LONDON: England were firmly in the driving seat in the second Test against Sri Lanka at Lord’s on Saturday, with the visitors ending day three on 53-2 as they chase down a massive target of 483 to level the three-match series.

Joe Root earlier made his record 34th test century for England, taking the Yorkshireman past the 33 test hundreds scored by Alastair Cook to make him England’s greatest centurion in the game’s longest format.

Sri Lanka lost the wickets of Nishan Madushka and Pathum Nissanka early in their second innings, leaving Dimuth Karunaratne (23) and Prabath Jayasuriya (3) at the crease when play was stopped due to poor light.

The visitors have a mountain to climb if they are to rescue the series. The highest successful run chase in international test cricket history is 418, which West Indies chased down to beat Australia in Antigua in May 2003.

England were all out for 251 in their second innings, Root making 103 to add to his 143 in the first innings.

The hosts built steadily on their 231-run lead from the first innings in the morning, playing under lights on a gloomy day in north London. They lost wickets steadily, with Ben Duckett, captain Ollie Pope and Harry Brook falling before the lunch interval.

Duckett (24) was dismissed with a fine two-man catch off Milan Rathnayake, getting a thick edge on the ball that Nishan Madushka at gully dived for but could only parry into the air for Angelo Mathews at second slip to grab.

Pope (17) was out not long after Duckett, having stepped back and slashed at a ball from Asitha Fernando, sending it sailing into the air towards deep backward point and into the hands of Jayasuriya.

Brook (37) scored quickly and was lucky to survive one dropped catch by Madushka but offered him another chance near the boundary that the Sri Lanka fielder held.

After the break wickets fell steadily as Root kept his sights set firmly on a place in the history books.

Jamie Smith (26), Chris Woakes (5), Gus Atkinson (14) and Matthew Potts (2) all came and went as Root moved into the 90s, before hitting another boundary to reach three figures. He jumped for joy, removed his helmet and saluted the crowd as his teammates applauded on the pavilion balcony.

SCOREBOARD

ENGLAND (1st innings) 427

SRI LANKA (1st Innings)196

ENGLAND (2nd Innings, overnight 25-1):

B. Duckett c Mathews b Rathnayake 24

D. Lawrence c Madushka b Kumara 7

O. Pope c Jayasuriya b A Fernando 17

J. Root c Ka Mendis b Kumara 103

H. Brook c Madushka b Jayasuriya 37

J. Smith lbw b Jayasuriya 26

C. Woakes c Nissanka b Rathnayake 5

G. Atkinson c Kumara b A Fernando 14

M. Potts c Chandimal b A Fernando 2

O. Stone c Nissankab Kumara 7

S. Bashir not out 1

EXTRAS (LB-5, NB-1, W-2) 8

TOTAL (all out, 54.3 overs) 251

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-22 (Lawrence), 2-36 (Duckett), 3-69 (Pope), 4-127 (Brook), 5-171 (Smith), 6-196 (Woakes), 7-221 (Atkinson), 8-227 (Potts), 9-250 (Stone).

BOWLING: A Fernando 13-0-52-3 (1nb, 2w); Kumara 12.3-0-53-3; Rathanayake 9-1-36-2; Jayasuriya 20-2-105-2.

SRI LANKA (2nd Innings):

N. Madushka c Root b Atkinson 13

D. Karunaratne not out 23

P. Nissanka c Root b Stone 14

P. Jayasuriya not out 3

EXTRAS 0

TOTAL (for two wickets, 20 overs) 53

STILL TO BAT: A Mathews, D Chandimal, D de Silva, K Mendis, A Fernando, L Kumara, M Rathnayake.

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-19 (Madushka), 2-43 (Nissanka).

BOWLING: Woakes 5-1-9-0; Atkinson 4-0-15-1; Bashir 5-0-11-0; Root 4-1-9-0; Potts 1-0-8-0; Stone 1-0-1-1.

Published in Dawn, September 1st, 2024