Sri Lanka lost nine wickets for 67 runs in the space of 18.2 overs as England seized control of the third Test in Colombo.
The hosts appeared to be cruising towards a first-innings lead when Dimuth Karunaratne (83) and Dhananjaya de Silva (73) put on 142 for the second wicket, each profiting from a missed chance by Joe Root at slip. However, when Dhananjaya fell to the leg-spin of Adil Rashid (5/49) – Keaton Jennings taking a sharp chance at short leg, his second of four catches in a virtuoso display of close fielding – Sri Lanka collapsed in a heap, falling from 173/1 to 240 all out.
Jennings had already taken a blinder off Jack Leach to remove Danushka Gunathilaka (18), showing brilliant anticipation and reflexes to make the early breakthrough, and four overs after Dhananjaya’s dismissal he combined with Rashid once again, this time pouching a simpler chance to send Karunaratne on his way.
Sri Lanka have been too reliant on Karunaratne in recent times and the opener’s dismissal signalled a rush of wickets that turned the game on its head.
While Rashid wheeled away at one end, returning career-best figures, Ben Stokes (3/30) sent down a barrage of short-pitched bowling at the other. On a sluggish surface the Sri Lankan batsmen got their tactics all wrong, flailing at deliveries they would have been better leaving alone.
Stokes took the key wicket of Angelo Mathews in such fashion, the batsman toe-ending an attempted pull shot and Ben Foakes diving forward to take an excellent catch.
Mathews was swiftly followed back to the pavilion by Roshen Silva who fell into the Rashid-Jennings trap, pushing a googly into the leg-side to give the England opener his fourth catch of the innings. It was another superb take from Jennings who equalled the record for the most catches in an innings by an England outfielder.
Stokes then snared Dilruwan Perera to claim his third victim, the batsman yet again falling into the trap of playing at a short ball and edging through to Foakes, before a comical run out brought about the demise of Lakshan Sandakan. The tail-ender wasn’t even in shot as Rashid threw down the stumps, summing up a dismal period of play for Sri Lanka.
Malinda Pushpakumara was the last to fall, trapped lbw by Rashid who completed his five-wicket haul and secured England a first-innings lead of 96.
Rory Burns and Jennings extended that to 99 before bad light brought an early halt to proceedings on day two.
Earlier in the day England had taken their first-innings score from 312/7 to 336 all out, with Sandakan 5/95 taking his second five-wicket haul in Tests. At that stage the game appeared to be in the balance but Sri Lanka’s batting collapse has left them facing an uphill battle to salvage a consolation victory and deny England a 3-0 whitewash.
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