Jack Leach highlights ‘length’ as key to England breakthrough after Sri Lanka resistance

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Kusal Perera suffers after being hit on the hand.jpg (ECB)
Kusal Perera suffers after being hit on the hand.jpg (ECB)

It has taken the best part of three days and five session of cricket, but England encountered their first real period of struggle on their winter tour of the subcontinent.

Though Sri Lanka still trail by 130, their second innings is set at 156 for two on a Galle pitch still behaving itself after combatting an English attack that fell short of ideas for the final 61 overs of play on day three. An opening partnership of 101, from which Lahiru Thirimanne was allowed to go on until stumps for 75 not out, dug the hosts out of a hole created by their first innings of 135 all out.

England had the best of the start of day three, with Joe Root’s 228 providing the bulk of their first innings of 421. But the touring spinners, who took six of the 10 wickets on Thursday, could only produce one between them.

Dom Bess, who took five for 30, was wicketless in his 13 overs. His former Somerset teammate Jack Leach managed to snare one – Kusal Mendis caught behind – accompanying Sam Curran’s earlier dismissal of Kusal Perrera, caught by Leach a few yards inside the point boundary, for 62.

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“Tough work for us, definitely,” said Leach when speaking to Sky at stumps. “They batted well. The openers did really well and we found it tough.

“We're still leading by 130 so there's a lot to play for in the morning, with the new ball around the corner we're hopeful we can pick up some early wickets."

Conditions still favoured the spin bowlers, even though seam bowling accounted for three of Saturday’s eight dismissals. However, England’s inability to build pressure with just three maidens from 39 overs delivered by their slower bowlers, allowed Sri Lanka to bed in and chip away at the 286 deficit that greeted them at their start of their second go with the bat.

The key, as ever, was length. And Leach agreed England were off the mark, and admitted he was short of his best.

“Length is really important,” he said. “It’s quite a slow wicket. There's enough there it's just important to bowl the right pace that allows you to bowl the right length. Line, length, pace everything really!

“I probably came up a little short. I've been short of match overs I guess for a little bit of time. You can do as much as you want in the nets but you need that stuff in games.

“I found I probably bowled a little bit short when I tried to bowl quicker, that's something to think about for tomorrow.

“I'll definitely reflect: I'm someone who's always doing that. I'll think about what we're likely to face in the morning and how I want to bowl, I'll be reflecting overnight and we go again in the morning.”

Sri Lanka are fighting in their second innings to erase their deficitECB
Sri Lanka are fighting in their second innings to erase their deficitECB

Off the field, there was a welcome return for Moeen Ali, who has been isolating since 3 January after testing positive for Covid-19. He arrived at the ground in the afternoon after being released from his separate Galle accommodation and will rejoin the team at their hotel.

“It's great,” said Sam Curran on Moeen’s return. “We all walked into the changing room after one of the sessions today we saw Mo, just saw the smile on everyone's faces he's obviously had a really tough couple of weeks and no one wants to get into that situation he was in.

Joe Root bowls for England in Sri Lanka’s second inningsECB
Joe Root bowls for England in Sri Lanka’s second inningsECB

“Thankfully he got through that okay and we're all really excited to have him back in the group play cricket again because we all know what an awesome player he is to play with and to be around so the guys are really happy. Hopefully, that doesn't happen to anyone else because no one wants to have players having to leave the group and isolate for a couple of weeks. So it’s great to have Mo back.”

Originally ruled out of the first Test, Moeen was also ruled out of the second when Sri Lankan authorities ordered him to spend two extra days in quarantine as he was still displaying symptoms. Now able to build up match fitness outdoors, it remains to be seen whether he will be made available for the final match which begins next Friday.

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