England’s hopes of ending the summer with a 100 per cent record in Test matches was hanging by a thread with Sri Lanka closing in on victory at The Oval.
The tourists ended day three of the third Test on 94 for one, needing another 125 runs to chase down their victory target of 219, with bad light again bringing a premature close.
Sri Lanka started the day at 211 for five in their first innings but failed to make much more headway as England’s bowlers polished off the tail for the concession of just 52 runs.
The two overnight batters – Dhanajaya da Silva and Kamindu Mendis – departed swiftly having made 69 and 64 respectively with the lower order offering little resistance.
That gave England a first-innings lead of 62 and a position of strength. However, Sri Lanka wrestled back the momentum aided by another woeful batting display from the home side.
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Only Jamie Smith, who continued his excellent summer, emerged with any credit with a superb 67 from 50 balls to push the score to 156 all out.
Dan Lawrence was the next-best scorer with a frantic 35 as England’s all-out attacking approach was undone by some excellent bowling from Sri Lanka for whom Lahiru Kumara and Vishwa Fernando shone.
Kumara ended with figures of four for 21 and Fernando three for 40.
With changeable conditions and intermittent cloud cover, England would have fancied their chances of making inroads before the close. But they looked uncharacteristically toothless.
Chris Woakes snared the only wicket with a smart caught and bowled to get rid of Dimuth Karunaratne for eight but fellow opener Pathum Nissanka and Kusal Mendis played faultless cricket to carry the tourists through to the end of play with no further losses.
The pair played in attacking fashion, punishing anything full or wide with debutant Josh Hull frequently straying with his line and length. Nissanka was 53 not out when the light closed in with Mendis unbeaten on 30.
If England do lose it will be their only blemish of the summer after beating the West Indies 3-0 and holding a 2-0 lead over the Sri Lankans coming into the Oval Test.
