Sri Lanka rides on Nissanka brilliance to stun England in 3rd test, Eng win series 2-1

 


Sri Lanka salvaged some pride by winning the third Test against England, & thus it wasn’t a complete whitewash in the series by England . On the fifth and final day of the match, Sri Lanka needed 125 runs to win, while England required 9 wickets. However, England could only manage to take one wicket throughout the day. Pathum Nissanka, who scored a brilliant century, guided Sri Lanka to victory. The team won by 8 wickets, marking their first Test win in England in 10 years.


Sri Lanka had been chasing 219 runs in their fourth innings. Despite losing Dimuth Karunaratne for 8, Nissanka and Kusal Mendis remained at the crease. On Monday, they resumed the innings, but after Mendis was dismissed for 39, Angelo Mathews stepped in to steady the ship, ensuring no surprises.


Nissanka remained unbeaten with a superb 127, which included 13 fours and 2 brilliantly hooked sixes off just 123 balls, showcasing aggressive batting much like the English approach. Nissanka who already had scored a sparkling 64 in the first innings ,  was sensible for most part of his knock taking singles & twos and venturing out to smack only loose balls for 4s but as the target got closer , Nissanka played big shots and finally hit the winning run to stay unconquered on 127 off just 124 balls   . In contrast, Mathews played a more traditional Test innings, focusing on supporting Nissanka. He stayed not out with 32 runs from 61 balls, fulfilling his role perfectly.


England had earlier scored 325 in their first innings, thanks to captain Ollie Pope’s century. After stteuggling for runs in the first two tests Pope played a sparkling knock of 154 and well supported by an aggressive Duckett who hit 86 .  In response, Sri Lanka put up 263 helped by 60s from Nissanka (64) , Dhananjay D Silva (69) & a prolific Kamindu Mendis (64) . However, England's second innings collapsed for just 156 runs, as Lahiru Kumara and Vishwa Fernando caused trouble for the English batters. Kumara took 4/21 while Fernando took 3 wickets . Jamie Smith (67) was the lone warrior in the England 2nd innings . 


A key part of Sri Lanka’s strategy was to contain Joe Root, and they succeeded. Root scored only 13 runs in the first innings and couldn’t get beyond 12 in the second. With Root subdued, England’s batting faltered. Although Pope’s century had saved them in the first innings, in the second, even Jamie Smith’s valiant 67 wasn’t enough to prevent defeat.

Nissanka for his match winning contributions was the man of the match while Joe Root and Kamindu Mendis got the player of series award . After falling behind 2-0 in the test series , Sri Lanka should be happy to pull back one test and reduce the series loss margin to 2-1 . 

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