ENG vs SL: England are currently hosting Sri Lanka for a 2-match test series, the first one being played at the Old Trafford, Manchester. The match started on the 21st of August with Sri Lanka looking to bat on the track.
The English bowlers caused early trouble for the Lankan batters as they struck very early with 3 wickets, and even Mathews and Chandimal fell early. Now, the skipper took over the role with Sri Lanka’s no.9 debutant Milan Rathnayake. They both landed decent 74 and 72, which took Sri Lanka to a 236-run total in their first inning.
The England innings started at the end of Day 1, as Ben Duckett took strike with new opener Dan Lawrence, who replaced the injured Zak Crawley. The new English skipper, Ollie Pope, came in at No. 3 and went early.
However, it was their highly anticipated player Joe Root who added stability to the innings before Harry Brook and wicketkeeper batsman Jamie Smith took England to an impressive total.
Jamie Smith took over injured skipper Ben Stokes, batting position at No. 6, and he kept his nerve to deliver a stunning inning. In between the two, the partnership was broken by a jaffa of a delivery from Prabhat Jayasuiriya, one that took a sharp turn before taking the top of the off-stump.
The next one to fall was Chris Woakes with another similar delivery that spun unconventionally. Jamie Smith remained firm till the end of Day 2, as he took England to 259/6 and he himself stood on 72*.
Alongside Gus Atkinson, he came into bat on the 3rd day and kept his composure to score his maiden international test century. The player already has 10 First-Class centuries and the highest individual score of 234 in his county career.
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Now aged 24 years and 40 days, Jamie is the youngest English wicketkeeper batsman to have scored a century in red-ball cricket. At the time of writing, Sri Lanka in their second innings is 107/4, with Angelo Mathews their best batter standing alone on 48*, with even the skipper back in the pavilion this time.
The team is still behind by 15 runs at tea break, and if Chandimal, who is retired and hurt, makes a comeback onto the field, Sri Lanka might pose a decent total.