In the ongoing test series between England and Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka achieved a historic victory thanks to a brilliant century from opener Pathum Nissanka in the last test of the 4-match series at the Oval. This is a historic victory for Sri Lanka, as they had not defeated England in a test match for ten years at home. Sri Lanka’s last test win in England came in 2014.
Coming out to bat on the last day, Lankan batters required 125 runs to win, and it took only 25.3 overs for Pathum Nisanka, Kusal Mendis, and Angelo Mathews to complete this run chase. Sri Lanka won this match by 8 wickets.
After their bowlers put them in the lead by dismissing England for just 156 in their second inning, Sri Lanka was the clear favorite going into the fourth day of play. Before stumps on the third day, Nissanka and Kusal Mendis then solidified Sri Lanka’s position with a forceful start. Mendis gave Sri Lanka a strong start on the fourth morning, pushing the ball through mid-off for a boundary in the opening over.
Nissanka’s outside edge was found by Chris Woakes, who was operating at the opposite end, but the ball was well short of the slip fielder. It did seem for a brief while that Sri Lanka might give up on the aggressive strategy that worked well for them last night. However, Mendis went after the first short ball delivered by Gus Atkinson instantly, only for Shoaib Bashir at long leg to dive at full stretch and make a superb catch.
With Angelo Mathews’ assistance, however, Nissanka completed Sri Lanka’s assignment in record time. He reached ninety-five after running three with a fine cut off Atkinson to deep point and then reached his century by threading a Woakes ball that was too short and too wide behind point. Nissanka soaked up the cheers with arms stretched wide and Matthews’ warm bear hug, his second ton in ten Tests, despite this being only his second encounter in the format since mid-2022.
After reaching the milestone, Nissanka hit an Olly Stone short ball over the fence at deep backward square, and two balls later, he saw Bashir spill his ramp to deep third. Nissanka’s other six in Stone’s subsequent over propelled Sri Lanka over the 200 mark, and he duly scored the winning runs by driving Bashir to the boundary at a deep backward point.
After missing a trick in favorable circumstances on Friday, Sri Lankan seamers swept England out for 156 in their second innings, with Lahiru Kumara and Vishwa Fernando particularly effective against a home team held together only by Jamie Smith’s thunderous half-century. They may wish to forget it, but England must also study their first-inning collapse from 261 for 3 to 325 all out.
In the meantime, Sri Lanka will cherish this triumph long after these lads have, at last, left.
Match Scorecard
England 325 (Ollie Pope 154; Milan Rathnayake 3/56) & 156 (Jamie Smith 67; Lahiru Kumara 4/21)
Sri Lanka 263 (Dhananjaya de Silva 69; Olly Stone 3/35)
England 156 (Smith 67, Kumara 4-21, Vishwa 3-40)
Sri Lanka 219/2 (Pathum Nissanka 127*, Kusal Mendis 39)
Records created in Sri Lanka’s test win at the Oval against England
- This was Sri Lanka’s fourth Test triumph in England and the second at The Oval, following a 10-wicket victory in 1998. Their previous two triumphs on English soil were at Trent Bridge in 2006 and Headingley in 2014.
- 219 is the highest target successfully chased by an Asian team in a Test in England, surpassing 180 by Pakistan against Australia at Headingley in 2010, and 173 by India at The Oval in 1971.
- Pathum Nissanka’s 127* is Sri Lanka’s third-highest individual score in a successful Test run-chase, after only Kusal Perera’s 153* against South Africa in Durban in 2019 and Aravinda de Silva’s 143* against Zimbabwe at SSC, Colombo in 1998.
- Nissanka became the seventh batsman in Test cricket to score 50 or more runs per ball in both innings. The other six players who have done so are Virender Sehwag, Jermaine Blackwood, David Warner, Jonny Bairstow, Harry Brook (twice), and Zak Crawley.
- Joe Root was chosen Player of the Series in the recently concluded England vs Sri Lanka test series. This is the sixth time in his Test career that he has been named Player of the Series in tests, the most for England, surpassing Graham Gooch, James Anderson, and Andrew Strauss, who each had five.
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