Dropped catches leave Lankans facing uphill task
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Moeen Ali remained unbeaten on 85
Two dropped catches and positive batting saw England consolidating on the second day of their second Test against Sri Lanka at lunch at the Riverside Ground at Chester-le-Street, yesterday. At lunch England reached 408 for 8 with allrounder Moeen Ali looking for the three figure mark at 85 not out with Steven Finn not out on 2. All in on a wicket where the par score is only 325, the current England total may be a bit out of reach for the Lankan batsmen once they begin their turn at the crease later today.
The second day started with a streaky four by Ali that went through slip cordon off Pradeep and then in the next over Ali was dropped again in the cordon by Pradeep and then Wokes given life by wicket keeper Chandimal off Eranga. May be Chandimal was a bit concerned about his injured thumb. In just one sentence it was described how the Lankans lost the initiative and undid all good fielding that they did in the first day. Just prior to the commencement of the game in Friday, Mathews said that he wanted to put the first match defeat behind them and look for a win in the second Test here in Durham, but, it seems that his intentions may go awry.
Even the sentiments of Mahela Jayawardene were the same. He was of the view that the Lankans should have been prepared even in the second day. The next day is another day and the team has to begin start fresh all over again. However the misses by Karunaratne and Chandimal did not help the Lankan cause. Jayawardene also pointed out, that if Chandimal was injured in the first day, they do have Kaushal Silva and Kusal Mendis who are regular wicketkeepers within the playing XI, so they could have utilised one of those players to do the job behind the wicket. The day was balmy and the ball still moved thus making it not easy batting for England, yet, aided by the missed catches their batsmen progressed.
Dimuth Karunaratne's brilliant effort on the opening day was overshadowed by a dropped catch
England reached the 350 mark and the 50-run stand for the seventh wicket almost together. Quoting Jayawardene again he said “In the first day, even though England scored runs, the Lankan body language was good. But, today it does not look the same. It is bad for the Lankans, when they come in to bat later today because it is the momentum that one carries from one to the other.” During the first drinks break injured Chandimal swapped places with Kusal Mendis behind the stumps and a few minutes later Ali completed his half century to bring more misery to the Lankan camp.
Lankans finally tasted success when the English score read 389, when stand-in wicketkeeper Kusal Mendis held on to a regulation snick by Wokes off Lakmal who probably was the most consistent bowler so far in the day. Wokes and Ali added 92 runs for the seventh wicket with Woke’s contribution being 39 useful runs. England reached the 400 mark in the 112th over – 400 for 7. At that point Nuwan Pradeep scalped the wicket of Broad caught behind by Mendis for 7, giving the medium fast bowler his fourth wicket of the inning.
| Scoreboard England 1st innings (310 for 6 cont.) | |