much for a Sri Lanka side who seemed to throw in the towel and face an uphill battle if they are even to take this match into a fourth day or achieve anything from the final Test at Lord’s.
Twice now in this series Sri Lanka have had a glimmer of hope, reducing England to 83 for five at Headingley and 227 for five here.
But both times England’s batting depth ripped it out of their grasp.
Only as the game started to drift when Moeen seemed unsure of how much he should protect James Anderson did England look anything other than in complete control before Alastair Cook’s declaration. A total of 498 for nine represented a mountain for Sri Lanka to climb and their problems were compounded when Dimuth Karunaratne was bowled round his legs by Anderson.
Then Stuart Broad claimed Kaushal Silva to a low catch from Jonny Bairstow. Dinesh Chandimal did not last long against Anderson before Woakes stepped up.
First, he claimed the big wicket of Angelo Mathews before he removed Husal Mendis and Milinda Sirawardana in the same over.
It was only when Rangana Herath and Lahuri Thirimmanne hung around for 16.2 overs — the longest stand of the series for Sri Lanka — that England were held up.
But Broad returned to take two more wickets in the penultimate over of the day.