England v Sri Lanka – Day 3 Overview
At the start of day four of the second Test between England and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758 at Lords, the match was heading towards a high scoring draw because of all the weather interventions and high class batting. However, the visitors collapsed in their first innings
after a solid start given by the top order and lost the last seven wickets for just 109 runs, which means that there is still a strong possibility of a result in this match with one day left.
Play was not possible at the start of day four and the umpires had to take an early lunch. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/TT-Samaraweera-c2712 resumed the innings for the visitors and added 22 runs to their overnight partnership score between them, before both the
middle order batsmen were dismissed on the same score and left their team in tatters.
Sri Lankan wicketkeeper http://www.senore.com/Cricket/HAPW-Jayawardene-c1529, who struck a brilliant hundred in the previous Test at Cardiff, impressed with his batting skills once again and made sure that he adds some valuable runs for his team with the tail. Left arm spinner Rangana
Herath gave him able support as both of them scored precious 57 runs for the seventh wicket partnership.
However, apart from Jayawardene and Herath, no late order batsman was able to make a solid contribution. As a result the visitors were bowled out for 479 runs in their first innings and handed over a lead of seven runs to England.
Sri Lankan captain Tillakaratane Dilshan remained the top scorer for his team with an outstanding innings of 193 runs which came off 253 balls. Some other batsmen made useful contributions but the Sri Lankan team management would have wanted them to convert
their starts into big knocks like Dilshan did.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/GP-Swann-c1501 also claimed three wickets.
The home team faced an early hiccup as their captain http://www.senore.com/Cricket/IJL-Trott-c1576 took control of the situation from then onwards and
made sure that their team attains a healthy lead before the end of the play.
The in-form Trott missed a straighter one from Herath and was dismissed at the later stages of day four. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/KP-Pietersen-c1806 joined Cook and took England’s score to 149 for the loss of two wickets on stumps on day four.
England is leading by 156 runs with eight wickets in hand. Considering the happenings of the last day of the previous Test, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/England-c56013 is in with a strong chance to seal the series tomorrow.
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