England vs Sri Lanka: Tourists show fight and spirit to drag Test into fourth day

England 498-9d, Sri Lanka 101 & 309-5 (84 overs): Visitors finally make up ground but England close in on series victory

England will have to wait for the victory that will see them seal this series with a game to spare thanks to some unexpected Sri Lankan resistance on the third day of this second Test.

While it is unlikely to alter the ultimate result, the tourists showed the fight and spirit so deficient in their efforts with the bat previously to drag this Test into a fourth day.

England had got used to running through opponents who had looked so far out of their comfort zone this series was in danger of becoming as uncompetitive as a bull fight.

Yet Sri Lanka, led by a true captain’s innings of 80 from Angelo Mathews, lived to fight another day as they closed on 309 for five.

Following their embarrassing innings capitulation inside three days in Leeds, when they were routed for 91 and 119 on their way to losing the First Test, this was a victory of sorts for Sri Lanka.

Yet they will take whatever they can at this stage, especially after they followed up that Headingley horror show by being shot out for 101 in their first innings here at Chester-le-Street.

The equation was simple as England targeted another three-day victory. Twelve wickets were needed when play resumed with the tourists on 91 for eight, a gargantuan first-innings deficit of 407.

However, after gaining the two wickets they needed to enforce the follow on, Alastair Cook’s side were left frustrated as Mathews, Kaushal Silva and Dinesh Chandimal all posted half-centuries that took Sri Lanka to within 88 runs of making England bat again and avoiding the humiliation of a second successive innings defeat.

That will please Graham Ford, Sri Lanka’s South African coach, who had locked his players in the dressing-room at the end of the second day to deliver the mother of all rollickings.

A true captain’s innings of 80 from Angelo Mathews kept the guests in it (Getty)

No doubt he had more harsh words for his shell-shocked players as they regrouped in the innings break after England had taken just 15 minutes of day three to finagle the final two wickets they needed to enforce the follow-on.

Stuart Broad was the first to strike with the third legal delivery of the day, Suranga Lakmal falling for a duck as he tentatively prodded behind.

James Anderson then removed Lahiru Thirimanne, who skied a top-edge to Nick Compton close in, to wrap up the innings.

There was no question about whether England would make Sri Lanka follow on given they had taken a 397-run first-innings lead after steamrollering their beleaguered opponents in 43.3 overs.

Ford’s words, though, appeared to have sunk in by the time Sri Lanka started their second innings, openers Dimuth Karunaratne and Silva showing more patience and thought on a pitch that was still offering little assistance to England’s seamers.

The pair held firm for more than 16 overs as the tourists eyed the pyrrhic victory of reaching lunch without sustaining any further damage.

Yet, inevitably, it wasn’t to be as Chris Woakes, whose haul of three for nine in the first innings was his best in Tests, had Karunaratne caught driving to Joe Root at second slip.

Sri Lanka headed into lunch on 58 for one, an improvement of sorts. Fears of yet another implosion were stoked, though, in the second over after the interval when Anderson removed Kusal Mendis with a beautiful delivery that moved just enough to extract the batsman’s outside edge and flew into the hands of wicketkeeper Jonny Bairstow.

At this point, Sri Lanka were still trailing by 318 on 79 for two.

Thirimanne had showed some of the fight his team-mates were so lacking during a first-innings knock of 19 that had lasted 80 balls.

It was enough to see him promoted from six to No4 – a damning indictment on his team-mates’ batting efforts up to that point.

As it was, Thirimanne was bowled for 13 in Moeen Ali’s second over by a delivery that beat his outside edge.

Kaushal Silva was a thorn in England's side (Getty)

With Sri Lanka now 100 for three, England sniffed blood.

However, Mathews and Silva were in no mood to throw in the towel, counter-attacking intelligently during a stand of 82 that saw both batsmen pass 50.

That partnership was broken half an hour after tea when Steven Finn picked up his first wicket of the match, digging in a short ball Silva top-edged into the gloves of Bairstow.

With Mathews still at the crease, England were facing a tough task to prevent this match going into a fourth day.

It briefly looked as though that might be avoided when the ever-reliable Anderson induced an edge from Sri Lanka’s captain to give Bairstow his 16th dismissal of the series.

At 222 for five and with more than 20 overs of the day still remaining, this was another examination of Sri Lanka’s character.

But Chandimal and Milinda Siriwardana held firm, even seeing off four overs with the new ball at the end of the day, to restore some much-needed Sri Lankan pride.