By Leonard Ratnayake in Kennington Oval, London
Much to the surprise yet again English captain insisted on bowling first after winning the toss against a struggling Sri Lankan batting line up, as the first match ended up as a low scoring affair with many overs to spare.
Incidentally, Sri Lanka were three down for 12 in the fourth over as many spectators were still waiting in long queues in numbers with doubts of getting in before the match was over as England had relaxed rules on crowd capacity.
At 21 for four in the seventh over, there were inquiries for stats on the lowest innings score. Yet again it was expected to be another short-lived game. All four specialist batsmen including captain Kusal Janith Perera were back in the pavilion with Sam Curran charging early on with the new ball backed by David Willy.
Playing under pressure, Dananjaya de Silva showed his class with some clinical strokeplay in a timely innings while Wanindu Hasaranga backed him up by playing some sensible cricket to build up a partnership by rotating the strike to the most experienced.
Hasaranga’s growth in the world ranking could be complimented for his commitment for improvement and evolution as a matured player, who reads the pulse of the game in that moment. He was spotted taking some extra time for fitness training in the ground during the tour to suggest that the kid in the block is focused on a target while few others were roaming in streets.
All of Hasaranga’s hard work to resist an English control was wasted as he tried to pull Sam Curran to finish his patient innings of 26 in 49 balls which saw only two boundaries rather unusual for the pinch hitter. He added 65 for the fifth wicket with Dananjaya de Silva, who anchored Sri Lanka’s recovery.
De Silva’s magnificent innings ended in disappointment as he half hooked a short ball from David Willy into deep square fielder Joe Root to deny a much-needed century for Sri Lanka in this tour of England. He was out for 91 but made sure that Sri Lanka was heading for a decent score as he partnered Dasun Shanaka for 98 runs for the sixth wicket.
Shanaka too was unlucky to miss his half-century as he tried to accelerate Sri Lanka’s innings to a formidable score in the 45th over being caught at the boundary off Willy who took four wickets. Sam Curran finished his 10 overs claiming a five for 48.
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