England Wins Colombo Test by 42 Runs, Inflicts Whitewash on Sri Lanka

England has won the third Test convincingly, beating Sri Lanka by 42 runs in Colombo and thus has inflicted a whitewash on the hosts, their third-ever in Tests.

Root-led England enter record books

Earlier, England skipper, Joe Root had won the toss and put Sri Lanka to field first. The visitors managed to score 336 runs in the first innings, courtesy a sixth Test hundred from Jonny Bairstow. Later, all-rounder, Ben Stokes added some 57 runs to help the score go past 300. Lakshan Sandakan was the pick of the bowlers who rattled the middle-order and took his second five-wicket haul in Tests.

Meanwhile, Sri Lankan batsmen could only manage to score 240 runs in the first essay, courtesy Dimuth Karunaratne, and Dhananjaya de Silva, the duo had scored 83 and 73 runs, respectively. In their first innings, England leg-break bowler, Adil Rashid bowled a superb spell bagging five wickets to his name’ his second five-for in Tests.

Moreover, England took a healthy lead of 96 runs in the second essay. The top-order failed to put runs, but the middle and lower-middle order batsmen helped to release pressure. From 39 for four to 128 for five, Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler contributed some valuable 89 runs for the fifth wicket. However, England only managed to score 230 runs and post a target of 327 runs for the hosts to bag the win.

Furthermore, while chasing down the target, the English bowlers made a fiery start, as they picked up three wickets in quick time. Kusal Mendis who was batting at 86 failed to maintain the flow, as he got run out on day five of the third Test. The wicket favoured the English, as the match almost turned out its head after that.

Spinners trick Sri Lanka in the chase

Later, Roshen Silva played an excellent knock scoring 65 runs. However, he had to depart after facing a brilliant delivery from Moeen Ali. In the end, Malinda Pushpakumara along with Sri Lanka skipper Suranga Lakmal added 70 runs partnership but failed to inspire the team to win the match. Eventually, the visitors had won the game by 42 runs and thus the three-match Test series 3-0.