Despite the first session getting washed out due to rain, we have had a good amount of cricket in Manchester today. The Sri Lankan pacers, particularly Asitha Fernando took some early wickets in the form of Duckett and Pope, but the England batters fought back later. Lawrence got off to a decent start, but Vishwa Fernando changed ends and came back to dismiss the set batsman. England were in a spot of bother having lost their top three batters without contributing much, but Joe Root and Harry Brook played some classy shots to rebuild England’s innings. Root was dismissed by Asitha Fernando later, but Harry Brook played a fine knock by notching up a pivotal fifty. Jamie Smith proved his mettle by notching up a fifty and as a result of his innings, England managed to gain a slender lead by the end of the day’s play. Chris Woakes too made his presence felt with a handy contribution, but he was dismissed by Prabath Jayasuriya towards the end of the day. It started to drizzle and the light deteriorated thereafter, hence bad light stopped play, but we got to witness some interesting cricket. At the moment, England are slightly ahead in the game with a handy lead, but will they be able to extend that lead further? We’ll be back tomorrow for the action of Day 3 to find it out.
