Gus Atkinson‘s magnificent maiden Test century set the tone for another dominant England performance at Lord’s. Gus Atkinson made history by becoming only the second England player after Sir Ian Botham to record a Test ton and a ten-wicket match haul at Lord’s in the same season. Apart from creating a plethora of statistical feats, Gus Atkinson’s marathon feat ensured a challenging first innings total for England, a position they strengthened with two quick strikes before the lunch break.
By the end of a second day that had begun with England sitting pretty on 358 for 7 in their first innings, Ben Duckett and Ollie Pope were back out there in their second, nudging the lead along to an already imposing 256. Pope, in need of a score after 13 runs in his first three innings as captain, endured a handful of jitters but endured to the close unscathed, after Dan Lawrence had been given out on review for 7, England’s only truly duff note of the day.
In between whiles, Sri Lanka were bowled out for 196 in 55.3 overs, a first-innings deficit of 231, having relied once more on the indomitable skills of Kamindu Mendis to haul them out of a familiar top-order tail-spin.
Day 2: Morning Session : Twin strikes extend England’s dominance after Atkinson’s historic ton despite Fernando’s 5-fer
Earlier in the morning, it was all about Gus Atkinson. Resuming at his overnight score of 74, the No.8 wasted little time in getting off the blocks as he scored the lion’s share of England’s tally on day two. The hosts only lasted about an hour in the first session but piled on 69 runs in the 14 overs with Atkinson slamming 44 of them. As the milestone drew nearer, Gus Atkinson showed little signs of nerves as he breezed past the landmark in style. He finally perished to a tired stroke but not before putting England in the box seat.
Chris Woakes and Olly Stone struck once apiece as both of Sri Lanka’s openers fell after chopping onto the stumps. While Nishan Madushka fell rather early, Dimuth Karunaratne departed at the stroke of the break to push the visitors further on the back foot.
Sri Lanka’s performance had been every bit as off-color as their dreadful display on the third day of the first Test at Old Trafford. Then, as now, their foothold in the contest came loose during a muddled morning with the ball, with Gus Atkinson the prime beneficiary as he converted his overnight 74 not out into a sublime 103-ball hundred. It was the first of his professional career, and the first by a designated England No.8 or lower since Stuart Broad’s 169 on this same ground against Pakistan in 2010.
Despite having had the chance, overnight, to overthink his opportunity, Gus Atkinson’s cool head proved to be almost as remarkable as the feat itself. Just as had been the case on his debut against West Indies in July, when Gus Atkinson had earned himself a total of three honours-board entries with five-fers in each innings and 12 wickets in the match – the prospect of another remarkable slice of Lord’s history could not faze him in the slightest.
Facing up to a ball that was only eight overs old, Gus Atkinson launched his day with back-to-back boundaries as Kumara strayed either side of the wicket, and though he was then given out lbw by Paul Reiffel third-ball, the collective groan of the Lord’s crowd quickly turned to cheers as Atkinson’s review showed the ball to be missing leg.
From then on, there was no stopping him. Milan Rathnayake offered him another leg-stump freebie, tickled through fine leg, and having powered through to 99 with another pull and a drive off the erratic Kumara, Gus Atkinson needed just three more balls – compared to Joe Root’s 12 on day one – before another firm and focused push through long-off landed him his milestone from just 103 balls, the sixth-fastest century in a Lord’s Test.
Gus Atkinson’s disbelieving smile as he saluted all four corners of the ground was the only slight hint that this was no ordinary day out. Matthew Potts, who had played a key role in an 85-run stand for the eighth wicket, fell soon afterwards as Asitha was belatedly called into the attack to strike with a third-ball outswinger.
Sri Lanka soon reverted to a short-ball tactic, which initially suited Atkinson fine as he thrashed two more fours behind square off Asitha. But, in his attempt to dump the same bowler into the Grandstand, he finally came a cropper, courtesy of a wonderfully timed leap from Rathnayake at deep midwicket, who dived towards the rope – feet in the air – to cling on over his shoulder and end a mighty innings.
And though the bumper ploy wasn’t the best use of Asitha’s merits, he did at least land a deserved moment of personal glory when Stone swung through another short ball to pick out deep fine leg for 15. With figures of 5 for 102, that made him the first Sri Lanka bowler to claim five wickets at Lord’s since Rumesh Ratnayake in 1991.
Day 2 : Post Lunch Session : England seamers leave Sri Lanka in tatters
The second day of the Lord’s Test between England and Sri Lanka hit the fast forward button with the hosts extending their dominance further in the post-lunch session. Matthew Potts (2-12) was the pick of the bowlers and his twin strikes came at a time when Sri Lanka were batting with relative ease through the senior duo of Angelo Mathews (22) and Dinesh Chandimal (23).
Potts produced a cracking delivery that seamed away late to castle Mathews and then had skipper Dhananjaya de Silva in the same over to rock Sri Lanka’s boat. Man of the moment Gus Atkinson then dealt a killer blow by getting rid of Chandimal two overs later as Sri Lanka slipped from 83/3 from 87/6 in no time.
The bright spot for visitors once again has been Kamindu Mendis (26*) who has looked assured at the crease with a good mix of caution and aggression. Milan Rathnayake struck a brisk 14-ball 19 that had four boundaries in them but the left-hander couldn’t repeat his heroics from the first innings at Manchester as he fell prey to Woakes with the Tea break around the corner.
Once again, Mendis was left with the tail as the task of salvaging the situation for Sri Lanka rests with the southpaw. The interesting point to observe in the final session will be if England go for the follow-on option, if and when they get the opportunity.
Forty minutes and five balls later, Stone had his second. Pathum Nissanka, who could have been run out on 3 by Dan Lawrence’s instinctive shy from short leg, instead fell for 12 as he aimed a gullible flick off the toes and picked out Potts, stationed for that precise shot at leg slip.
Angelo Mathews and Chandimal, two of the mainstays of Sri Lanka’s fightback at Old Trafford, picked up the pieces in a fourth-wicket stand of 48. But into the attack came Potts, who was excellent if under-rewarded in the second innings of that first Test.
With a relentless stump-to-stump line, allied to a hint of each-way movement, Potts duly struck with the first ball of his fourth over, as Mathews was turned inside-out by one that nipped round his edge and into the top of off.
Then, three balls later, Dhananjaya de Silva was caught for a duck, off the splice at second slip by another ball that straightened off the pitch, and Kamindu’s innings had barely begun when Chandimal, looking tentative after another blow to his injured thumb, flicked weakly off his toes to Lawrence at leg gully to leave the innings in tatters on 87 for 6.
Day 2 : Afternoon Session : Gus Atkinson, bowlers put England in commanding position
For the second game running, Kamindu Mendis (74) came to Sri Lanka’s rescue but his dogged resistance wasn’t enough to help the visitors concede a big first-innings lead. England captain Ollie Pope decided against enforcing the follow on and that England will bat again in pursuit of consolidating their first innings lead of 231. The hosts lost Daniel Lawrence in the tricky period to stumps to the relentless Lahiru Kumara but England still ended the day in a commanding position. They lead by 256 with nine wickets left and three full days left to play.
Earlier on, England’s bowlers not only outbowled their Sri Lankan counterparts but also set up a masterclass on how bowl on the Lord’s surface that had a bit in it for the seamers throughout. If anything, the pitch got quicker on the second day and it played perfectly into England’s hands with the pace of Olly Stone and Gus Atkinson.
However, it was the nagging accuracy of Matthew Potts (2-19) and Chris Woakes (2-21) that did bulk of the damage. Atkinson and Stones also picked up two wickets apiece but were relatively expensive. Amidst all of England’s domination, Mendis looked assured at the crease and batted with aplomb.
At 118/7, Sri Lanka were in threat of being bowled out rather quickly and had that been the case, Pope may have thought of enforcing the follow-on. Instead, Mendis fought on through a 35-run stand with Prabhat Jayasuriya (8) and a 32-run partnership with Lahiru Kumara (0). Understandably, the tailender duo played second fiddle with Mendis doing the heavy lifting with the bat.
A rush of blood saw Jayasuriya throwing his wicket against Shoaib Bashir while Kumara was run out after a terrible mix up with Mendis. Both dismissals came against the run of play before Mendis became the last man out to Atkinson.
Kamindu then got a life on 62 at Root, at deep square leg, made a hash of a top-edged pull off Stone and, with sturdy support from Kumara, whose 22-ball duck ended with a direct-hit run-out from Pope, he set about restoring a veneer of respectability. Atkinson, however, lured him into one too many liberties to finish his day on the high it had deserved. By the close, and even allowing for Lawrence’s latest disappointment as a makeshift opener, it didn’t look like changing the destiny of this match, or this series.
Day 3 in focus for England and Sri Lanka
England are in complete control of this Lord’s Test after a day where their bowlers dominated proceedings to knock over the visitors for just 196. They thoroughly outbowled their Sri Lanka counterparts and were able to get a lot more out of the pitch in terms of movement. All four seamers picked up two wickets each, but Matthew Potts and Chris Woakes were particularly impressive, as was Shoaib Bashir when he got his chance.
Only Kamindu Mendis was able to offer resistance in the Sri Lankan lineup as he continued to enhance his growing reputation with a classy 76. But it wasn’t going to be enough to stop England’s charge as they secured a massive lead of 231. The writing seems to be on the wall for Sri Lanka who’ll be hoping to do some damage limitation tomorrow against a batting lineup that won’t be holding back.
With the weather in London set to be fair, Sri Lanka will face a gargantuan task to avoid defeat in this game. As Lawrence’s dismissal showed, the pitch still has enough life and it is expected to show increasing levels of variable bounce in the last two days.