During day 4 of the second Test match between England and Sri Lanka, which took place on Sunday, September 1 at Lord’s, Gus Atkinson made his debut century and emerged as England’s best bowler. He claimed a five-wicket haul against Sri Lanka after dismissing Milan Rathanayake in their fourth innings.
This was achieved in the 86th over of Sri Lanka’s second innings by Atkinson. He bowled an outswinging delivery outside off stump and Rathnayake attempted to pull it but only managed to edge it to the keeper. The speedster raised his arms in celebration as the crowd rejoiced at Lord’s
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In the fourth innings, Atkinson also rejected Nishan Madushka along with the visiting team’s captain Dhananjaya de Silva and Kamindu Mendis. As far as his second innings against the visitors are concerned, the 26-year-old had two wickets. Thus, Atkinson leads the three-match Test series with eleven wickets taken from two Tests.
Gus Atkinson and Joe Root shine as England win the 2nd Test by 190 runs, taking a 2-0 series lead
A professional, well-rounded performance from Gus Atkinson and Joe Root saw England triumph over Sri Lanka by 190 runs in the second Test played on Sunday. With this win, the hosts have taken an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series.
Batting first, England amassed a total of 427 runs in a span of 102 overs. Joe Root was particularly impressive with the bat, accumulating 143 runs off 206 balls supported by 18 boundaries. Gus Atkinson too was no pushover as he hammered together 118 off just 115 deliveries.
Asitha Fernando was brilliant with the ball returning figures of 5/102 whereas Milan Rathnayake and Lahiru Kumara each took two wickets.
On their part Sri Lanka were dismissed for merely 196 during their first innings. Kamindu Mendis was the top scorer with 74 runs within 120 balls inclusive of three sixes and eight boundaries. Meanwhile Chris Woakes, Gus Atkinson, Olly Stone and Matthew Potts had two scalps apiece on their names respectively.
Joe Root put on another hundred, helping England finish their second innings with 251. He hit 10 boundaries and scored 103 runs from 121 balls. The best bowlers for SriLankan were Asitha Fernando and Lahiru Kumara who took three wickets each. Milan Rathanayake and Prabath Jayasuriya picked two each.
In their innings chasing 483 runs, the tourists could only manage to score 292 all out in the 2nd innings; Skipper Dhananjaya de Silva, Dinesh Chandimal and Dimuth Karunaratne showed real fight by scoring half-centuries but it wasn’t enough to avoid losing the series.
On September 6, both sides will meet at Kennington Oval with third and final Test.