Sri Lanka won the 3rd test match convincingly at the Oval. They lost the series 2-1, but this win matters alot for Sri Lanka. Defeating England in their home is a big achievement. They lost the 2 matches very closely; they put on a fight in both games. In the 3rd test, they dominated England with the bat and bowl.
Match Report
In the first innings, England played well and scored 325 runs. Ollie Pope the skipper finally got his form back, He had rough patch in this series but he made a solid comeback by scoring a great century 154 (156). Ben Duckett also played a good inning of 86 runs. Joe Root failed to fire in the 1st innings after two hundred in the 2nd test.
In answer to that, Sri Lanka scored 263 runs in their 1st innings. Pathum Nissanka played a decent knock scored 64 runs. In the middle, Kamindu Mendis and Dhananjaya de Silva played well and scored 64 and 69 runs, respectively. Olly Stone and the debutant Josh Hull got 3 wickets each.
England’s battline struggled to play bazball in the 2nd innings. They try to play at a higher run rate, but the Sri Lankan pacers bowled perfectly and didn’t let them score runs. England got all out for 156 runs and led by 218. Jamie Smith was the only prominent batsman with his quick 67 runs. Lahiru Kumara got 4 wickets, and V. Fernando got 3 wickets.
While chasing 218 runs, Sri Lanka started the innings with a positive intent, and they used England’s bazball strategy against them. Pathum Nissanka played a great innings and scored 127 runs of 124 balls. Kusal Mendis and Angelo Matthews also played well with Nissanka and finished the match easily in 40.3 overs.
Sri Lanka will remember this victory for a long time. Its their first test match win in England after 2014. They were very competitive in the whole series. They had played quality cricket and troubled England with the bat and bowl. After losing the first two matches, finally Sri Lanka got a consolation win.
Man of the match: Pathum Nissanka
Man of the series: Joe Root
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