By Lawrence White
LONDON (Reuters) -England stumbled headfirst to 35-2 at lunch in their second innings, a lead of 97, on day three of the third test against Sri Lanka on Sunday as they seek a clean sweep of summer test victories for the first time since 2004.
England persisted with the aggression bordering on recklessness that has characterised their approach in the match as they swung at everything, having earlier in the day skittled Sri Lanka for 263 at the Oval.
Opener Ben Duckett (7) failed to repeat his sparkling 86 from the first innings, chipping Asitha Fernando tamely to mid on to hand Sri Lanka the early breakthrough. Captain Ollie Pope (7) likewise would not reprise his first innings 154, chopping a Lahiru Kumara delivery onto his stumps just before the interval.
That left makeshift opener Dan Lawrence (20) and the in-form Joe Root batting as the players took a delayed lunch, with the match in the balance despite England’s periods of dominance in the first innings.
England earlier had snuffed out the threat of having their first innings overhauled after Dhananjaya de Silva and Kamindu Mendis combined for a century partnership on Saturday to rescue Sri Lanka from an early collapse.
It has been a test match plagued by rain and bad light and Sunday was to be no exception as a brief shower stopped play after just four overs.
England’s latest surprise test selection, the 6’7″ (2.01m) left arm seamer Josh Hull, struck in the first short passage of play as Sri Lanka’s captain de Silva hooked him into the hands of Shoaib Bashir. He then took the third wicket of his fledgling test career, trapping Vishwa Fernando lbw.
Chris Woakes between those two wickets had seized the prize scalp of Mendis, Sri Lanka’s best batsman of the series, with a fine ball that seamed away from him and found the edge.
Both sides have conspired to give the match a slightly ramshackle feel with a series of reckless shots and fielding errors, and Olly Stone was the latest culprit as he dropped a straightforward catch in the deep to deny Hull a fourth wicket.
Stone soon redeemed himself, removing the dangerous tail-end hitter Milan Rathnayake who swatted loosely at a lifter and was caught by wicketkeeper Jamie Smith.
England managed to end Sri Lanka’s first innings briskly despite being a bowler down, Gus Atkinson not appearing due to reported muscle tightness.
Spinner Bashir claimed the last wicket as Asitha Fernando was caught by Smith, the Sri Lankan number 11 reverse sweeping after a few lusty slogs to leave the visitors with a deficit as they try to avoid a 3-0 whitewash in the series.
(Reporting By Lawrence WhiteEditing by Christian Radnedge)
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