Watch cricket video highlights of Sri Lanka tour of England 2024. Third test between England vs Sri Lanka. Venue of the match will be The Oval.
Far too soon. That was the atmosphere on the oval field, which felt like it was only yesterday that it had played home to a sold-out Men’s Hundred eliminator tie in the gorgeous summer dusk, with T-shirts, shorts, and sunglasses donning the stands. However, the sentiment among those wearing all-white as 9,860 people dug through their closets for more appropriate clothing and showed out on a chilly Monday morning to watch Sri Lanka overcome a target of 219 and score a consoling victory against England was more along the lines of: Finally!
For the visitors, it had all finally clicked, even if it was too late and they were behind 2-0. Though Pathum Nissanka’s composed century secured victory in four days and may have solidified his spot in Sri Lanka’s top order after two years in the wilderness, the series’ final score of 3-1 didn’t matter to him. After winning their first Test match in England since 2014, Sri Lanka needed 25.3 overs on the fourth day to accomplish their feat, which earned the fans a 50% refund on their tickets.
The visitors came back on 94 for 1, needing another 125. Nissanka led his team home by eight wickets with an undefeated 127 off 124 balls, building on his 64 in the previous innings. A sense of relief also permeated the air as this match came to an end for the England team, who had let a lot of runs slip in the second innings and looked very weak on the final morning, taking just one of the nine wickets they required after Dimuth Karunaratne was dismissed for a cheap price the night before thanks to Chris Woakes’ return catch.
Remember that for England’s white-ball players, “summer” is far from done regardless of the weather. A series against Australia begins on Wednesday, and only the extent of Sri Lanka’s triumph guarantees a break of more than 48 hours between games. The only other wicket to fall was Gus Atkinson, who was out for the most of Sri Lanka’s first innings on Sunday due to a thigh injury. After taking a wonderful catch sprinting in and diving full-stretch to his left to remove Kusal Mendis for a quick 39 in the fifth over of the day.
He cautiously ran halfway to Shoaib Bashir, who made up the remaining ground. With Angelo Mathews’ assistance, however, Nissanka completed Sri Lanka’s assignment in record time. He reached ninety-five after running three with a fine cut off Atkinson to deep point, and then reached his century by threading a Woakes ball that was too short and too wide behind point. Though this was only his second encounter in the format since mid-2022, Nissanka celebrated his second century from ten Tests by spreading his arms wide and accepting a hearty bear embrace from Mathews.
Nissanka raised the milestone, then two balls later he witnessed Bashir spill his ramp to deep third when he clobbered an Olly Stone short ball over the fence at deep backward square. Nissanka’s fake six in Stone’s subsequent over propelled Sri Lanka over the 200-mark, and he duly scored the winning runs by driving Bashir to the boundary at deep backward point. Although Sri Lanka’s bowlers took control of the game on the third day, the victory proved decisive.
Following their failure to score a century in ideal circumstances on Friday, their seamers clobbered England for 156 in their second innings, with Lahiru Kumara and Vishwa Fernando being especially efficient against a home team survived only by a booming half-century from Jamie Smith. England will also need to review their first-inning collapse from 261 for 3 to 325 all out, as much as they would like to forget it. In the meanwhile, Sri Lanka will cherish its triumph long after the summer’s lads have – at last – left.
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