Sri Lanka celebrate after clinching victory in the third Test vs England.© AFP

England vs Sri Lanka 3rd Test Day 4 Highlights© AFP

Pathum Nissanka‘s superb unbeaten fifty left Sri Lanka eyeing a memorable win over England as the third Test at the Oval headed for a dramatic finish. Sri Lanka were 94-1 when bad light led to an early close on Sunday’s third day, needing a further 125 runs to reach a victory target of 219 that would end a run of seven successive Test defeats by England. Dimuth Karunaratne was caught and bowled by Chris Woakes for eight when a drive ballooned off his pad. But fellow opener Nissanka, who made 64 in Sri Lanka’s first innings, was 53 not out having gone to his second fifty of the match in style when he blazed debutant left-arm quick Josh Hull through the covers for a seventh four in 42 balls faced.

The recalled Kusal Mendis, meanwhile, pounced on numerous loose deliveries during an unbeaten 30 featuring 24 runs in boundaries.  

That Sri Lanka were chasing a target in excess of 200 was mainly down to Jamie Smith‘s superb counter-attacking 67 that rescued England from a dramatic collapse.

England, already 2-0 up in this three-match series, lost five wickets for 26 runs in slumping to 82-7 before wicketkeeper Smith’s dashing display on his Surrey home ground helped them recover to 156 all out.

His innings left England, who routed the West Indies 3-0 earlier in the season, with renewed hope of a first home Test clean sweep since 2004 when Michael Vaughan led them to seven successive wins.

Smith fell on the stroke of tea when he chipped Vishwa Fernando to short midwicket to end a brilliant 50-ball innings featuring 10 fours and a six.

Left-arm quick Vishwa Fernando, gaining prodigious swing, also captured the prize scalp of Joe Root for just 12 on his way to 3-40, with Lahiru Kumara enjoying a fine return of 4-21 in seven overs. 

Former England captains Michael Vaughan and Alastair Cook had criticised the hosts for sloppy batting while slumping from 221-3 to 325 all out in their first innings.

It is unlikely either of the old batsmen would have been impressed by opener Ben Duckett holing out for seven off Asitha Fernando.

Ollie Pope, fresh from 154 in England’s first innings — his first Test century since taking over as captain from the injured Ben Stokes — also fell for seven by chopping on to Kumara.

Dan Lawrence, a middle-order batsman by trade, had been promoted to open this series in place of the injured Zak Crawley.

The 27-year-old had yet to get the 30s in four innings against Sri Lanka and it was a similar story on Sunday for all he lofted Asitha Fernando for six.

Lawrence, however, chanced his luck once too often when he charged at Kumara only to edge behind to wicketkeeper Dinesh Chandimal for a run-a-ball 35 that ended up being England’s second-top score of the innings.

Root’s square-driven boundary off Vishwa Fernando meant he surpassed Sri Lanka great Kumar Sangakkara‘s tally of 12,400 Test runs to go into sixth place in the all-time list.

Two balls later, however, Vishwa Fernando’s excellent inswinging yorker struck Root on the boot and he was lbw.

Brook was also lbw to another fine inswinger from Vishwa Fernando.

Smith counter-attacked, scoring 20 runs in one over from fast bowler Milan Rathnayake that featured a flashing cut for four and crunching pull for six off successive deliveries.

He also lofted Rathnayake down the ground for four before ending the over by punching the paceman through the covers for another boundary.

Earlier, Olly Stone and 20-year-old quick Hull did the bulk of the damage as Sri Lanka, who resumed on 211-5, lost their last five first-innings wickets for 52 runs in 16.2 overs, with captain Dhananjaya de Silva and Kamindu Mendis unable to add signficantly to their overnight unbeaten fifties.

Stone took 3-35 in nine overs and the towering Hull 3-53 in 11.

Sri Lanka will be without a left-arm fast-bowling option at Lord’s.© Instagram

Skipper Rohit Sharma played on a different ‘track’ from his other colleagues, who were thoroughly exposed against quality spin bowling as Sri Lanka managed to eke out a tie against India in a low-scoring but thrilling opening ODI in Colombo on Friday. In a chase of 231, skipper Rohit smashed 58 off 47 balls on a rank turner with variable bounce, taking his team to 71 in 10 overs but all the other batters never looked comfortable against an army of Lankan spinners as skipper Charith Asalanka got wickets off back-to-back deliveries to play his part in the 44th tie in the history of ODI cricket.

When Shivam Dube (25) hit those two sixes and a boundary through the extra cover to tie the scores, it seemed like Sri Lanka’s woes would continue, but Asalanka took it upon himself to at least earn a psychological win for the home team.

Rohit didn’t look one bit rusty during his destructive half-century but the Indian middle-order stuttered badly, showing their ineptitude against slow bowlers.

After the Indian bowling unit collectively put up a good show on a turner, restricting Sri Lanka to 230 for 8, Rohit’s 58 gave India a destructive start. Things went into a downward spiral after that as Sri Lanka’s battery of spinners, led by Wanindu Hasaranga (3/58 in 10 overs), Akila Dananjaya (/140 in 10 overs), Dunith Wellalage (2/39 in 8 overs) and skipper Charith Asalanka (3/30 in 8.5 overs), not only choked the run flow but also got breakthroughs when necessary.

On a pitch where Rohit made batting look ridiculously easy, KL Rahul (31 off 43 balls) seemed to once again play his natural waiting game that has always proved to be detrimental for his team’s cause. And, by the time he threw away his wicket, he couldn’t ensure a decisive turnaround.

Virat Kohli (23), Shreyas Iyer (24) and Axar Patel (33) all got starts but couldn’t capitalise.

However, it was Rohit, who looked like playing on a different track compared to all other batters across both teams. He started with an 88-metre six over cow corner off the very third ball of India’s innings bowled by Asitha Fernando and then welcomed debutant pacer Mohamed Shiraz with a couple of boundaries and a slap over deep mid-wicket for a six.

While Shubman Gill (16) struggled at the other end, Rohit treated the Lankan bowlers with disdain.

Once he was adjudged leg-before trying a slog sweep off Dananjaya, suddenly the pitch, which looked easy to bat on, started showing its vagaries.

The ball started turning a wee bit more and the variable bounce also created confusion. Kohli got a skidder and was plumb in front while Washington Sundar (5) got one that Dananjaya fired in with an angle. Iyer didn’t look bad in his short innings before an in-cutter from Fernando breached his defence.

Earlier, intelligent fifties from Pathum Nissanka and Dunith Wellalage carried the hosts to a fighting score.

Nissanka (56, 75b, 9×4) was a picture of concentration and Wellalage (67 not out, 65b, 7×4, 2×6) of confidence on a pitch that offered some turn after Lanka skipper Charith Asalanka opted to bat first.

Sri Lanka had a shaky start to their innings when Mohammed Siraj ousted Avishka Fernando but Nissanka and Kusal Mendis (14) added 39 runs for a steady second wicket as the hosts staged a mini-recovery.

Just as it happened in the preceding T20I series, the Islanders showed the propensity to throw their wickets away from that point.

This is not to undermine the excellent effort put in by the Indian bowlers, who elicited several false shots from the Lankan batters.

Mendis fell leg-before to Shivam Dube, who made his return to one-day cricket after a hiatus of five years with that scalp.

From a relatively comfortable 46 for two, the Lankan innings soon crash-landed to 101 for five in the 27th over.

Wellalage was quite impressive after his initial struggles against Kuldeep. The crunchy back-foot punch through the covers for four off Washington and a few other ramps and scoops were a testimony to the youngster’s potential.

The left-hander, who added another 46 with Akila Dhananjaya for the eighth wicket, brought up his maiden ODI fifty in 59 balls, also assisting his side to go past the 200-run mark that once appeared far away.

Ireland vs Sri Lanka, T20 World Cup Warm-Up Highlights© AFP