England v Sri Lanka 2021 Tour

Play is due to start 15 minutes early on day 3 , in order to catch up some of todays lost time,(04.14 UK) as the fading light late in the day makes it difficult to play much beyond the scheduled finish time.

If there was ever any doubt over whether Root should be in the starting XI in this years T20 World Cup in India, then this innings should've put that to bed. He is by far England's best player of spin, he doesn't possess the power to clear the ropes , but more than makes up for that with his skill in working the ball for singles & faces less dot balls than most. meaning strike-rate doesn't suffer. His double-century came off just 291 balls & he hit his first six to take himself with a boundary of the landmark, which he reached wth another of his crisply hit sweep-shots.

A mini collapse by England in the first hour, as 3 wickets fell for 10 runs. A ball change saw some swing for the first time in the game as the under-used pace bowler, Asitha Fernando removed Butler & Curran in successive balls, & Bess was run out without scoring, after a mix up with Root. The lead has moved beyond 250 & after losing the best part of 40 overs so far in the match with more rain possible, this is not the worst thing, surely Sri Lanka can't possibly bat as bad as they did in the first innings, you would expect that England will have to work harder to take wickets. set batsmen have looked untroubled, for the most part. There is enough help for the spinners, but much will rest on Jack Leach. Don't be surprised if Root isn't required to bowl, especially if Bess lacks the control with his lengh as he did in the first innings.

1stTest Galle Day 3 Close
Sri Lanka 135 & 156-2 Thirimanne 76 no Perera 62
England 421 All out 117.1 overs) Root 228
Sri Lanka trail England by 130 runs with 8 wickets remaining

Sri Lanka Eng 1st Test Galle Day 4 Close
SL 135 & 359 (136.5 overs) Thirimanne 111 mathews 71Perera 62 leach 5-122 bess 3-00Curran 2-27
Eng 421 & 38-3 915 overs) Embuldeniya 2-13
Eng require 36 more runs with 7 wickets remaining

14/3 chasing 74 to win

If England fail to chase down this target, it will be the lowest Test Match total ever to not be knocked off.

Closed on 38/3.
36 needed to win tomorrow.

England completed a 7 wicket win over Sri Lanka. Bairstow & Lawrence put on a 50+ partnership, with lots of ones & twos. Sri Lanka failed to review an lbw against Lawrence, which was shown to be hitting leg stump, but that doesn't take away from what was an impressive debut. The last time i saw an England player look as confident against spin was Root on his debut against India when he also made a 70+ score.

England are considering rotating their bowling attack for Fridays Test, most likely would be Anderson for Broad, possibly Stone for Wood & least likely would be Woakes for Curran.
Kusal Mendis is out of the Test Squad with Roshen Silva a likely replacement. captain Karunaratne is unable to return after his fractured finger & bowlers Kumara & Pradeep, as well as keeper Bhanuka have also been released from the squad. It is hoped that bowler Suranga Lakmal will be fit for selection.