Barring Dilshan Madushanka who proved to be expensive, all the Sri Lankan bowlers operated in fine fashion and used the slowness of the surface to their advantage to roll over England for 156. There was no slacking off from the islanders both with the ball and in the field as England pressed the self-destruct button. Angelo Mathews set the tone early with his first spell and then the run out to get rid of lynchpin Joe Root. From there, a procession of batters coming and going carried on till the end of the innings, with Adil Rashid’s dismissal being a particularly interesting one as he committed a schoolboy error.
Three of the top four England batters got starts but their knocks were devoid of momentum, particularly Ben Stokes who scored 43 off 73 balls in a bid to resurrect the innings. In what is virtually a must-win clash for both sides, England look destined to lose at the halfway mark save for an equally bad Sri Lankan capitulation with the bat.
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