Fragile top order, moving ball bring woe to Sri Lanka

Rex Clementine
in London

Sri Lanka’s 33-year-old record of being unbeaten at Lord’s came to an end on Sunday when they suffered a 190-run loss with a day to spare at the Home of Cricket. Heading into the third Test match at The Oval on Friday, they have little time to turn things around.

England seamers have got the moving ball cause havoc while Sri Lanka had got their sums wrong when they opted to bowl first when conditions were bright and sunny at Lord’s. On day two and three it was cloudy and conditions were ideal for the fast bowlers. Sri Lanka were knocked off for less than 200 runs.

Captain Dhananjaya de Silva conceded at the post-match press conference that his team had been defensive in deciding to bowl first in the second Test to protect their fragile top order.

Former captain Dimuth Karunaratne batted for over two hours to post a half-century but overall has struggled while his partner Nishan Madushka is facing the axe after making three single digit scores. Pathum Nissanka making a comeback to the side made 12 and 14 at three and Kusal Mendis batting at three at Old Trafford had scored 24 and a duck.

“The new ball is the key. They attack with the new ball and once the ball gets older, it is easy for batting. The top order needs to be solid. Either you have to stay at the wicket or play some shots. We need to chat about that and come up with a plan,” he told journalists.

Dinesh Chandimal raced to a half-century in the second innings at Lord’s reaching the milestone in 42 balls but England kept attacking as they had the runs to play with. Ian Bell Sri Lanka’s Batting Coach has been asking the players to build a method that will work for them and the top order needs to come up with plans to counter the moving ball.”

Joe Root dazzled for England with hundreds in each innings at Lord’s and overtook Sir Alastair Cook as the leading century maker for England. After opting to bowl first, Sri Lanka had England in trouble reducing them to 216 for six but what they didn’t expect was a hundred from Gus Atkinson, who hadn’t scored a century in First Class cricket.

Sri Lanka’s options against Atkinson was poor but the moment they started bowling short at him, his batting deficiencies were exposed.

“After tea on day one, things started drifting away from us and we didn’t do enough to pull back the game. Once the ball had got soft, it became easy and Joe Root smartly started rotated the strike and put the loose balls away to the boundary. We lost the grip of the game after that.

Asitha Fernando finishing with a five-wicket haul to become the second Sri Lankan after Rumesh Ratnayake to get his name in the Lord’s Honours Board was a highlight in the game.

In Sri Lanka’s second innings, three batters made half-centuries but none had the application or the appetite to go on to make a hundred.

After back-to-back losses, Sri Lanka have now slipped down to seventh place in the World Test Championship although they were well placed at four prior to the start of the series.

England have now moved to third spot.