| Andy Jalil in London In association with INVESTEC cricketarchive.com, pcboard.com.pk © Andy Jalil |
| Scorecard: | England v Sri Lanka |
| Event: | Sri Lanka in Ireland and England 2014 |
By Andy Jalil In association with INVESTEC
|
|
London Led by Kumar Sangakkara's obdurate innings of 61, following his century in the first innings, Sri Lanka gave a perfect exhibition of solid defensive batting, precisely as required, to ensure that England were not able to force a win on the final day in one of the most enthralling end to a drawn Test match.
After an overnight declaration, with an overall lead of 389, it took England half-an-hour to get on the way of claiming all Sri Lankan wickets that they needed to go one up in the two-Test series. But what they found was the path stubbornly blocked in a determined effort by Kaushal Silva and Sangkakkara who applied themselves earnestly to the task of saving the match, no doubt realising that a victory target of 390 on the fifth day was a tall order.
England began their quest for wickets removing Dimuth Karunaratne for 16 in the eighth over of the day when he put a sharp catch straight into Sam Robson at short square leg off Stuart Broad. That was to be the only reward for the hosts who strived hard for wickets in the first session of play on a pitch which has remained perfect for batting throughout the duration of the match.
Even after two more wickets fell in the afternoon session, with Sangakkara employing studious defence in his batting, there seemed little chance for England to go through the rest of the oppositions batting order. On 123, England achieved a long-awaited breakthrough with Silva failing to get behind the line of a ball from Chris Jordan and being held behind.
Silva had played a most defensive innings of 57 for his second half century of the match compiled in nearly three hours at the crease following his score of 63 in the first innings. Along with Sangakkara he had put on 98 in a 210-run partnership. But a wicket either side of tea suddenly raised Englands hopes, particularly as the two dismissals were of Sri Lankas premier batsmen, Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardede, for whom it was quite conceivable to see out the rest of the match.
However, James Anderson then began an inspired spell of bowling, first to find the outside edge of Jayawardenes bat in the penultimate over before tea and then in the third over after the break he moved the ball into Sangakkara who played-on, inside edging on to his leg stump. It had been an extraordinary innings lasting three-and-a-half hours.
If dismissing Jayawardene was a big blow struck by England, Sangakkaras wicket was an even bigger one considering his form as seen in the first innings and the solid manner of his batting in the second innings. Anderson wasnt finished yet. Four balls later he moved the ball away taking a thick edge off Lahiru Thirimannes bat for a catch at second slip.
With that the England fast bowler had grabbed three wickets for one in a space of fourteen balls and Sri Lanka were suddenly 170 for five from 159 for two. Much depended now on the captain Angelo Mathews, who had batted superbly for his century in the first innings. He had only one batsman, Prasanna Jayawardene, who could possibly battle it out with him, before the long tail.
With occupation of the crease their priority, Mathews and Jayawardene batted together for an hour-and-a-half during which they faced 121 balls and as runs didnt matter to them, the yield was just 24 from 20 overs. Then with eleven overs remaining, England hit back with Jordan trapping Jayawardene lbw. The umpire had turned down the appeal but England asked for a review and that was successful. Jayawardenes eight runs had come from 62 balls and Sri Lanka were 194 for six.
The next three wickets fell within two runs. Broad had Nuwan Kulasekera lbw for 1 and Anderson claimed the wicket England urgently needed at that stage, having Mathews caught at slip for 18 in two-and-a-quarter hours of grafting and that was 201 for eight with three overs still remaining. Anderson had taken four for 25.
Broad then removed Rangana Herath, caught behind off his gloves from a rising ball. With 5 balls left the last man, Nuwan Pradeep was in and remarkably he survived after Englands appeal for lbw on the penultimate ball had been upheld but the batsmans request for a review was successful as he had edged the ball on to his front pad. An absolute nail-biting end to a match.
(Article: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author only.
Copyright © 2014 Andy Jalil)