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Sri Lanka fight back after being asked to follow on
CHESTER-LE-STREET: England moved towards victory in the second Test against Sri Lanka whose batsmen showed sufficient resolve on Sunday to push the game into a fourth
CHESTER-LE-STREET: England moved towards victory in the second Test against Sri Lanka whose batsmen showed sufficient resolve on Sunday to push the game into a fourth day if not affect a result that still seems inevitable.
Having been dismissed in the morning for 101 in their first innings to trail by 397 runs, Sri Lanka performed much better second time round to reach 309-5 by the close, still 88 runs adrift at Durham.
Captain Angelo Mathews led from the front with a combative 80, sharing a partnership of 82 with Kaushal Silva, who made 60. Dinesh Chandimal remained unbeaten on 54 at the close.
For Sri Lanka to even reach this far represents an improvement on the first test, which they lost inside three days by an innings and 88 runs, but the tourists did not do enough to banish the impression that this two-test series is a mismatch. Brief scores: England 498-9 declared vs Sri Lanka 101 (Kusal Mendis 35; Stuart Broad 4-40, Chris Woakes 3-9) and 309-5 (Angelo Mathews 80, Kaushal Silva 60, James Anderson 2-40)
