Adil Rashid stars with five wickets as visitors tighten grip in Colombo contest

England ended up with a healthy 99-run lead against hosts Sri Lanka at the end of the second day after some fine spin bowling by Adil Rashid put the hosts on the backfoot in Colombo on Saturday.

Resuming proceedings at 312/7, England were eventually bowled out for 336 runs with Jonny Bairstow’s hundred remaining the top score in the line-up. Lakshan Sandakan, who had tested the English batting all throughout the first innings was at it with five wickets, giving away 95 runs. Dilruwan Perera followed with 3/113 while Malinda Pushpakumara ended with two wickets to his name.

England, who already have pocketed the series 2-0 began well with the ball with Danushka Gunathilaka being the first one to bite the dust when he fell to Jack Leach in the 12th over.

Also read: Sri Lanka vs England: Visitors ride on Bairstow’s ton to end on 312/7

But Sri Lanka then didn’t let the game slip away from their hands with a strong 142-run stand between Dimuth Karunaratne and Dhananjaya De Silva that gave the innings a platform for a good score in the first innings.

But Silva’s fall in the 48th over triggered a mini-collapse for Sri Lanka as this signalled the start of a batting slump. The conditions were made use of by the spin duo of Leach and Adil Rashid as the hosts eventually were skittled out for just 240 runs in 65.5 overs.

Rashid was the star for England as he picked up five wickets, giving away just 49 runs in his figures.

Brief scores: England 336 (Bairstow 110, Stokes 57, Sandakan 5-95) and 3 for 0 (Burns 2*, Jennings 1*) lead Sri Lanka 240 (Karunaratne 83, Dhananjaya 73, Rashid 5-49, Stokes 3-30) by 99 runs.

Image credit-The Times