England on top as Foakes' dream debut continues

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GALLE, Sri Lanka (Reuters) - Ben Foakes marked his test debut with a century as England bowled out Sri Lanka for 203 before stretching their lead to 177 runs on the second day of the opening test

The tourists were 38 without loss at stumps on Wednesday after their bowlers, led by off-spinner Moeen Ali, had earned them a handy 139-run first innings lead at the Galle International Stadium.

Keaton Jennings was on 26 and debutant Rory Burns still with him on 11, hoping to make amends after managing only nine in the first innings.

All eyes had been on Foakes at the start of play, when he resumed needing 13 runs for a century in his first test innings with England on 321-8.

The 25-year-old hit the first ball of the day for a boundary but was in danger of running out of partners after Jack Leach became off-spinner Dilruwan Perera’s fifth victim.

However, number 11 batsman James Anderson survived long enough for Foakes to reach three figures before falling to paceman Suranga Lakmal.

Foakes hit 10 boundaries in his sparkling 107 and is the second England wicketkeeper, after Matt Prior, to score a century on his test debut.

The Anderson-Foakes pairing was soon back in tandem in the field, combining to dismiss Dimuth Karunaratne caught behind off the second ball of the Sri Lankan innings.

With the hosts reeling on 40-4, former captain Angelo Mathews arrested the slide in a 75-run stand with skipper Dinesh Chandimal, who braved a groin injury to make 33.

Foakes effected a smart stumping to dismiss Chandimal off an Adil Rashid leg-break and remained in the thick of the action by pouching a couple of catches.

Mathews hit three boundaries in his patient 52, silencing questions about his fitness and running between the wickets, but fell to Moeen off the first ball after the tea break.

England’s three-pronged spin attack grabbed eight of the 10 Sri Lankan wickets, with Moeen claiming 4-66 as Sri Lanka folded soon after crossing the 200-mark.

Sri Lanka’s top-order collapse mirrored England’s wretched start in the first innings, but lacked a Foakes-style rescue in their middle order.

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

Sranga 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

Dmuth 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       Not Out               11

Keaton Jennings  Not Out               26

Extras           0b 1lb 0nb 0pen 0w     1

 Total            (12.0 overs)        38-0

Bowling          Ov  Md  Rn  Wk  Econ  Ex

 Dilruwan Perera   5   0  12   0  2.40

 Suranga Lakmal    3   0  14   0  4.67

 Rangana Herath    3   0  10   0  3.33

 Akila Dananjaya   1   0   1   0  1.00