The third test match between Sri Lanka and England is underway and the first day of this test match was full of entertainment. England has already won this test series and went to Lords Cricket Ground to whitewash the Sri Lanka Team.
Meanwhile , Sri Lanka is playing this test match to win for their pride.
England captain won the toss and opted to bat first. Alastair Cook mentioned that he and his team would like to put runs on the board and will like to defend like they had done in all the previous 2 test matches and also won those two matches.
Sri Lanka Captain Angelo Matthews mentioned that his team will look to win this test match for pride and for the Sri Lankan fans.
ENGLAND PLAYING X1
Alastair Cook (c), Alex Hales, Nick Compton, Joe Root, James Vince, Jonny Bairstow (wk), Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes, Stuart Broad, Steven Finn, James Anderson.
SRI LANKA PLAYING X1
Dimuth Karunaratne, Kaushal Silva, Kusal Mendis, Dinesh Chandimal,(wk), Angelo Mathews (), Lahiru Thirimanne, Kusal Perera, Rangana Herath, Suranga Lakmal, Shaminda Eranga, Nuwan Pradeep.
Prior to the Toss, allegations were made that Jake Ball will make his Test debut and broad will be rested but England team management stick with the unchanged team for this test.
For Sri Lanka, Kusal Perera has made his way back into the team and he is a really good player to play at no 7 and will give some solidity to the middle order of Sri Lanka team.
When England started their innings , both Hales and Cook looked solid but hales loses his patience and got out on Rangana Herath ball in 19.4 over.
After that Wickets started tumbling, soon after the Hales wicket, Compton nicked the Lakmal’s ball to the Keeper Chandimal and only managed to score 1(11). After that, Root found LBW by the bowling of Lakmal and dismissed cheaply on 3(9).
James Vince perished soon when he Played Pradeep’s length ball on bath foot and the ball kissed the middle stump, and Cook was playing beautifully for his 58(173) until he got out from the bowling of Pradeep.
Then Herath removed the Moeen Ali 25(60) in 73.5 over. At that time, England were 6 down and it looked that Sri Lanka’s pace factory will destroy the England’s lower order in just a few more overs.
But what happened after that was just a miracle as England in form batsman, Jonny Bairstow scored his 3 Test match century and his second of this series. Bairstow played superbly and received a well-deserved ovation when he left the field at the end of the day 1.
He was well supported by all rounder Chris Woakes who played sensibly for his 23(54). Both Bairstow and Woakes remain not out on day 1 of the 3rd test match.
Both these men will now look to anchor the innings and put more 100-150 runs on the board to give the Anderson and Co. chance to destroy the Sri Lanka’s much-improved batting department.
On the other side, Sri Lanka needs to get rid of remaining four wickets of England on day 2 and will ask their batsman to fight hard to face the Anderson & Co.
It will be interesting to see , which way this match will go. Stay tuned for further updates on this match.
