Cricket-England pile on runs to lead Sri Lanka by 390 at lunch on day three

LONDON (Reuters) – England built their lead over Sri Lanka to a commanding 390 runs on the third morning of the second test under lights on a grey day at Lord’s on Saturday, losing the wickets of Ben Duckett, captain Ollie Pope and Harry Brook.

England were on 159 for four, with Joe Root on 45 and Jamie Smith on 23 at the lunch break.

Root will be eyeing a record-setting 34th century for England as the hosts look to take an insurmountable 2-0 lead in the three-test series.

Duckett (24) was dismissed with a wonderful two-man catch off Milan Rathnayake, getting a thick edge on the ball that Nishan Madushka at gully dived for but could only parry into the air for Angelo Mathews at second slip to grab hold of.

Pope (17) trudged back to the pavilion not long after Duckett, having stepped back and slashed at a ball from Asitha Fernando only to send it sailing into the air towards deep backward point and down into the hands of Prabath Jayasuriya.

Brook (37) racked up the runs and was lucky to survive one dropped catch by Madushka but eventually offered him another near the boundary that the Sri Lanka man held onto.

In the first innings England piled up an impressive 427 before dismissing Sri Lanka for 196 on Friday afternoon, and they lost only Dan Lawrence (7) before stumps at the start of their second innings.

(Reporting by Hugh Lawson; Editing by Angus MacSwan)