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England need 36 more races on the fifth day at Galle to beat Sri Lanka in the first round; Tourists lose Dom Sibley, Zak Crawley and Joe Root before the stumps after Jack Leach’s five-lot tour sacked Sri Lanka for 359; Watch it from 4.10 am on Sky Sports Cricket
Last update: 01/17/21 1:00 pm
6:21
The best of the action from the fourth day of the first round as Sri Lanka and England set up an exciting final morning.
The best of the action from the fourth day of the first round as Sri Lanka and England set up an exciting final morning.
England closed matchday four 38-3 chasing 74 to win as Sri Lanka kept alive their slim hopes of a surprising comeback victory in the first round in Galle.
Lasith Embuldeniya pitched Dom Sibley (2) from the sixth ball of the chase and then caught Zak Crawley (8) in a ravine, while England sank to 14-3 when Joe Root (1) was left out after crashing. with pitcher Dilruwan Perera.
Edges flew past the fielders and the Sri Lankan spinners got the ball spitting on a spinning pitch during a frenzied end to the day, during which Jonny Bairstow (11th) was also close to running out.
Bairstow and rookie Dan Lawrence (7th) were in the fold when the bad light intervened and will return Monday, live on Sky Sports from 4.10am, with England requiring 36 runs to advance 1-0 in the two-game series.
1:07 Root sold out for one after Dom Sibley and Zak Crawley also went down cheap
Jack Leach, who played his first Test since November 2019, previously claimed 5-122, while teammate Dom Bess bagged 3-100 and eight wickets for the match when England knocked out Sri Lanka 359.
Sri Lanka actually rebounded from collapsing to 135 in the first inning after a series of hasty shots and then fell behind by 286 after Root’s 228 inspired England to 421 on their first dig.
Lahiru Thirimanne (111) scored his second and first test cent in nearly eight years, while Angelo Mathews (71) reached a 36th half century to give Sri Lankan bowlers something to work with.
Sri Lanka starter Lahiru Thirimanne scored his first Test Hundred since March 2013
The hosts were just 44 races behind with six wickets in hand at lunch and led by five with five wickets in hand during the second session, only for Bess and Leach to account for Niroshan Dickwella (29) and Dasun Shanaka (2). ).
Mathews added runs with his tail, but the home team was unable to turn their lead into a triple figure, although that may not matter yet if Sri Lanka plays as well on day five as it did at the end of day four.
Thirimanne had been one of several Sri Lankan players to give away their wicket on day one, diving into the leg ravine to get out for just four, as the hosts were demolished in 46.1 overs after picking the bat.
However, the starter showed much greater application in the second round and completed a hundred of 227 balls when he cut Bess by four in the morning session, reaching three figures on the same ground where he had scored an undefeated 155 against Bangladesh in March 2013.
Thirimanne, who Sibley dropped in the 1950s at Gully on the third day, couldn’t make it to lunch.
Thirimanne was finally fired by Sam Curran for 111
He overcame Sam Curran’s delivery with the second new ball behind after playing for an out-swing that didn’t materialize, with that wicket ending a 52-wicket alliance with Mathews.
The home team had started Sunday morning 156-2, losing by 130, and lost night watchman Embuldeniya in the second more when he pushed Bess to Sibley for cover.
Thirimanne nearly eliminated Sibley as well, but the fielder couldn’t reach the hitter’s cut drive through offside, pushing him to one of his 12 limits.
Jack Leach took five wickets for England
England eventually knocked out the starter and when Dinesh Chandimal (20) overcame a ball from Bess that passed low-handed to Root on the second slip early in the second session, ending a 33-run partnership with Mathews, England had another. impulse. .
Mathews and Dickwella frustrated England during a 48-wicket save on the sixth field and then rain patches began to fall, threatening to wash away the players.
But the wet weather soon went away and so did Dickwella, caught by Jos Buttler trying to get Bess to third man, and Shanaka, attacked by Leach for a ball that sank and went under the bat.
Dom Bess has taken eight wickets in the first test
Sri Lanka was 302-7 at tea, which became 314-8 when Root caught Wanindu Hasaranga (12) brilliantly from an outside edge in Leach’s bowling alley slide, then would have turned 328-9 if Buttler could have picked up the ball. cleanly and move to Mathews at 58.
Buttler completed his first stumble in test cricket to end a 38-run partnership between Mathews and Dilruwan (24) for the ninth wicket, with third referee Lyndon Hannibal deciding that Dilruwan had none of his boot behind the line. after being duped by a rotating delivery. of Leach.
1:08 Dilruwan Perera was perplexed by Jos Buttler
Leach ended innings with Mathews defeated by Root on the slip, but three early wickets in the chase left Sri Lanka in the game and England nervous.
Watch day five of the first round between Sri Lanka and England live on Sky Sports Cricket from 4.10am on Monday.
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