Skipper Dhananjaya de Silva pinpoints reason behind Sri Lanka’s defeat against England at Lord’s

London [UK], September 2 : Following Sri Lanka’s disappointing loss against England in the second Test match, skipper Dhananjaya de Silva said that the visitors tried to control the match but it was not enough.

England sealed a 190-run win over Sri Lanka in the second Test match at the iconic Lord’s. With the victory, the Three Lions took a 2-0 lead in the three-match series.

Speaking after the match, Dhananjaya de Silva said their top batting order was struggling.

“We had two days to bat. The message was to bat simple and bat long. They always put pressure on us with their batting, we controlled a bit but that’s not good enough to win a Test match in England. I could have batted first but our top order was struggling, we wanted to see what the pitch is gonna do and bat next, that didn’t work at all,” Dhananjaya said.

When questioned about Kamindu Mendis, the Sri Lanka skipper said that the allrounder displayed a stunning performance except for in the second inning.

“He’s been awesome in every innings except the last innings here. He’s getting runs very quickly batting at seven. We have to do better to get a win in England against this quality side. We have to do better in all three departments,” he added.

Kamindu Mendis did well in Sri Lanka’s first innings, he scored 74 runs from 120 balls at a strike rate of 61.67. During his time on the crease, the left-handed batter smashed 8 fours and 3 sixes.

Recapping the match, Sri Lanka won the toss and opted to field first. England scored 427 runs in the first innings, with Root (143 in 206 balls, with 18 fours) and Gus Atkinson (118 in 115 balls, with 14 fours and four sixes) slamming centuries to take England to a massive score.

Asitha Fernando (5/102) was the top bowler for Sri Lanka. Milan Rathnayake and Lahiru Kumara took two wickets each.

In their first innings, despite Kamindu Mendis’s fighting 74 runs in 120 balls, with eight fours and three sixes, Sri Lanka could manage just 196 runs as the top-order let the team down again. Chris Woakes, Olly Stones, Gus Atkinson, and Matthew Potts got two wickets each, while Shoaib Bashir got one. England led by 231 runs.

Sri Lanka showcased much better control with the ball in England’s second inning, bundling them out for 251 runs. After Root’s 103 in 121 balls, with 10 fours, the second biggest contribution was delivered by Harry Brook (37 in 36 balls, with four boundaries and a six).

Asitha Fernando (3/52) and Lahiru Kumara (3/53) were the top wicket-takers for Sri Lanka.

In the run-chase of 483, Sri Lanka put up a fight as three half-centuries came from Dimuth Karunaratne (55 in 129 balls, with seven fours), Dinesh Chandimal (58 in 62 balls, with 11 fours) and skipper Dhananjaya de Silva (50 in 71 balls, with seven fours). But despite that, Lanka was bundled out for 292 runs and lost by 190 runs.

Atkinson (5/62) was the pick of the bowlers for England, picking his third five-wicket haul at the Lord’s. Olly Stone and Chris Woakes also got two wickets.

Atkinson secured the ‘Player of the Match’ award for his all-round performance.

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