New Delhi: Jamie Smith smashed a brilliant counterattacking half-century to rescue England after a batting collapse against Sri Lanka in the third Test match at Kennington Oval in London.
England took a 62-run lead in the first innings after dismissing Sri Lanka for 263 runs but the English batter failed to score runs and stumbled to 82 for 7 in the second innings on Day 3. England’s new wicketkeeper batter smashed Sri Lanka’s bowlers all around the ground.
Alexa, define ‘Counterpunch’. pic.twitter.com/aWxq1R6090
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) September 8, 2024
Smith smashed 67 runs off 50 balls, his remarkable knock was laced with 10 boundaries and one maximum. England posted 156 runs in the second innings with the help of his knock. Ollie Pope and Co. looking to wrap up the series 3-0 and complete a clean sweep of victories this summer. England have already defeated West Indies by 3-0 in July.
Smith made his debut for England in the series against West Indies and scored the 3rd-most Test runs by a wicketkeeper in an English summer after Jonny Bairstow’s 753 and Alec Stewart’s 499 in 1998. Smith now holds the record for scoring second-most runs by a designated wicketkeeper in the first six Test matches after Leslie Ames’ 571.
England set 219 runs target for Sri Lanka
Chasing the target of 219 runs, Sri Lanka got off to a great start and scored 94 runs with the loss one wicket on stumps at Day 3. Pathum Nissanka and Kusal Mendis are unbeaten in the middle and will resume the batting on Day 4. Earlier, Apart from Dan Lawrence and Jamie Smith, no other batter managed to score runs against the brilliant swing and seam bowling by the Sri Lankan bowlers. Joe Root, Harry Brook and Gus Atkinson all were trapped lbw and Chris Woakes got out on duck.
Fast bowler Lahiru Kumara took 4 wickets and his partner Vishwa Fernando took 3 wickets as Sri Lanka attempting to avoid an eighth successive test match defeat by England.
Sri Lanka resumed Day 3 on 211-5 but was dismissed after adding 52 runs in the morning session. The 20-year-old left-arm bowler Josh Hull removed skipper Dhananjaya de Silva and Vishwa Fernando to finish with the bowling figures of 3-53 in his first test match.
Jamie Smith played a counterattacking knock against Sri Lanka in the third Test. He scored 67 runs off 50 balls on Day 3. Cricket Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
