England close in on victory in first Test against Sri Lanka after Jamie Smith hits stunning maiden Test century - with visitors 204-6 and just 82 runs ahead in second innings
- England were all out for 358 against Sri Lanka, with Jamie Smith scoring 111
- Sri Lanka closed day three at Old Trafford on 204-6, 82 runs ahead of England
England were starting to get twitchy when the ever-dependable Chris Woakes dismissed Angelo Mathews – instantly removing Sri Lanka’s likeliest route to an improbable victory in this gripping first Test in Manchester.
A decade ago, Mathews had helped overturn a deficit of 108 at Headingley with a masterful 160 to inspire his country to one of their most famous wins.
Now, with England dropping catches, and his fifth-wicket partnership with Kamindu Mendis worth a precious 78, Sri Lanka had moved into a 51-run lead.
It was irritating rather than alarming, but Test matches have been won from weaker positions, and Ollie Pope was facing his first real examination as captain. The wicket of Mathews was, in other words, just what England needed.
For much of the afternoon, it seemed as if Jamie Smith’s composed maiden Test century, followed by a wicket in each of the first two overs of Sri Lanka’s second innings, might leave little or no cricket for spectators who had risked fourth-day tickets.
England closed in on victory in the first Test against Sri Lanka after Jamie Smith's maiden ton
Smith batted superbly to score 111 to help England reach 358 all out and gain a lead of 122
Smith has now scored two fifties and one hundred in his first five innings in Test match cricket
And when Mark Wood, having removed Dimuth Karunaratne with his first delivery, sent Dinesh Chandimal to hospital with a shuddering blow to his right thumb – scans revealed no fracture – the tourists might have crumbled.
But the 37-year-old Mathews, who ticked off 15,000 international runs during his canny 65, had other ideas.
A change of ball had given England’s seamers encouragement, but the fielders did not read the room. Joe Root put down Mathews at first slip, before a tumbling Gus Atkinson dropped a tougher chance at backward point to reprieve Kamindu Mendis.
The bowler on each occasion was Matthew Potts, who had earlier claimed the first wicket of his comeback Test when Dhananjaya de Silva, aiming to pull, was trapped by one that kept low.
Needless to say, it was Potts who showed his team-mates how do it, diving forward to cling on to a leading edge from Mathews as Woakes made the replacement ball talk.
This was not quite in the category of the ball change that helped England on the final day of last summer’s Ashes at The Oval – a lucky break that still has Australians foaming at the mouth. But it put a different complexion on Sri Lanka’s hopes of wriggling free.
Twice in his next four balls Woakes had lbws chalked off by inside edges unspotted by umpire Chris Gaffaney. And England’s mood – fluctuating almost by the minute – darkened once more when Wood walked off two balls into his 11th over, feeling discomfort in his right thigh.
It was in keeping with a scattergun hour that Root, completing the over, induced a mindless heave to mid-off from Milan Rathnayake with his second ball.
Out walked Chandimal to resume his innings, knowing that he and Mendis – who batted gutsily for a half-century – will have to take Sri Lanka well beyond 200 for six, a lead of 82, if they are to have any chance of a heist.
England were led off in evening sunshine by Smith, who had batted with a maturity beyond his 24 years during a morning session which had been indisputably theirs.
Sri Lanka were then restricted to 204-6 at the close of play, giving them a lead of just 82 runs
Chris Woakes was the pick of the bowlers as the veteran seamer took 2-34 from 12 overs
Matthew Potts also bowled well and was unfortunate to just pick up one wicket on day three
Sri Lanka looked half-awake from the moment they delayed the start by a minute or two while Nishan Madushka strapped on fielding pads he should have sorted out in the dressing-room.
Mathews then misfielded the first ball at mid-on, allowing Smith a single, while the tourists’ tactics to Atkinson – dropping point to the boundary to allow an easy escape route – beggared belief.
Even so, Smith – resuming on 72 – had to contend not only with the pressure of an evenly poised match, but the fact that his previous Test innings, against West Indies at Edgbaston, had ended with a near-miss 95.
There was no such heartbreak now. He moved to 86 with a pair of driven fours off Asitha Fernando, and was soon tucking Rathnayake through square-leg for the two runs that made him the youngest England wicketkeeper to score a Test hundred, breaking Les Ames’s 94-year record.
A modest celebration suggested Smith had no intention of making this a one-off. He quietly removed his helmet, acknowledged the crowd, and embraced Atkinson, his Surrey team-mate. In temperament, as well as technique, he is ticking all the boxes.
His first Test century had needed just 136 balls, and taken England from the perils of 125 for four, still 111 behind, to the promised land of 300 and beyond. Some players simply look made for international cricket. Smith is among them.
Atkinson’s vigil ended when he was caught behind down the leg side for 20 – a first Test wicket for Rathnayake – before Smith edged a quicker one from left-arm spinner Prabath Jayasuriya, and walked off to a standing ovation for 111.
Potts had both Angelo Mathews and Kamindu Mendis dropped in what were simple chances
Mathews (pictured) and Mendis scored half-centuries to keep Sri Lanka in the Test match
A worrying sight for England was Mark Wood limping off the field midway through an over
Only later, when Shoaib Bashir’s review for lbw against Mendis was cut short because Smith’s gloves had not remained behind the stumps, triggering a no-ball, did he look even remotely fallible.
Before that, though, Wood smashed 22 off 13 balls, including a huge hooked six off Avitha Fernando, which lifted England to a lead of 122.
When Woakes bowled Madushka, offering no shot to his third ball, and Atkinson found Kusal Mendis’s outside edge next over, Sri Lanka were one for two in their second innings, having been six for three in their first.
The application showed by Mathews and Mendis may not be enough, but England have been in a contest over the past three days, and Test cricket could do with one of those.
