England close on 109-4 on day three of third Test at Lord's
Sunday 12 June 2016 07:15, UK
Chris Woakes impressed with the ball and Alex Hales hit an unbeaten 41 as England racked up a 237-run lead over Sri Lanka on a wicket-laden day three of the third Investec Test at Lord's.
Woakes (3-31) struck twice in his four overs to trigger a heavy Sri Lanka collapse which saw the tourists tumble from their overnight 162-1 to 288 all out and England claim a first-innings advantage of 128.
Hales then stayed composed as Nick Compton (19) - opening the batting after Alastair Cook was hit on the knee while fielding - Joe Root (4) and James Vince (0) were dismissed within the space of 10 balls.
The Nottinghamshire star shared a stand of 51 with the in-form Jonny Bairstow (32) before the Yorkshireman became the third player to be bowled by Nuwan Pradeep (3-25) as England closed on 109-4.
Angelo Mathews' charges had negated their opponents' bowling unit on day two but could not follow suit under cloud-riddled skies on Saturday morning, losing three batsmen for seven runs.
Woakes started the slide by pinning Kusal Mendis (25) lbw with his first ball and backed that up with the scalp of Mathews (3), the Sri Lanka skipper fending a rising delivery to Joe Root at slip.
Stuart Broad, fresh from being awarded an MBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours List, pocketed the wicket in-between when he forced Kaushal Silva (79) to snick through to Bairstow, the right-hander failing to add to his overnight score and spurning the chance to become the fifth Sri Lankan opener to hit a ton at Lord's.
Dinesh Chandimal (19) and Lahiru Thirmanne (17) stopped the rot with a stand of 33 but both were banished shortly before lunch by Steve Finn, Chandimal trapped leg before and Thirimanne caught by Root in the cordon following a loose drive.
England captain Cook, given a CBE on Friday night, headed for an x-ray after being clattered on the knee by Kusal Perera fielding at silly mid-off, leaving Root to temporarily stand-in as skipper.
The 25-year-old had had to wait a while for the first wicket on his watch as Perera and Rangana Herath (31) added 71 for the seventh wicket, Broad ending that enterprising stand when Herath, who made 61 in Durham, chopped on moments after afternoon drinks.
But Sri Lanka's innings tail mopped up pretty quickly, Anderson taking himself and Broad to a combined 495 wickets when opening the bowling together - above previous record holders Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis (493) - and Woakes dismissing Shaminda Eranga (1).
Compton then strode out at the position from which he has notched his two Test tons and looked in decent fettle before he snicked Eranga behind with the score on 45, the Middlesex man trudging off for potentially the last time in an England flannel having notched just 117 runs in 10 innings.
Root and Vince soon followed their under-the-pump team-mate back into the dressing room, the former bowled by a low delivery from Pradeep and the latter castled shouldering arms next ball as the hosts shipped three wickets for five runs.
England's lead was just 178 at that stage but Hales - dropped on 19 by Dimuth Karunaratne at second slip - and Bairstow steadied matters, before the hosts' wicketkeeper inside-edged onto his wicket towards the close.
Chandimal then shelled Hales one-handed down the leg side with the opener on 39 and night-watchman Finn (6no) glanced between keeper and cordon during a frantic end to the day, but there were no further breakthroughs and England will be boosted by the fact Cook should be fit to bat on Sunday if needed.
Watch highlights of day three from 8pm on Sky Sports 2 and then stick around at 9pm for The Verdict with Charles Colvile, Bob Willis, Jonathan Trott and Russel Arnold.
Our build-up to day four starts at 10.30am on Sunday on Sky Sports 2, directly after the latest episode of Cricket Writers on TV with Paul Allott, Lawrence Booth and Dean Wilson.
