ENG v SL, 3rd Test Day 3 Review: Lankans succumb to England pace battery

Day 3 of the Lord Test in the ENG v SL series brought back some familiarity in the ongoing series between the two sides. Having impressed immensely on both Day 1 and Day 2, Sri Lanka crumbled like a fragile cookie as the England pace attack showed little or no mercy in their decimation. In a nutshell, the Lankans were on a healthy score of 162-1 in their first innings.

The morning session on the all-important third day’s play saw Kushal Silva and Kusal Mendis take charge of the Sri Lankan innings. However, in barely the seventh delivery of the day, Kusal Mendis was done in by an inswinger from Chris Woakes. This wicket effectively triggered the Sri Lankan collapse. A few overs later, Kusal Silva also fell after nicking a peach of a delivery from Stuart Broad to Jonny Bairstow. There would be no dropped catches behind the wicket today from the irresistible Bairstow.

The senior trio of the Sri Lankan batting unit, Angelo Mathews, Dinesh Chandimal, and Lahiru Thirimanne were all sent back to the pavilion in quick succession as the Lankans were once again left to depending on the Rangana Herath to take them out of the woods. The 38-year old southpaw began his innings by removing the skipper Alastair Cook from the field. The England skipper, fielding at silly point was struck on the knee-roll after Herath attempted a cover drive. Cook failed to return to the field after lunch and was subsequently packed off for an X-Ray.

The returning Kusal Perera and Rangana Herath added a valuable 71 runs before Herath was cleaned up by Stuart Broad for a well-made 31. Kusal Perera, who had done rather well for his 42 too fell soon after Herath when James Anderson found the edge yet again. The tail failed to wag as Lakmal, Eranga, and Pradeep was removed in quick succession as the Lankans closed on 288. This effectively meant that the Lankans had lost their last nine wickets for just 126 runs.

With Alastair Cook off in hospital nursing a bruised knee, Nick Compton made his way out to open the innings with Alex Hales. For Compton, this was perhaps the last chance to redeem himself as an England regular. Angelo Mathews handed the ball to 29-year old Nuwan Pradeep, the hero with the ball for the Lankans in the first innings.

Compton began his innings with three boundaries. However, his off-stump woes were well and truly exposed when Shaminda Eranga found the edge that carried to Dinesh Chandimal behind the stumps. What came next can quite appropriately be termed as the Nuwan Pradeep show. Pradeep breached the defenses of stand-in skipper Joe Root and James Vince, bringing in Jonny Bairstow, a crisis situation. Bairstow picked up where he left off in the first innings as the ball began flowing to the fence with monotonous regularity.

However, it was a piece of brilliance from Nuwan Pradeep, brought back once again to dismiss the danger man or 32. This left Alex Hales and night watchman Steven Finn to take charge of the batting the following day.

Brief Scores

England 1st Innings: 416 all out (J Bairstow 167*; R Herath 4/81)

Sri Lanka 1st Innings: 288 all out (K Silva 79; C Woakes 3/31)

England 2nd Innings: 109/4 (A Hales 41*; N Pradeep 3/25)