James Anderson
England bowled Sri Lanka out for 381 runs on day two of the second test after the tail showed stubborn resistance on Saturday. While James Anderson took six, Mark Wood claimed three and Curran picked up the last wicket.
In response, the visitors also suffered early blows after Dom Sibley and Zak Crawley were dismissed cheaply, leaving England at 5/2. After the departure of both the openers, Jonny Bairstow and skipper Joe Root stuck in the middle until stumps. While Root notched up 67, Bairstow scored 24 as England reached 98/2 at the end of the first day.
Tea was delayed by 15 minutes with the hosts down to the last pair. Dilruwan Perera was the last man dismissed when he pulled Sam Curran to Jack Leach at deep square leg for 67.
A rare feature in the Sri Lankan innings was that all wickets fell for the seamers. Galle is a spinners paradise traditionally, but it was the England seamers who did the job.
Niroshan Dickwella looked all set to post his maiden hundred when a lapse of concentration saw him being dismissed for his career-best 92.
James Anderson set him up nicely — placing two extra covers and a wide mid-off and constantly feeding him with deliveries wide outside off stump. Dickwella lost his patience and drove upwardly and Leach at wide mid-off made a good catch. The seventh-wicket stand between him and Perera was worth 89 runs.
Sri Lanka in the morning session lost Angelo Mathews and debutant Ramesh Mendis in quick succession. With Dickwella’s wicket, Anderson completed his 30th five-wicket haul. Three balls later, he had his best figures in Asia when Suranga Lakmal edged one to gully where Zak Crawley completed the catch.
Anderson bowled an extended spell of six overs in the afternoon session with the hope of knocking off the tail but Sri Lanka was not going to give it away easily.
Earlier, England had unsuccessfully reviewed a leg before shout against Perera when he was on 21.
Lasith Embuldeniya, who was hit on the shoulder by Wood, added 32 runs for the ninth wicket with Perera helping Sri Lanka close to the 400-run mark.
The 38-year-old Perera posted his seventh test half-century with a nice flick for four off Wood. He was dropped on 51 when Dom Bess spilled a return catch. Perera faced 170 balls for his 67 and hit eight fours and a six.
(With AP Inputs)
