England vs Sri Lanka,1st Test: Asitha Fernando's brilliant delivery dismisses home captain Ollie Pope (WATCH)
By Sreejith CR | First Published Aug 22, 2024, 8:19 PM ISTThe entire first session of Day 2 was washed out and when the play resumed, Sri Lankan pacers were spot on with their line and length, taking three English wickets in the first hour after lunch. Asitha Fernando dismissed Ben Duckett and Olli Pope.
After dismissing Sri Lanka for a mediocre first innings total of just 236 on Day 1, England were 22/0 at stumps, hoping to chase down 214 on a seemingly true batting wicket. However, the entire first session of Day 2 was washed out and when the play resumed, Sri Lankan pacers were spot on with their line and length, taking three wickets in the first hour after lunch.
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Asitha Fernando gets his second - Ollie Pope cleaned up for 6 on his captaincy debut! 🎯https://t.co/1E7nBMfVBM | pic.twitter.com/pp89kL7I89
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As expected, the overcast conditions helped the pacers to good effect, and they made full use of it, especially Asitha Fernando. The 27-year-old got the first breakthrough by getting the Duckett out lbw. The left-handed batsman tried to flick the ball away but completely missed it. Although the on field umpire didn't raise his finger, Sri Lanka skipper Dhananjaya de Silva went upstairs after having a word with his bowler, and it worked pretty well for the Lions, as the ball tracking showed three reds.
The right-arm quicks best was yet to come. England skipper Olli Pope arrived at the pitch and the 26-year-old's stay was cut short by yet another brilliant delivery by Asitha in the ninth over. The 27-year-old's good-length delivery skidded off the surface and kissed the top of off stump of the right-handed batsman. The batsman completely missed the line of the ball and it sneaked through the gap and rattled the bails. Asitha was unsurprisingly on cloud nine with his jaffa and blew a kiss in the air before being surrounded by his teammates. Meanwhile, the job is not done for Sri Lanka as Joe Root and Dan Lawrence were on the pitch.
On Day 1, Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to bat, but were reduced to 113/7, thanks to Chris Woakes' triple and one wicket each for Mark Wood and Gus Atkinson. However, half-centuries from captain Dhananjaya de Silva (74) and Milan Rathnayake took them to a competitive total of 236. Rathnayake and De Silva stabilised the Lankan ship by adding 63 runs for the eighth wicket. After the departure of De Silva, the 28-year-old debutant added another 50 with fellow pacer Vishwa Fernando before being dismissed by Shoaib Bashir for 72.
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