Dhananjaya de Silva and Kamindu Mendis frustrated England and played Sri Lanka back into the third and final Test at the Oval today.
The hosts appeared to have overcome a shambolic end to their own innings, which ended on 325 all out after one stage being in total command at 261 for three, when they had Sri Lanka on the ropes at 93 for five.
But Sri Lanka skipper Dhananjaya and rising star Mendis combined to great effect as the tourists closed on 211 for five with bad light bringing a premature close at The Oval.
Dhananjaya was unbeaten on 64 with Mendis 54 not out.
That’s stumps at The Kia Oval.
Play has been abandoned due to bad light. pic.twitter.com/WD457QSZGP
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) September 7, 2024
The early suspension of play would have come as a relief for England’s stand-in skipper Ollie Pope who had to turn to spin in a bid to keep the teams on the field. All it achieved was to enable Dhananjaya and Mendis to put on an unbroken partnership of 118 for the sixth wicket.
For Mendis, it maintained his fine form after a century at Old Trafford and a well-made 74 at Lord’s.
Only Olly Stone bowled with any real conviction, claiming two for 28, although Shoaib Bashir was unlucky not to claim the wicket of Dhananjaya when debutant Josh Hull let a simple catch at mid-on slip through his fingers.
Stone also accounted for Dimuth Karunaratne with a sharp piece of fielding that produced a run out while Hull and Chris Woakes – who, somewhat farcically, had to bowl four balls of off-spin in his fourth over due to the light – each took a wicket.
Earlier, England had carelessly let their dominance slip with a series of poor shots as Sri Lanka attempted to make up for a poor day with the ball on Friday.
Resuming on 221 for three, Pope rode his luck to make 154 but it was a catalogue of nonsense at the other end as England’s middle and lower order threw away their wickets with reckless abandon.
Harry Brook was particularly culpable, displaying contempt for Sri Lanka’s tactics of bowling wide of off stump before thrashing a Milan Rathnayake delivery to Mendis having made a frantic 19.
Jamie Smith, Woakes, Gus Atkinson – a centurion at Lord’s, Hull and Bashir all came and went quickly with Stone making 15 not out.
Rathnayake claimed three for 56 and was arguably the pick of the bowlers.
