LONDON: Sri Lanka were on 211 for five in reply to England’s first-innings total of 325 when bad light stopped play on the second day of the third Test here at The Oval on Saturday.

The floodlights were on all day in south London. As the afternoon progressed the light deteriorated, with England only allowed to use their spin bowlers, and fielders sometimes clearly struggling to judge the speed and direction of balls hit their way.

At the close of play Sri Lanka’s Dhananjaya de Silva and Kamindu Mendis were on 64 and 54 respectively, having put on a classy century partnership to haul their side over the 200-run mark after the visitors gave up a flurry of early wickets.

With the exception of opener Pathum Nissanka (64), who became England debutant Josh Hull’s first international test wicket victim, the visitors’ top-order batters struggled to reach double figures.

Openers Nissanka and Dimuth Karunaratne began brightly, helped by some sloppy England fielding. But with the pair having racked up 34, Nissanka dabbed one away and took off for an unlikely looking run. Olly Stone scooped the ball up and hurled a direct hit at the stumps with Karunaratne (nine) still far from the crease.

Kusal Mendis (14) edged a Woakes out-swinger straight to Harry Brook in slips, and Angelo Mathews (3) nudged a similar ball from Stone to Ollie Pope.

Hull, a 6’7” (2.01m) left-handed fast-medium bowler, got Nissanka to swipe at a ball that Woakes leapt to his right to catch, and Stone had new batter Dinesh Chandimal out (0) lbw the next over.

That left the visitors five wickets down for only 93 runs, piling the pressure on Dhananjaya and Mendis, to which they responded in style, steadily rebuilding with some fine strokes and 16 boundaries between them until the skies finally darkened too much for play to continue.

Earlier, England had resumed on 221-3. Captain Pope underpinned the innings with a huge knock of 154, but his team-mates struggled as the side lost their last six wickets for 64 runs to some improved Sri Lankan bowling.

On Friday, the ECB announced that fast bowler Mark Wood will be out for the year with an injured right elbow.

Wood will miss England’s Test tours of Pakistan in October and New Zealand in December, the ECB said in a statement.

Published in Dawn, September 8th, 2024