Smith thrills but Sri Lanka favourites to win Test

Third Test, The Kia Oval (day three of five)

England 325 (Pope 154, Duckett 86) & 156 (Smith 67, Kumara 4-21)

Sri Lanka 263 (De Silva 69; Stone 3-35, Hull 3-53) & 94-1 (Nissanka 53*)

Sri Lanka need 125 runs to win

Scorecard

Jamie Smith’s pulsating 67 breathed life into England but could not stop Sri Lanka moving into pole position to win the final Test at The Kia Oval.

Needing 219, the tourists ended the third day on 94-1 from only 15 overs, 125 runs short of a famous win.

Sri Lanka would have been much closer, or may already have the game won had it not been for the brilliance of Smith, who electrified his home ground with some breathtaking batting.

England have been awful for large parts of the past two days and were in tatters at 82-7, 144 ahead, when Smith launched his astonishing assault.

On 15 from 31 deliveries, Smith clobbered 52 off the next 18 he faced, cleanly striking the ball to all parts.

In a stand of 58 for the eighth wicket, Olly Stone contributed only five. With Smith in full flow, thoughts were turning to England’s fastest Test century of all time when he found mid-wicket and departed to a rapturous ovation.

England added only another 16 to be 156 all out, Lahiru Kumara leading a magnificent Sri Lanka bowling effort with 4-21.

That left Sri Lanka batting twice in the day after earlier being dismissed in their first innings for 263, with England left-armer Josh Hull picking up 3-53 on his Test debut.

Pathum Nissanka tucked into some wayward England bowling late in the day. Though Chris Woakes had Dimuth Karunaratne caught and bowled, Nissanka has 53 from only 44 balls, alongside Kusal Mendis on 30.

Monday could provide a wonderful end to the Test summer, with the home side looking for their sixth successive victory and Sri Lanka in possession of a golden opportunity to end a 10-match winless streak against England.

A fabulous finale would be at odds with the nature of this Test, which had its first two days dogged by bad light. If England do somehow pull through, it will be despite an overly casual approach that has left their 100% summer in serious jeopardy. Realistically, this is Sri Lanka’s to lose.

England frittered away wickets and shipped easy runs on Saturday. Instead of putting things right on Sunday, they doubled-down, batted horrifically and gave ammunition to those who say their Bazballing approach is occasionally ill-suited to the discipline required for Test cricket.

Ben Duckett chipped to mid-on, stand-in captain Ollie Pope chopped on. Dan Lawrence, perhaps aware he was playing his last innings as a Test cricketer, slogged 35 then edged behind.

Sri Lanka, sensing their moment, were excellent. Vishwa Fernando swung the ball to have both Joe Root and Harry Brook lbw. When Woakes was caught behind for a duck, The Oval was stunned into silence.

Then came Smith, the tantalising target and Nissanka’s aggression. The pitch is true and the ball has done enough to interest the bowlers.

All the ingredients for a marvellous Monday.

In his first summer as a Test cricketer, 24-year-old Smith has shown himself to be comfortable at the highest level. He made his maiden century in the first Test of this series to go with two half-centuries against West Indies.

This was different. In part, England picked Smith for his ability to shift gears, dominate attacks and marshal the tail. In a scintillating five-over period, he did just that, evoking memories of Kevin Pietersen’s breakout century on this ground against Australia in 2005.

As England floundered, Smith scratched around in the early part of his innings. On seven he slashed past the fingertips of gully and, on 15, chipped Milan Rathnayake beyond mid-off.

The second near-miss kicked Smith into action. Rathnayake was crunched through the covers and pulled for six. Two more fours made it 20 off the over. The crowd was alive.

Left-armer Vishwa was summoned, but he was taken for 16 in an over as Smith passed 50 from 43 balls. Sri Lanka were scrambled and Stone played his part by fending off bouncers.

Smith continued to belt down the ground and club to the leg side until he picked out Kamindu Mendis off Vishwa. It was an abrupt end to a thrilling ride, one that kept England in the match.

England have been below-par in this match, not least on a second day when Sri Lanka moved to 211-5, 114 behind on first innings.

Even without Gus Atkinson, unable to bowl because of a quad injury, England were instantly improved on Sunday morning. Entrusted with the first over of the day, 20-year-old Hull had Dhananjaya de Silva hook to long leg for 69 then pinned Vishwa leg-before. Hull would have had his fourth wicket had Stone not spilled a simple chance off Kumara at fine leg.

Stone, though, played his part in wrapping up the tail. Overall, Sri Lanka lost their last five wickets for 52 runs and England had the chance to bat them out of the game.

Sri Lanka starting a run-chase before the day was out was not in England’s script, but at least Atkinson was fit enough to take the new ball.

Left-hander Nissanka began with trademark gusto, scoring down the ground. England were unsuccessful with a review off an Atkinson lbw appeal, Pope’s 10th DRS failure of the series.

Woakes was nimble enough to take Karunaratne’s bat-pad in his follow-through, but Kusal arrived to join Nissanka’s attack. When the light drew in, Sri Lanka were favourites.