Keaton Jennings celebrates his second international century
Opener Keaton Jennings ended his two-year wait for a second test century with a career-best 146 not out as England inched towards a comprehensive victory in the opening test against Sri Lanka on Thursday.
Having taken a handy 139-run first-innings lead, England declared their second innings on 322 for six to set Sri Lanka an improbable 462-run victory target.
The hosts ended day three on 15 for no loss, 447 behind and staring at a crushing defeat inside four days in spinner Rangana Herath’s farewell test.
Openers Dimuth Karunaratne (seven) and Kaushal Silva (eight) survived seven overs but Sri Lanka will need a near miracle to save the test.
Earlier, the tourists resumed on 38-0 and their openers consolidated their position until they suffered a mini-collapse.
Debutant Rory Burns’s (23) foolhardy pursuit of a non-existent single culminated in his run-out and Moeen Ali could not justify his promotion to number three for the second time in the match, following up his first-innings golden duck with three.
England captain Joe Root (three) also had a deja vu moment when Herath dismissed him for the second time in the match.
Jennings, however, looked confident against the spinners, often playing the sweep shot — both traditional and reverse — to negate them.
Ben Stokes, Jennings’ partner in their 107-run fourth-wicket partnership, shrugged off his early tentativeness to clobber three sixes in his 62 before Dilruwan Perara spun one past his bat to hit the top of the off-stump with a beautiful delivery.
Jennings, who hit a hundred in his debut test against India in 2016, took a single off Dhananjaya de Silva to end his century drought.
The 26-year-old pumped air while running before taking his helmet off and raising his bat in celebration.
The left-hander’s patient 280-ball knock included nine fours as he demonstrated to his team mates how to play spin in the sub-continent.
Jos Buttler made 35 and England’s first-innings hero Ben Foakes contributed 37 before Root decided to give his bowler a go at the Sri Lankan openers in fading light.
Herath claimed three wickets in his 93rd and final test at the same venue where the 40-year-old left-arm spinner made his debut against Australia in 1999.
England 1st innings
Rory Burns c Niroshan Dickwella b Suranga Lakmal 9
Keaton Jennings b Dilruwan Perera 46
Moeen Ali b Suranga Lakmal 0
Joe Root b Rangana Herath 35
Ben Stokes b Dilruwan Perera 7
Jos Buttler c Niroshan Dickwella b Dilruwan Perera 38
Ben Foakes c Dhananjaya de Silva b Suranga Lakmal 107
Sam Curran c Dinesh Chandimal b Akila Dananjaya 48
Adil Rashid c Dhananjaya de Silva b Dilruwan Perera 35
Jack Leach c Dhananjaya de Silva b Dilruwan Perera 15
James Anderson Not Out 0
Extras 1b 1lb 0nb 0pen 0w 2
Total (97.0 overs) 342 all out
Fall of Wickets : 1-10 Burns, 2-10 Ali, 3-72 Root, 4-98 Jennings, 5-103 Stokes, 6-164 Buttler, 7-252 Curran, 8-306 Rashid, 9-330 Leach, 10-342 Foakes
Bowling Ov Md Rn Wk Econ Ex
Suranga Lakmal 18 5 73 3 4.06
Dilruwan Perera 31 6 75 5 2.42
Akila Dananjaya 20 2 96 1 4.80
Rangana Herath 25 4 78 1 3.12
Dhananjaya de Silva 3 0 18 0 6.00
Sri Lanka 1st innings
Dimuth Karunaratne c Ben Foakes b James Anderson 4
Kaushal Silva lbw Sam Curran 1
Dhananjaya de Silva b Moeen Ali 14
Kusal Mendis c Ben Stokes b Jack Leach 19
Angelo Mathews c Keaton Jennings b Moeen Ali 52
Dinesh Chandimal st Ben Foakes b Adil Rashid 33
Niroshan Dickwella c Jos Buttler b Moeen Ali 28
Dilruwan Perera c Jos Buttler b Jack Leach 21
Akila Dananjaya c Ben Foakes b Moeen Ali 0
Suranga Lakmal c James Anderson b Adil Rashid 15
Rangana Herath Not Out 14
Extras 0b 2lb 0nb 0pen 0w 2
Total (68.0 overs) 203 all out
Fall of Wickets : 1-4 Karunaratne, 2-10 Silva, 3-34 Mendis, 4-40 de Silva, 5-115 Chandimal, 6-136 Mathews, 7-171 Dickwella, 8-173 Perera, 9-175 Perera, 10-203 Lakmal
Bowling Ov Md Rn Wk Econ Ex
James Anderson 10 0 26 1 2.60
Sam Curran 6 1 16 1 2.67
Jack Leach 18 2 41 2 2.28
Moeen Ali 21 4 66 4 3.14
Adil Rashid 9 1 30 2 3.33
Ben Stokes 4 0 22 0 5.50
England 2nd innings
Rory Burns Run Out Dimuth Karunaratne 23
Keaton Jennings Not Out 146
Moeen Ali c Rangana Herath b Dilruwan Perera 3
Joe Root c Niroshan Dickwella b Rangana Herath 3
Ben Stokes b Dilruwan Perera 62
Jos Buttler c Kaushal Silva b Rangana Herath 35
Ben Foakes c Kusal Mendis b Akila Dananjaya 37
Extras 4b 7lb 2nb 0pen 0w 13
Total (93.0 overs) 322 decl
Fall of Wickets : 1-60 Burns, 2-67 Ali, 3-74 Root, 4-181 Stokes, 5-258 Buttler, 6-319 Foakes
Did Not Bat : Curran, Rashid, Leach, Anderson
Bowling Ov Md Rn Wk Econ Ex
Dilruwan Perera 30 3 94 2 3.13
Suranga Lakmal 9 2 30 0 3.33 2nb
Rangana Herath 23 1 59 2 2.57
Akila Dananjaya 18.5 2 87 1 4.62
Dhananjaya de Silva 12.1 2 41 0 3.37
Sri Lanka 2nd innings
Dimuth Karunaratne Not Out 7
Kaushal Silva Not Out 8
Extras 0b 0lb 0nb 0pen 0w 0
Total (7.0 overs) 15-0
Bowling Ov Md Rn Wk Econ Ex
Sam Curran 1 1 0 0 0.00
James Anderson 1 0 4 0 4.00
Moeen Ali 2 0 7 0 3.50
Adil Rashid 2 0 2 0 1.00
Jack Leach 1 0 2 0 2.00
