Eng v SL 3rd Test, Day 2 Review: Sri Lanka stand firm

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Jonny Bairstow vs Sri Lanka
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England’s Jonny Bairstow raises his bat as he walks from the pitch at the end of the England innings undefeated on 167 during day two of the 3rd Investec Test match between England and Sri Lanka at Lord’s Cricket Ground on June 10, 2016 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Sarah Ansell/Getty Images)

Jonny Bairstow’s 167 did little to unnerve the Sri Lanka openers as they concluded Day 2 on a healthy score of 162/1. Having reached a much-deserved century on Day 1, Bairstow got his name up on the honors board at Lords following an amazing session of batting.

Having been left at 279/6 after some decent bowling from the Lankans, Bairstow, and Chris Woakes resumed proceedings on the morning of Day 2. The beauty of the day saw the two England batsmen make the most of the situation as well as the pristine batting condition at Lords. After facing the initial onslaught from the Lankan bowlers, the duo began to cut loose.

While Bairstow played with some necessary caution, Chris Woakes toyed with the bowling as he soon switched gears to get into his aggressive best. He played the ball with confidence and looked completely at ease especially against the pace of Nuwan Pradeep who looked somewhat off steam.

However, shortly after lunch, Woakes’ concentration ran out as he chipped the ball straight back into the cusp of Rangana Herath. Stuart Broad and Steven Finn joined hands with Bairstow as they kept him company for almost an hour before a frustrated Sri Lanka attack soon removed Broad and Finn. In spite of smashing a crisp boundary, James Anderson was dismissed when he clipped the ball right into the safe cusp of Dinesh Chandimal’s gloves. Bairstow was left unbeaten on 167 as England were dismissed for 416, 45 minutes into the afternoon session on the second day at Lord’s. This was the highest score an England wicketkeeper had notched up in their long and illustrious history.

With many expecting a Sri Lankan collapse, Dimuth Karunaratne, and Kaushal Silva went out to bat, aiming to shorten the odds. The odds became significantly shortened when Karunaratne smashed James Anderson to the fence in the third delivery of the Lankan innings.

With the likes of James Anderson and Stuart Broad striking out rather miserably, the Lankan opening pair looked invincible for perhaps the first time in the series. Playing on a good surface, Kaushal Silva and his partner looked at complete ease. It was clearly heartbreaking for Alastair Cook to watch his bowlers absolutely taken apart by the Lankan openers.

The duo reached their half-centuries as they went on to build the only century opening stand of the series thus far. However, disaster struck when Steve Finn removed the dangerous Karunaratne for exactly 50 when a catch finally stuck to the massive white gloves of Jonny Bairstow. Despite this, Kaushal Silva and Kusal Mendis piled on the misery by smashing the England bowlers all over the park in Lords. Ironically, although Jonny Bairstow had been splendid with the bat, he was proving to be somewhat of a liability with the gloves as outside edges flew past him.

Needless to say, the day closed with the Lankans with a massive stranglehold on proceedings with 162 runs to their name for the loss of just the one wicket.

Brief Scores:

England: 416 all out (J Bairstow 167*; Herath 4/81)

Sri Lanka 162/1 in 49 overs (K Silva 79*; Finn 1/31)

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