In the Sri Lanka Tour of England 2024, England secured a series win with a dominating performance in the second Test, highlighted by Gus Atkinson’s brilliant five-wicket haul.
Atkinson, who scored his first century in the first innings, became only the third England player to both score a century and take five wickets in a Test, with the last being Ian Botham in 1984.
Despite a quiet crowd at Lord’s on the fourth day, England had to deal with solid half-centuries from Sri Lanka’s Dimuth Karunaratne, Dinesh Chandimal, and captain Dhananjaya de Silva.
England had a big lead, with Sri Lanka chasing a huge 483 runs to win. Even with good batting conditions, some resistance from the tourists, and two dropped catches by Joe Root, England managed to pull through.
The tourists held on past tea, but Atkinson came through with the new ball to clean up the tail. He finished with 5-62, leaving Sri Lanka all out for 292, and England won by 190 runs.
This victory marks England’s fifth in a row and their second series win of the summer, after sweeping the West Indies 3-0 in July.
For Sri Lanka, this is their first defeat in six visits to Lord’s, where they previously had five draws since 2002. England now has seven straight Test wins over Sri Lanka since the drawn 2016 Lord’s Test.
The final Test at The Oval starts on Friday, and England will aim for a perfect Test summer, which would be their first since winning seven Tests in 2004.
England’s Summer Marches On
This was another easy win in what’s been a great summer for the new-look England team. They dealt with another injury, this time to Mark Wood, with Olly Stone stepping in nicely.
However, not everything went smoothly. Makeshift opener Dan Lawrence and stand-in captain Ollie Pope struggled, with Pope unable to balance leading and batting at number three.
Sri Lanka might regret choosing to bowl first after winning the toss, although the good batting conditions later in the game suggested they might have had a point.
But in the end, Sri Lanka was undone by their poor batting in the first innings, Atkinson’s all-round brilliance, and two centuries from Root, with the second making him England’s all-time leader with 34 centuries.
The atmosphere when Root reached this milestone on Saturday was electric, but it contrasted sharply with the many empty seats on Sunday.
Some blame the high ticket prices, with the cheapest adult ticket at £95. Watching Test cricket can be very expensive, especially at Lord’s.
There might also be some hesitation to buy fourth-day tickets when England’s Tests this summer have mostly been one-sided.
This raises concerns about whether England, and other cricket powerhouses like Australia and India, are doing enough to protect Test cricket. The big teams can’t just keep playing each other—they need to make sure more teams are competitive in this longer format.
Atkinson Leads England’s Effort
England’s push for victory was delayed by bad light on the third evening. Sri Lanka started Sunday at 53-2, needing an unlikely 430 runs, so the only question was when England would win.
The hosts were initially held up by opener Karunaratne and nightwatchman Prabath Jayasuriya. England missed two reviews against Karunaratne, and Root dropped him at first slip off Atkinson.
With not much help for the bowlers, Pope kept changing the bowlers, moved his fielders around, sometimes using up to eight catchers, and asked Stone to bowl bouncers.
Chris Woakes finally got Jayasuriya to edge to second slip. Chandimal then came in, adding 55 runs with Karunaratne and another 59 with Angelo Mathews.
Stone’s bouncers paid off when Karunaratne tickled one down the leg side, but Chandimal played aggressively, especially against off-spinner Shoaib Bashir. Chandimal’s 42-ball half-century was his fastest in Tests.
After Mathews got out, tapping Bashir to mid-off, Atkinson took the key wicket of Chandimal, who was caught at short leg. When the in-form Kamindu Mendis edged Atkinson to second slip, it seemed like the game was over.
Sri Lanka fought back a bit. Dhananjaya found some help from Milan Rathnayake, the number nine who bravely added 73 runs for the eighth wicket despite getting hit on the helmet by Stone.
England took the second new ball, and Root dropped an easy catch from Rathnayake off Atkinson, so Atkinson instead bowled Dhananjaya off a bottom edge.
Atkinson then took Rathnayake’s bottom edge, joining Botham and Tony Greig as the only England players to score a century and take five wickets in the same Test. Woakes finished things off by getting Lahiru Kumara to sky a shot to mid-on.
Atkinson Reflects on His Performance
England captain Ollie Pope on Test Match Special: “A good win with some special individual performances from Gus and Joe.
“In a perfect world, I’d want to lead from the front with the bat, but we’re 2-0 up in the series. I haven’t contributed like I’d want to, but I’d take that any day.”
Sri Lanka captain Dhananjaya de Silva: “We’re a much better team than we’ve shown.
“If I could do it again, I would have batted first at the toss. I got it wrong. But we did really well in the first innings when we were bowling.”
Former England captain Michael Vaughan: “I hope Gus Atkinson never changes and keeps that calm attitude. I love it. He’ll face tougher challenges, but he’s just being himself and enjoying the game.”
Player of the match, England bowler Gus Atkinson, speaking to media: “I’ve had a good few games here, I don’t know why. I like bowling down the slope, but the batting, I’m not sure!”
Also Read: Joe Root Breaks Record with 34th Test Century, Set to Surpass Cook’s Runs
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