When play resumed on day 4 in Pallekele, England looked well in control of the match and further strengthened their position, thanks to the partnership of 41 runs between Ben Foakes and James Anderson for the last wicket. Chasing a total of 301 runs in the fourth innings, Sri Lanka needed their batsmen to step and back themselves to chase down the total. Sri Lanka started badly as three of their top order batsmen fell cheaply and Sri Lanka were in trouble with 3 wickets down and only 26 runs on the board.
Angelo Mathews turned out to be a real angel for Sri Lanka as him and Karunaratne started the revival act for Sri Lanka and put on a decent partnership but still England looked to be on their way to the victory. After the dismissal of Karunaratne, Roshen Silva came to the crease and joined Mathews and again there was a decent partnership between the two. Suddenly Sri Lanka were in control of the match with Mathews on the crease looking really good. Finally Mathews was adjudged lbw to Moeen Ali for a fighting knock of 88 runs. Sri Lanka ended the day on 226 runs for 7 needing 75 more to win the test.
Jack Leach was impressive with the ball for England and was the main wrecker of Sri Lankan batting line up as he took 4 major wickets. Moeen Ali was little expensive but chipped in with two wickets, one of them being of Angelo Mathews which could turn out to be a turning point of the match.
Niroshan Dickwella and Dilruwan Parera are at the crease and first hour of tomorrow's play promises to be really exciting if it doesn't rain. I believe England have more chances of winning and they should get over the line within the first hour of play.
Another test match which is being played in Abu Dhabi between Pakistan and New Zealand has seen a lot of wickets tumbling in the first two days of play. Pakistan started the day with 8 wickets in hand and 3rd wicket fell soon early in the morning in the form of Haris Sohail. New Zealand made a good comeback in the game as kept on chipping with wickets in regular intervals.
The main stay of Pakistani batting was Babar Azam who continued his form and scored 62 runs while he saw wickets falling at the other end. He was well supported by Asad Shafiq who notched up 43 well made runs. Pakistan finally were bundled out for 227 runs not before taking a good lead of 74 runs.
For New Zealand Trent Boult was the pick as he outclassed 4 Pakistani batsman with his pace and accuracy combined with a little bit of swing. The debutant Ajaz Patel and de Grandhomme also bowled well and picked up two wickets each. New Zealand lost first wicket with no score on the board in the 2nd innings but Jeet Raval and Williamson ensured that they lost no further wickets and put up 56 runs on the board.
For me the match is evenly balanced right now and if New Zealand can keep batting well and put a score in excess of 250 for Pakistan to chase, they might well come out as winners but who knows what tomorrow holds for us.
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