Sri Lanka commenced the second day of the last Test match with a century by Angelo Mathews at the Galle International Stadium. Mathews survived 238 balls for 110 runs. He got support from Dinesh Chandimal (52 off 121) and Niroshan Dickwella (92 off 14) who fell seven runs short of his maiden century. But soon after Mathews departed, Dickwella built a good partnership with Perera. The Lankan batsmen proficiently put efforts to anchor the second day of the last Test. Anderson’s six-wicket haul played the destructive role but SL managed to put 381 on the scoreboard. It was Anderson’s 30th Test match five-wicket haul. Despite favouring spin, Sri Lanka lost all their wickets to the English pace line up. Mark Wood got three scalps.
England started their first innings in a disastrous way. Lasith Embuldeniya puzzled the English openers Zak Crawley and Dom Shibley getting them out cheaply. After that Joe Root set up an exhilarating plot with his fellow Yorkshire mate Jonny Bairstow. They knitted an unbeaten stand of 93 runs to get England back on the track.
England finished the day on 98/2. At the stumps, Root and Bairstow are unbeaten on 67 and 24. While Sri Lanka will try to snare a few quick wickets early on day three, England would like to continue the partnership to erase the disparity.
