On the third morning, England stretched their lead to 390 runs and went into Lord’s for lunch in a commanding position. England was able to add 134 runs to their overnight total and maintain their lead in the Test match while Sri Lanka gradually chipped away at the wickets, taking three throughout the session.
when reaching 15 runs without losing the previous night, Ben Duckett was caught behind by Milan Rathnayake when a relay catch bounced off the hands of a gully and fell into Angelo Mathews’ hands at slip. In their opening four-over bursts, Rathnayake and Lahiru Kumara both beat the bat in advantageous overhead conditions during that phase of play.
But Ollie Pope found that the short ball was the hardest to negotiate. And Asitha Fernando only needed to deliver one delivery to get rid of the England skipper. Pope moved to create space and cut the ball uppishly into the off-side, but the fielder at deep point was waiting for him. The legside was crowded for the pull shot.
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The fact that Nishan Madushka dropped Harry Brook at number sixteen, and that spinner Prabath Jayasuriya was struck for a six the very next delivery, did not help Sri Lanka’s cause. Before Joe Root and Brook put up 58 runs for the fourth wicket, Madushka securely caught Brook from Jayasuriya’s bowling in the deep.
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