MCO at the Test: Mathews and Mendis keep Sri Lanka in the hunt as England struggle for inspiration

Angelo Mathews’ defiant 65 from 145 balls hauled Sri Lanka back into the first Test at Emirates Old Trafford, as the tourists entered day four 82 ahead with four second innings wickets standing.

And with Kamindu Mendis resuming on 56, alongside the wounded but unbeaten Dinesh Chandimal, England know they have a fight on their hands.

When the former skipper came to the crease, a fourth day looked unlikely to happen at all.

Jamie Smith had capitalised on some weak, defensive captaincy by Dhananjaya de Silva to move to a chanceless maiden Test century, and Chris Woakes and Gus Atkinson each struck early.

The first innings deficit of 122 looked mountainous; when Mark Wood joined the fun by dismissing Dimuth Karunaratne then injuring Chandimal, hotels in the Manchester area may have reported a surge of early check-outs.

But Mathews had other ideas. He built a patient stand of 78 with Mendis and weathered a storm of short-pitched bowling which implied stand-in skipper Ollie Pope had used up plans A through C at least.

The batters were even starting to ride their luck – Joe Root and Atkinson reprieved each of them off the luckless Matthew Potts.

Then came a ball change, and then came Woakes. Mathews fenced and missed at a few then finally edged one, sending a looping edge to Potts at point, who showed the others how it’s done.

The damage would have been greater but for DRS, with both Milan Rathnayake and Mendis given out having edged inswingers into their pads.

Rathnayake did not cash in, swiping Root’s loosener up in the air after Wood hobbled off, but Mendis – whose early career average topped 100 before this Test – moved serenely to his 50, and played out the last few overs comfortably.

Root was the fourth England bowler to strike in his first over, certainly a quirk if not a record.

The hosts had resumed in the morning on 259/6, ahead by 23 and on top but not out of sight.

Sri Lanka laboured for almost two hours to get rid of them, Smith and Atkinson extending their stand to 66 before Atkinson gave Rathnayake his first Test scalp, tickling one down leg side two balls after Smith reached his century.

The wicketkeeper fell to a loose cut at Prabath Jayasuriya soon after, but some biffing from Wood and Potts lifted the lead to three figures.

It was almost 1pm but, with the session extended, the visitors had three overs to face.

It was three too many – Nishan Madushka left Wokes’ third ball and had his bails trimmed; Kusal Perera poked at Atkinson’s fourth and edged to a diving Smith.

Not long after the break, Wood’s first delivery looped to slip via some combination of Karunaratne’s bat and his hip; when the Durham man forced Chandimal to retire by slamming one into his thumb, the tourists were effectively four down and still 48 behind.

But Mathews – who had gone down wondering in the first innings, pinned by Woakes without offering a stroke – chose a different path this time round.

Some early aggression against anything pitched up persuaded Pope and his seamers to serve up some short stuff; it kept Mathews quieter, and Potts accounted for da Silva with one that didn’t get up much, but Mendis thrived.

Neither Atkinson nor Potts had the menace or accuracy to make the short ball a threat, and Shohaib Bashir’s off-breaks were ineffective.

Wood seems to be being managed, the idea presumably being to find the optimum number of overs which means they get to use him without needing to rest him – his early exit from the fray will cause some concern, with the Tests coming thick and fast this summer.

from Merseyside Cricket Online https://ift.tt/JWIGBgn