By Rex Clementine at Old Trafford
Sri Lanka’s bowlers fought back to put their side back in the game on day two of the first Test against England at Old Trafford claiming six wickets as England reached 259 before bad light and then rain brought an early end to play.
In a day shortened by inclement weather, Asitha Fernando bowled superbly with the new ball to claim three big wickets.
Asitha trapped Ben Duckett leg before wicket before cleaning up England captain Ollie Pope and then removed a well set Joe Root when he nicked one to the wicket keeper Dinesh Chandimal.
It was with the older ball that Asitha is usually effective but yesterday he caused some damage with the new cherry after being introduced from the James Anderson end for the first over of the morning.
Vishwa Fernando backed him up well by having Dan Lawrence caught behind but Milan Ratnayake, Sri Lanka’s hero with the bat on day one lacked penetration with his nine overs costing 53 runs.
Harry Brook played some sensational strokes and proved yet again why he is considered the next big thing in English cricket. The Yorkshireman played some elegant drives and looked comfortable against the quicks.
When he was on 56, Prabath Jayasuriya got one to turn sharply away from the batsman and to Brook’s surprise the ball knocked off the stumps.
Chris Woakes and Jamie Smith added 42 runs for the sixth wicket when Jayasuriya bowled a similar delivery to knock Woake’s stumps.
England have in recent years built up a reputation for scoring freely and Fastly and Sri Lanka did well to keep the run rate at 4.2 runs an over.
Sri Lanka’s field placements came in for some criticism but they seemed to be working particularly against a line-up that prefers going after the bowling.
Sri Lanka were shot out for 236 in their first innings after electing to bat first on day one. It could have been a lot worse for the tourists, but half-centuries by Dhananjaya de Silva and Milan Ratnayake ensured the bowlers will have something to defend.
Sri Lanka 236
(Dhananjaya de Silva 74, Milan Rathnayake 72, Chris Woakes 3/32, Shoaib Bashir 3/55, Gus Atkinson 2/48)
England 1st Innings 259/6 (61 Overs)
(Jamie Smith n.o. 72, Joe Root 42, Dan Lawrence 30, Chris Woakes 25, Ben Duckett 18, Asitha Fernando 3/68, Prabath Jayasuriya 2/58, Vishwa Fernando 1/1)