Tea England 176 for 4 (Brook 53*, Smith 22*) trail Sri Lanka 236 (de Silva 74, Rathnayake 72, Woakes 3-32) by 60 runs
Asitha Fernando continued Sri Lanka’s spirited display in the first Test at Emirates Old Trafford, claiming three key wickets in an extended afternoon session as England were made to fight for the ascendancy after an extended rain delay. By tea, Harry Brook’s fighting half-century, in a fifth-wicket stand of 51 with Jamie Smith, had reduced the deficit to 60, but Asitha’s interventions, including the prime scalp of Joe Root for 42, had helped to make their first-innings total of 236 look more competitive than it had appeared at the time.
After sweating under the covers for several hours during a rainy morning in Manchester, the Old Trafford pitch was ripe for seam bowling when play finally got underway at 1.15pm, and Asitha was primed to cash in. With his bustling approach and a commitment to a full length, he posed problems from the outset, under still-dense cloud cover and with the floodlights in full beam.
His performance went into overdrive from the first ball of his second over, when Dan Lawrence was pinned on the pad and given out lbw by umpire Paul Reiffel. Although that decision was successfully overturned, with the ball shown to be skimming over the bails, the information was stored away and perfectly progressed by the bowler.
Two balls later, and now with Ben Duckett on strike, Asitha fired the ball in a good two feet fuller, and was this time the successful reviewee, with the ball shown to be both pitching on and hitting leg stump as Duckett was turned inside-out on his attempted flick across the line.
And in his very next over, Asitha served up the piece de resistance of his new-ball spell, an exceptional wobble-seam delivery, pitching half a foot fuller than the Lawrence ball, and straightening off the pitch to smash into the top of Ollie Pope’s off stump. England’s captain was gone for 6, and at 40 for 2 in the ninth over, England had a bit of a rebuild to undertake.
Joe Root is no stranger to skinny top-order scorelines, of course, and as he bedded in for the long haul, it was Lawrence who initiated England’s counterattack, with a brace of forceful whips through the leg-side as Asitha strayed in length. But, having scored just four of his 30 runs through the off-side, his vulnerability in the channel was superbly exploited by Vishwa Fernando, who nicked him off after a change of ends, using the breeze from the Statham End to push a lifter across his bows from his left-arm angle.
Despite the damp conditions, Sri Lanka were able to find some appreciable reverse-swing off a typically abrasive Old Trafford pitch, meaning that Root and Brook had to be on their mettle even as their 58-run stand clipped along at more than five an over. Milan Rathnayake, Sri Lanka’s first-day hero, was picked off for three fours in an over as he strained for that swinging full length, but it was Asitha’s return to the attack that would prise the most vital wicket of the day.
Root had reached 42 from 56 balls in another under-stated display of touch and timing when he was undone in expert fashion, climbing into a wider line from Asitha while still playing for the inswing that had been the feature of his over to that point. This ball, however, held its line and skidded straight on, and Dinesh Chandimal scooped up the low edge to leave England wobbling at 125 for 4.
Brook, however, kept the foot down in his familiarly forceful manner, driving with heavy timing whenever the ball was over-pitched, and working the gaps well, with Sri Lanka’s field still veering towards the defensive given England’s reputation for boundary-hunting. By tea, Smith was also settling into his work on 22 not out, with one huge straight six off the spin of Prabath Jayasuriya showing that he too was finding his range in the tough conditions.
Andrew Miller is UK editor of ESPNcricinfo. @miller_cricket
