England sense victory as muddled, lethargic Sri Lanka lose their way

A maiden Test hundred is one of those moments that stays with a cricketer for ever. Having missed out by five runs at Edgbaston, in the final Test against West Indies, Jamie Smith was determined not to miss out again and his fine hundred, along with two new-ball wickets, formed the centre-piece of an opening session on the third day that swung the match firmly in England’s favour.
Smith is the latest of a number of smart selections that have transformed England’s Test team over the past two years. His promotion to No 6 in this match, on the back of losing Ben Stokes, was a sign of the high opinion in which he is held, and he nursed England with a resourceful innings that transformed their position from 125 for four on his arrival to 358 all out, and a lead of 122.
Sri Lanka found their feet eventually with resistance from Angelo Mathews, who has a good record in England, and Kamindu Mendis, whose record in a nascent Test career is outstanding, but the damage had already been done by then. A late ball change, which brought some dangerous swing and the dismissal of Mathews, means Sri Lanka’s position is a precarious one. Their lead was only 82 at the close.
It’s an old saying that it only takes one bad session to lose a Test match and for two days Sri Lanka had played tough, competitive cricket, keeping a toe-hold in the game, but they lost their whereabouts in the first two hours. They bowled poorly, fielded lethargically and allowed England to stretch their first innings significantly, after which it felt like a matter of when and not if the home team would take a 1-0 lead in the series.
Quite why Sri Lanka were so poor at this point only they know, but their apparent lack of readiness reflected badly on the captain, Dhananjaya de Silva. It was a shame, too, given how enterprisingly they had bowled on the second day, but right from the outset, they appeared muddled in their thinking and uncertain about who to bowl and how.
There was a delay before a ball had been bowled, while the spinner, Prabath Jayasuriya, was called upon for one over. Asitha Fernando followed him, but then for one over only, after two gentle half-volleys were driven for four by Smith. Vishwa Fernando, given the start from the Anderson end, bowled unthreateningly and the over rate was funereal. England’s lead was only 23 at the start of play, but Sri Lanka’s body language gave lie to that.
Conditions were inhospitable for sure, with a gusty, cold wind blowing across the ground, but the match situation demanded that Sri Lanka rose above that. Instead, they gifted England some tame runs. Even when Gus Atkinson was facing, a deep cover remained in place, when, surely, it was Atkinson rather than Smith who they wanted on strike. So Atkinson hung around for 84 minutes, doing the kind of job with the bat the selectors hoped for.
The crowd sat silent for most of the first hour, swaddled in layers to keep warm, with boundaries few and far between. Smith progressed serenely through the 80s and 90s, approaching his hundred shortly after an hour’s play. In the 16th over of the morning, he clipped a full ball from Milan Rathnayake for two and the crowd emitted its first roar of the day. They liked what they saw from the young wicketkeeper-batsman.
Atkinson was eventually strangled down the leg side and Smith was smartly snapped up by Dinesh Chandimal, looking to drive a wide ball from Jayasuriya, just as some fun with the tail beckoned. Mark Wood had some fun of his own, smacking one short ball into the temporary stand, and when Matthew Potts fell aiming a repeat of that, England were all out, but out of sight, too.
The lead was worth even more given the slowness of the outfield and the wickets that fell immediately to the new ball in the 15 minutes remaining before lunch. The visitors’ terrible morning was made complete when Nishan Madushka offered no stroke to a nip-backer from Chris Woakes and then when Kusal Mendis, feet stuck in concrete, edged Atkinson behind, Smith taking a good, low catch.
Resistance in the afternoon came through Mathews, who looks an ageing cricketer in the field these days, but whose batting remains worthy. He got off his pair with a thump down the ground and was assertive when Shoaib Bashir was introduced. Sri Lanka had allowed the young spinner to wheel through 23 overs in the first innings, without asking many questions, but were less accommodating second time around.
Wood’s introduction in the 14th over moved the dial in England’s favour even more, when Dimuth Karunaratne edged the bowler’s first ball, via thigh-pad, into the hands of second slip. More bad news followed when Chandimal was hit a bad blow on the right thumb shortly afterwards. He retreated to the dressing room, right hand shaking violently, and thence to hospital for an x-ray, which remarkably came back all clear.
De Silva, looking to pull, was beaten by some low bounce from Potts, but then Mathews and Kamindu came together in a partnership of 78 in 25 overs. Things went flat for a while after tea, and England resorted to some short stuff, and then a ball change, which came after 41 overs. Five overs after that, some significant swing arrived and the complexion of the day changed again.
Potts, in an excellent second spell, offered the first sign of the changed conditions, and he had two catches put down off his bowling within nine balls of each other, the first by Joe Root at slip when Mathews drove flat-footedly, the second at backward point by Atkinson, as Kamindu cut uppishly. Potts deserved better than a solitary wicket and bowled far more consistently than in the first innings.
With the ball swinging, the masterful Woakes was recalled to exploit the conditions and immediately dismissed Mathews, via a leading edge to point. Two leg-before decisions followed, one against Kamindu, the other against Rathnayake, both overturned on review once faint edges were detected. Kamindu brought up his half-century after that, an innings replete with attractive strokes.
Fifteen minutes before the close, Wood’s day ended prematurely when he walked off for treatment on his right thigh two balls into what was his 11th over. Rathnayake, giddy with pleasure at the change, hoisted Root’s second ball to mid-off, allowing Chandimal to resume his innings. He and Kamindu remain Sri Lanka’s last hope.