Olly Stone indirectly targets Umpires for bad light, Sanjay Manjrekar hits back

The final session of Day 2 of the third Test between England and Sri Lanka at The Oval, London was affected by bad light. As a result, England were forced to bowl spin in the session which allowed Sri Lanka to claw back into the game.

Sri Lanka had been reduced to 93-5 at one stage by England's seamers. It looked like Sri Lanka's tail would not put much of a fight on overcast conditions in South London. But skipper Dhananjaya de Silva and young allrounder Kamindu Mendis had other ideas.

Dhananjaya de Silva and Kamindu Mendis took Sri Lanka to 142-5 in a great act of resurrection.

The luck favored the visitors in the final session of the day as England were forced to bowl only spin due to the bad light taking effect. As a result, the seamers were denied a chance to clean up SL's lower order.

Watch: Chris Woakes turns spinner mid-over on umpires’ orders, Ben Stokes left shocked

Frustrated Olly Stone breaks silence on England being forced to bowl spin

After the end of Day 2, Olly Stone spoke about the fact that England were forced to bowl only spin in the final session of Day 2. He stated that England would have liked to bowl with more seamers but the bad light did not allow them to do so.

“They’re the rules, aren’t they? You can’t change those, It’s taken out of our hands. We’d have loved to have bowled seam there. It’s just one of those things that’s frustrating but has to be done,” Stone was quoted as saying by The Guardian.

When asked if bowling with seamers was seriously dangerous or not, Olly Stone replied that everyone could see the ball. However, he respected the decision of the umpires as the safety of the players comes first.

“Everyone could see the ball, I guess. As a team, we want to be out there for as long as we can and you have to go off what the umpires say, and unfortunately, we couldn’t bowl seam. I guess there’s a point where it may become dangerous, and you don’t want to see anyone get hurt. We’ll keep providing the entertainment whether it be with seam or spin, and trying to take the game forward,” he added.

Olly Stone speaks on Chris Woakes bowling spin

The light was so dark at one point that seamer Chris Woakes was forced to bowl four balls of spin after the umpires decided that the light was too dark for the pacers to continue. Woakes had already bowled two balls in the over by then and had to change to spin.

“It’s a tricky one where we wanted to stay out there and that was the option to do so,” Olly Stone stated.

Earlier in the day, England had a dramatic collapse and were all out for 325 after being 261-3 at one stage. Olly Stone was asked about England's ultra-aggressive approach which ultimately led to their downfall

“We always say about taking the positive option and on a different day we miss the fielders, it goes to the boundary, the score creeps up and you take that into your bowling innings really on the front foot,” the right-arm quick added.

Sri Lankan bowlers launched a stunning fightback after being behind in the game for most of the match. Milan Rathnayake picked up 3 wickets while Vishwa Fernando, Lahiru Kumaram, and Dhananjaya de Silva took two wickets each.

Meanwhile, in the batting department, it was another disappointing performance from the Sri Lankan top-order batters. However, Dhananjaya de Silva and Kamindu Mendis are still in the crease with their 118-run unbeaten partnership. De Silva is batting on 64 while Kamindu Mendis is unbeaten on 54.

Meanwhile, former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar was not happy with fans, players, and ex-players targeting the umpires and has hit back with a tweet.

Umpires such soft targets!
They were absolutely right with bad light play enforcements. It’s the players who decided they wanted to continue playing & getting a fast bowler to bowl spin. #ICC#ENGvSL

— Sanjay Manjrekar (@sanjaymanjrekar) September 8, 2024