England and Sri Lanka clashed with each other at the Galle International stadium for the 2nd test match in the two match series.
England will be looking for a clean sweep and enhance further in the World Test Championship as they won the first match by 7 wickets . Whereas on the other hand the islanders will be looking to win and draw the series at 1-1 after getting hammered in the same venue by the visitors few days ago. Sri Lanka made three changes in their team.
O.Fernando was in for K.Mendis who was dropped dure to poor form , R.Mendis replaced D.Shanaka in the middle order and S.Lakmal was in for W.Hasaranga . Meanwhile skipper D.Karunaratne was unavailable as he hasn’t recovered from his finger injury and due to which stand- in captain D.Chandimal lead the lankans on Friday . On the other side , pace spearhead James Anderson was included in place of Stuart Broad.
After winning the toss , Sri Lanka opted to bat first on a track where the spinners from both the teams dominated in the 1st Test , and it is expected to remain the same for the 2nd Test with a little bit if help for the quick bowlers with the new ball. SL lost two early wickets as opener K. Perera (6) and middle order O. Fernando (0) departed early courtesy – J.Anderson who dismissed both the Lankan batsman . Anderson was getting some persistence from the wicket with the new ball which was very challenging . After an early collapse, A.Mathews and L.Thirimanne had a 69 run partnership for the 3rd wicket but the latter was dismissed by Anderson for a well made 43.
After being 76-3, stand in captain D.Chandimal and A.Mathews got the innings going and had an important 117 run partnership . Their partnership was broken by M.Wood who dismissed D.Chandimal (52) with an excellent delivery. But veteran batsman A.Mathews settled the innings with his patient batting and went on to score his 11th hundred. His brilliant innings consisted of 11 fours and will resume his innings on 107 not out and will be joined by N.Dickwella (19).
Despite early hiccups , Sri Lanka has managed to put on 229-4 on the opening day of the second test . With an exciting day’s play ahead , SL will be looking to get a big 1st innings total on the board and the visitors will be looking to get into the Sri Lankan lower order and restrict them to something around 300.
The tourists are seeking to notch a fifth away Test victory in a row for the first time since 1913.
Play will resume tomorrow at 10:00am IST