Anderson, back to his very best after a below-par tour of South Africa, produced another pearler of a delivery to send back the rising star of Sri Lanka’s batting in Kusal Mendis while Moeen bowled Lahiru Thirimanne with a beauty.
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Mathews made an uncertain start, edging Anderson third ball low towards second slip but the catch was not taken cleanly – confirmation coming after a brief look by the TV umpire – and next ball was beaten by an unplayable delivery which prompted Alastair Cook to mistakenly review.
Rangana Herath (12) gamely resisted for over an hour before fending Stuart Broad to gully.
Wicketkeeper-batsman Dinesh Chandimal and the resolute Milinda Siriwardana continued confidently after Mathews’ departure, compiling an unbroken partnership with 54 not out and an unbeaten 35, respectively.
It also left open the possibility of a stunning, come-from-behind, win if they could set England 100 or more for victory. With innings of 91 and 119 at Headingley preceding it, the statisticians had to trawl back to 1958 – when at Lord’s and Leeds, New Zealand, undone by Jim Laker and Tony Lock, made successive scores of 47, 74 and 67 – to find the last time a team made three successive scores under 120.
Sri Lanka have constantly struggled against the moving ball outside off stump and Bairstow also accounted for Mathews with his seventh catch of the match from a quality Anderson outswinger.
Sri Lanka, 91 for eight overnight, lost their final two first-innings wickets inside four overs on Sunday. Zimbabwe were all out for 94 against the hosts in 2003.
On 80 from 105 balls Mathews nibbled at yet another teasing line outside off stump and after Bairstow collected the simple chance Sri Lanka were 222-5. Chandimal and Siriwardana came together and played with freedom, putting on 87 together with some expansive shots. Silva and Dimuth Karunaratne had batted together for 99 balls earlier in the innings which was the previous longest stand in this series by Sri Lanka.
England’s Moeen Ali celebrates after reaching 150 on Day 2 of the second Test against Sri Lanka. Warwickshire’s Chris Woakes, a like for like replacement, was called into the England squad on Monday and promptly took a career-best nine for 36 against Durham at Edgbaston. Their total of 309 for 5 at the end of the third day’s play is their fifth-highest while following in Tests.
“Particularly as an opener, if you get yourself in and do the hard yards, you want to be cashing in and getting those hundreds – because when you face the new ball there’s going to be times when you get single-figure scores and good balls early on”.
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At least in the first Test they could blame the conditions – well, I’m sorry, but there was no excuse for the way they batted on Saturday.
