Former England captain Michael Vaughan was surprised by the Ollie Pope-led team’s batting display in the second innings of the third Test match against Sri Lanka at Kennington Oval, London. England were able to take a 62-run lead after Sri Lanka were skittled out for 263 in response to the home team’s score of 325 in the first innings.
The hosts had a great opportunity to build on their lead but they were bundled out for a paltry score of 156 runs. England’s wicket-keeper bat Jamie Smith top-scored with 67 runs but of the other batters could show any resistance.
The next best score for England was 35 by opener Dan Lawrence and seven batters were dismissed without even reaching the two-digit mark. Lahiru Kumara and Vishwa Fernando scalped four and three wickets respectively.
Speaking on BBC Test match special, Vaughan questioned Dan Lawrence’s aggressive approach, “I’ve got no clue what England were doing with the bat – Dan Lawrence, I suppose it was his last chance saloon, maybe he was told to go out and swing. It was too expansive.”
On the other hand, England’s assistant coach Paul Collingwood admitted they didn’t get their batting right on the third day’s play.
“It certainly hasn’t been one of our better days of Test cricket this year. We’ll always try to knock bowlers off their lengths and find a positive way to apply pressure on the opposition, and sometimes it doesn’t work. It’s Test cricket, you’ve got good players out there and they find ways to put you under pressure. We’re not always going to get it right and today was one of those days we didn’t get it right,” Collingwood said at the end of the day’s play at The Oval.
Sri Lanka has got off to a solid start as the visitors have raced to 94-1 and need another 125 runs to win the third Test.
