Hindustan Surkhiyan Desk: Sam Curran’s heroic innings once again saved the blushes for England on a day in which 10 of 11 wickets were taken by the spinners in the second Sri Lanka vs England Test match at Pallekele.
After being found wanting in front of the Sri Lanka spinners, England rode on Sam Curran’s brilliant 64-run inning to reach 285 and then managed to get the wicket of Sri Lanka opener Kaushal Silva as the hosts ended the day at 26 for 1.
England were 225 for 9 when James Anderson joined Curran. The 19-year-old Surrey all-rounder, who now has reached all of his three fifties with a six, hit as many six sixes to add a valuable 60 runs – the highest of the innings – in just 11 overs on a pitch that offered plenty to the spinners.
Before the invaluable 10th wicket partnership, Curran had also put on 45 runs for the eighth wicket with Adil Rashid.
Before the tea break, it was all Sri Lanka. Malinda Pushpakumara, ran through the English top and middle order.
Dilruwan Perera grabbed two wickets while fellow spinner Akila Dananjaya and fast bowler Suranga Lakmal claimed one each. Only Jos Buttler stood out with his gritty 63.
Pushpakumara took the three key wickets of Root, for 14, Buttler and Moeen Ali, for 10, with his left-arm orthodox spin to put England on the back. Dilruwan Perera did the bulk of the damage after tea, returning with figures of four for 61.
Stokes, who batted at number five in his team’s opening win last week, had been sent up the order following Moeen’s twin failures at number three in Galle.
Off-spinner Perera successfully reviewed an lbw decision against Stokes after the on-field umpire had turned down an appeal. He was out for 19.
Lakmal, who is leading the side in place of injured Dinesh Chandimal, had Keaton Jennings caught behind for one in the fifth over.
Root, who scored 35 and three in the first Test, was bowled by Pushpakumara in the 18th over for 14 and Rory Burns (43) soon followed as England slumped to 89 for 4 before lunch.
Buttler then counter-attacked, hitting five boundaries with a mixture of sweeps and reverse sweeps as he built crucial partnerships including a 45-run stand with Moeen.
He was finally undone while attempting one reverse sweep too many, as he was caught at backward point and walked back to the pavilion to a standing ovation.
