Lunch England 427 and 159 for 4 (Root 45*, Smith 23*) lead Sri Lanka 196 by 390 runs
England’s efforts were slightly uneven, Root aside, reflective of their strong grip on the game. The wickets to fall included that of Ollie Pope, England’s stand-in captain, who made his highest score while deputising for Ben Stokes but again fell in perplexing fashion, slashing an Asitha Fernando bouncer straight to deep backward point for 17, shortly after Sri Lanka had put four men back for the ploy.
Kamindu Mendis had held out the hope on the second evening that Sri Lanka could find a way back into the game if they could get England out for “under 150-175”. They were rewarded with early wickets, Ben Duckett falling to an accidental piece of choreography between slip and gully, as Angelo Mathews snapped up the rebound from Nishan Madushka’s drop, before Pope and Brook both holed out – but at lunch, England had passed 150 four down and the lead was edging towards 400.
The intent shown by Brook, who was badly dropped on 9 by Madushka, suggested England were already thinking about a declaration, despite there being eight sessions left in the game. Brook slog-swept Prabath Jayasuriya into the Tavern Stand the ball after skying the same shot, only for Madushka – replaced behind the stumps on the third morning by Dinesh Chandimal – to grass the chance.
Jayasuriya kicked the turf in frustration and he bore the brunt of the attack, conceding 61 from his 10-over spell. He did have the satisfaction of removing Brook, however, for 37 off 36 balls. England’s No. 5 had slapped dismissive boundaries off Asitha and Lahiru Kumara but fell with the fourth-wicket stand worth 58 from 58, trying once again to launch the spinner down the slope over midwicket, Madushka this time holding on.
England had resumed on 25 for 1, having lost Dan Lawrence late on day two, and were soon two down. Milan Rathnayake pitched the ball up from round the wicket, tempting the drive – and while Madushka could not hold on in his new berth, he managed to scoop the chance back towards Mathews for a regulation slip catch.
Pope was looking to quell some of the noise around his batting, and moved into double-figures for the first time with a clip off his legs. He then survived a review for lbw against Rathnayake, ball-tracking showing the ball would have cleared the stumps, but he did not last much longer, failing to clear the boundary rider with a deliberate uppercut as Asitha targeted him from round the wicket.
The first of Root’s four boundaries was a thick outside edge between slip and gully, but he was otherwise serene in progressing towards a third consecutive 50-plus score. Jayasuriya was picked off on the sweep and twice down the ground, though Root was happy to tick along at a strike rate in the 70s, allowing Brook and then Jamie Smith to play the aggressor.
Smith tickled his fifth ball fine for four, before crunching Jayasuriya through wide long-on and then picking off Kumara again in front of square, as Sri Lanka’s prospects of keeping the chase to manageable proportions dwindled.
Alan Gardner is a deputy editor at ESPNcricinfo. @alanroderick
Source: ESPN Crickinfo