Sri Lanka vs England 2018: 3rd Test, Day 1 - Review

England had made a pretty decent start to the final Test, as the ended their day one of the third match scoring 312 runs with the loss of seven wickets against Sri Lanka in Colombo.

Bairstow leads England’s charge on day 1

Earlier in the day, England skipper, Joe Root had won the toss and elected to bat first. The opening duo of Rory Burns and Keaton Jennings couldn’t find a way to start their third Tests on a good note, as England lost their two wickets in quick time. Dilruwan Perera had opened the account for Sri Lanka picking up the wicket of Burns, and soon after his partner Malinda Pushpakumara bagged the wicket of Jennings.

Meanwhile, in the middle, Jonny Bairstow and Joe Rot added some vital runs for the third wicket to past score 100-plus runs. Bairstow had played an excellent innings scoring 110 runs, as he completed his sixth Test hundred.

Later, England all-rounder Ben Stokes partnered well with Bairstow for the fourth wicket adding 99 runs to past the 200-plus landmark. Sri Lanka was struggling to get wickets at a regular interval, and soon skipper Suranga Lakmal handed over the bowl to Lakshan Sandakan.

At first, he broke the active partnership of Root and Bairstow and then the collaboration of Stokes and Bairstow. Later, he also bagged another two wickets of Jos Buttler and Bairstow. Jonny tried to heave one across the line getting down a knee and missed this leg-break. The ball landed around off/middle on a fullish length and turned in to beat Bairstow’s hoick to smash into the leg-stump, and England lost their fifth wicket.

Sandakan bags four wickets

Moreover, the slow left-arm chinaman, Sandakan from Sri Lanka was the pick of the bowlers who picked up four wickets for his team. Meanwhile, all-rounder Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid will resume the innings on day two and will try to add some more runs to go past 400 plus.

Brief Scores:

Sri Lanka 312/7 (Jonny Bairstow 110; Lakshan Sandakan 4/91)