Cook poses with the trophy after England won the series 2-0
Image courtesy of: Zimbio
England were aiming to whitewash Sri Lanka 3-0 on the final day of the third Test at Lord’s, but not much play was possible due to heavy rain.
After a lengthy delay, play finally got underway in the afternoon with Sri Lanka resuming their innings on 32/0. Unfortunately, only a few overs were bowled, during which James Anderson trapped Sri Lanka opener Kaushal Silva lbw for 16, before the heavens parted again.
Fast forward nearly two hours later and play got underway once again. Having lost Silva just before the rain delay, Dimuth Karunaratne and Kusal Mendis did an excellent job of keeping the England bowlers at bay as they amassed an unbeaten 33-run partnership before the rain returned.
With the rain refusing to relent, the umpires had no choice but to end the match as a draw.
Heavy rain stopped play for most of the day
Image courtesy of: Zimbio
Sri Lanka ended up finishing on 78/1, with Karunaratne scoring 37 off 66 balls, which included six boundaries, while Mendis remained undefeated on 17 off 30 deliveries, which included two boundaries and a six.
Anderson was the only bowler to take a wicket.
Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews was disappointed to have lost 2-0, and said: “”We started off pretty poorly but came into the series in the second innings at Durham. It would have been an interesting chase, and a result, but unfortunately the weather had the final say. We wanted to go for it. We’d rather lose 3-0 while trying to win the game.
“There are lots of positives even though we lost the series. Rangana was brilliant, 38 and going strong, and lots of positives with Kusal Mendis and Karunaratne and Chandimal.”
England skipper Alastair Cook was gutted that the weather had the final say, but was glad to have won the series.
“It would have been a good day’s cricket, would have been good to see our guys under pressure but the English weather got in the way,” he said. “Pretty good three games, two wins by an innings and a declaration, but always room for improvement.
“Alex Hales has come in and done really well, from what happened in South Africa, a real desire to play Test cricket has been seen in those two 80s and a 90. There is always room for improvement, but one of our strengths is we do bat deep. We’ve scored the runs but our top order have struggled in tough conditions.”
England wicketkeeper-batsman Jonny Bairstow was named Man of the Match for his career-best knock of 167 not out in the first innings and Man of the Series for scoring 387 runs at an average of 129.
“Very pieasing to back up my form for Yorkshire in an England shirt,” he said. “I wouldn’t say it’s been a conscious decision to [change by batting stance] but being dropped spurred me to get back in the side and prove people wrong. The people who say you aren’t good enough, you want to say I am.
“I was disappointed to drop a couple but pleasing to get 19 catches in the series. Now we move onto the rest of the summer. I’m delighted to be back in the [one-day squad]. I feel like I’ve done okay and will put on a show.”