Sri Lanka v England - 2nd Test - 2nd Day's Recap
Sri Lanka 275 v England 154/1 (66.0 ov) - England trail by 121 runs with 9 wickets remaining in the 1st innings
England are finally back to their commendable ways after the resilient pair of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/AN-Cook-c1026 fought their way through a stiff Sri Lankan bowling outfit on the second day of the second Test between the two countries at P Sara Oval, Colombo, Sri Lanka, as the touring team from England seek to avert losing their number-one Test status in Test cricket, which they will lost if they fail to subdue the hosts in this match.
After ending the first day of play, Sri Lanka began their first innings on day-two April 04, 2012, for the loss of six wickets and with 238 runs on the board in a bid to bolster the total.
However, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/England-c56013 were in no mood to let the hosts get carried away as they grabbed their first wicket of the day by dismissing Suraj Randiv, who fell after scoring 12 runs off 52 deliveries. At the time of his wicket, the Lankans had amassed 258 runs on the board.
With Randiv decommissioned, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/AD-Mathews-c913, who was holding the other end needed someone to give him the support to increase the first innings tally.
28-year-old, Dhammika Prasad, was the next man in and he also batted with zeal in order to stay on the wicket for as long as possible to give Mathews the required support.
However, England’s ace spinner http://www.senore.com/Cricket/GP-Swann-c1501 who had earlier dismissed Randiv, struck again by nabbing the prized wicket of Mathews who departed in the 104th over of the match after scoring a patient innings of 57 runs off 157 deliveries.
Mathews left his side sitting on 261 runs and with him gone, there was not much hope left for Sri Lanka to bounce back in the innings with their main players sitting out.
At the end, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758 finished off their first innings by amassing 275 runs.
Expecting complete dominance, Sri Lankan fielders took the field but were given a shocking welcome from English openers as Strauss and Cook proved unbeatable.
The English duo clobbered an opening stand of 122 runs, leaving the Sri Lankan bowlers battered and desperate.
The bowlers kept getting smacked in front of home crowd which added to their miseries and made them more impatient towards getting a wicket.
Finally in the 52nd over of the day, Sri Lanka managed to grab their first wicket when Strauss after playing a resounding innings of 61 runs perished.
However, this was not the end and Cook was joined by http://www.senore.com/Cricket/IJL-Trott-c1576 as both batsmen kept the scoreboard ticking, aiming to post a mammoth tally on the board by the end of their first innings.
England with Cook on 77 and Trott on 15 ended the day after posting 154 runs on the score table.
Tags: