Jamie Smith and Chris Woakes helped England into a strong position on day three of the first Test at Emirates Old Trafford, but Sri Lanka kept themselves in the hunt to lead by 82 runs at the close.
It was two excellent sessions for the hosts as they were firing with both ball and bat, a brilliant knock by Smith (111) the highlight of England’s first innings as they ended all out on 358 with a 122-run lead.
Woakes (2-34) and Gus Atkinson (1-38) made their mark early in the second innings as Sri Lanka collapsed to 10-2 in the space of the first two overs.
However, Angelo Mathews (65) was the shining light for Sri Lanka as he passed 1,000 Test match runs against England in a 78-run, sixth-wicket stand alongside Kamindu Mendis (56no), with the tourists continuing to frustrate the home side at times as they closed on 204-6.
Mathews and Mendis battle after England take charge
After a sloppy morning for Sri Lanka, their day got worse as it was a perfect start to the second innings for England, Woakes working quickly to remove Nishan Madushka (0) for a duck in his first over, before Atkinson struck with his fourth delivery from the other end to remove Kusal Mednis (0) for another duck, leaving Sri Lanka flailing on 10-2 and trailing by 112 at lunch.
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England claim two early wickets against Sri Lanka in the second innings.
After a slight recovery to bring up the 50, Mark Wood (1-36) then struck with his first delivery to remove Dimuth Karunaratne (27) and break the third-wicket partnership with the visitors still trailing by 70.
Mathews was playing very positive cricket and taking England’s seamers on but as he and Dinesh Chandimal (10no) were building an important partnership, a Wood delivery struck Chandimal’s thumb, the wicketkeeper retiring injured with Sri Lanka trailing by 48 after 17.2 overs.
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Mark Wood strikes on his first delivery as Dimuth Karunaratne falls.
With Mathews then joined by captain Dhananjaya de Silva (11) at the crease they rallied to 95-3 but it was then Matthew Potts’ (1-26) turn to strike to remove the skipper for his first wicket of the game, leaving the visitors with a lot of work to do.
Sri Lanka headed in for tea on 107-4 and behind by 15.
Mathews was holding the innings together and got his reward as he brought up his 42nd Test half-century in 86 balls, working with Mendis to bring their side into the lead in the 36th over, their stand passing the 50 mark quickly after.
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Watch England drop two vital wickets in their bid to break the partnership of Angelo Mathews and Kamindu Mendis.
Their solid partnership was the first real test for Pope’s captaincy and Joe Root (1-1) had a chance to break it but dropped the catch at slip to dismiss Mathews with Sri Lanka on 157-4, Atkinson then dropping another Potts delivery to end Mendis’ innings with the visitors on 158-4.
With a ball change and swinging conditions at the end of over 41, Woakes took the key wicket of Mathews – Potts showing how it is done with a diving catch – to break a 78-run stand.
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Matthew Potts’ diving catch ends the partnership of Angelo Mathews and Kamindu Mendis.
Woakes then thought he had struck twice more to remove Mendis and Milan Rathnayake (10) via lbw but on review both had got bat on ball to keep their side in the encounter, Mendis bringing up his half-century from 95 deliveries.
With Wood going off mid-over after tweaking something, Root came into the attack for the first time in the innings and sensationally delivered the wicket England were after with his first ball, Rathnayake sending it up in the air for Ben Duckett to take.
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After taking over from Mark Wood mid-over, Joe Root claims a wicket.
After an X-ray confirmed that Chandimal had not broken his finger and would be able to bat again, he returned to the crease, seeing out the day with Mendis as they close on 204-6 and leading by 82.
Smith brings up classy maiden Test century
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Watch Jamie Smith claims his maiden test century in England’s first Test against Sri Lanka.
The third day at Emirates Old Trafford started with Smith just 28 runs short of his maiden Test hundred and, after falling five runs short against the West Indies, the pressure was on.
But, as he stayed sturdy during a crucial seventh-wicket 66-run partnership with Atkinson (20), the 100 finally arrived after 148 deliveries, the helmet coming off as the crowd and his teammates rose to applaud the moment.
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Watch the best shots from Jamie Smith’s
maiden Test century on day three of the first Test against Sri Lanka.
With Smith’s classy century secured, it took just two deliveries for Sri Lanka to then break the stand, Atkinson nicking Milan Rathnayake’s (1-66) delivery behind to keeper Dinesh Chandimal for his first-ever Test wicket.
With England on 315-7 with a lead of 79, the curse of Nelson struck as Smith’s excellent innings came to an end from a Prabath Jayasuriya delivery, leaving the tailenders to try and build, Mark Wood (22) and Matthew Poots (17) helping put England on top.
