One of the tenets of so-called Bazball is to put on a show for the crowd and on the second day of this summer’s final Test match – a day that transported the spectators back to the village green at times – Ollie Pope tried his best to adhere to it.
But at 5.35pm, Pope having deployed spin from both ends for 17 straight overs after tea in a bid to keep the game moving, the umpires Joel Wilson and Chris Gaffaney decided enough was enough. Bad light had once again brought an early close at the Oval – the crowd almost resigned to the prospect and so less agitated than on day one – with Sri Lanka having reached 211 for five in reply to England’s slightly wasteful 325 all out.
Pope’s lively 154 ensured his side’s first-innings total was competitive and in this final hour he could have brought on a quick and triggered the close. In a tighter series – an Ashes perhaps – he may well have thought twice. But he forged ahead, asking Shoaib Bashir, Dan Lawrence and Joe Root to twirl away in the gloom. And as they did so, Dhananjaya de Silva and Kamindu Mendis stitched together an unbroken stand of 118 that hauled Sri Lanka back into the reckoning.
Both men were more than happy to milk their runs here, De Silva reaching stumps with 64 to his name with the in-form Kamindu on 54. Neither looked particularly troubled, caressing the ball across the baize-green outfield with ease. Although their stand should have been broken on 59 shortly after tea when De Silva, on 23, plopped a mis-hit straight to Josh Hull at mid-on and it somehow ended up on the grass.
Even factoring in the glare of the floodlights and the nerves of a debutant in front of a full house, it was a simple chance. Amid a collective sigh it also brought Hull back down to earth with the bump, the 20-year-old’s head having previously been filled with unbridled delight after a maiden Test wicket had helped reduce Sri Lanka to 93 for five.
At least Hull had that golden moment when, 15 balls into his solitary spell, he persuaded Pathum Nissanka to skew a drive to extra cover and Chris Woakes held a sharp tumbling catch. Across five overs the left-armer showed glimpses of the attributes that have prompted his rapid elevation, propelling the ball from that 6ft 7in frame in the mid-80s mph and getting it to swing into the right-handers. There are rough edges to smooth out, a slingy action still to hone, but Hull does seem to possess something different.
The drop was also pretty much in keeping with the overall tone of a day that began with England losing their last six wickets for just 35 runs and witnessed a single over of Sri Lanka’s reply before the 40-minute lunch break, meaning 10 minutes unnecessarily lost in the process. Woakes was also forced to send down four balls of (rather shoddy) spin when the light was briefly deemed bad. Elite sport this very much was not, even if Woakes was soon allowed to resume his fast-medium and duly nicked off Kusal Mendis.
One man who rose above it all was Olly Stone, who for the second Test running showed the extra thrust he can offer with two precious breakthroughs. He also delivered a slingshot direct hit from cover to run out Dimuth Karunaratne and halt what had been a quickfire start to Sri Lanka’s reply. Coming the day after Mark Wood’s year was confirmed to have been ended by the return of an elbow stress fracture, this was all very timely.
Stone is not Wood in terms of outright pace but he is spiteful enough and here, probing away in the channel, he was clearly causing indecision. Angelo Mathews, the old head in this Sri Lanka side, ended up in an awkward position and sent a thick edge to gully on 14, while Dinesh Chandimal, struggling in this Test with a hand injury first inflicted by Wood at Old Trafford, was pinned lbw for duck by a ball that nipped back in.
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With Hull having shut down a rapid-fire 64 from the talented Nissanka that had underlined what is a decent pitch and a fast-scoring outfield, Sri Lanka were once again in tatters and it felt like the rather slapdash end to England’s innings might not be hugely consequential. Not that it was not noteworthy, the hosts having resumed 221 for three in the morning and then self-immolated in their latest quest for quick runs.
The lower order clearly had licence to thrash and Sri Lanka, re-energised after that tricky first day, were getting the old ball to swing. But among the array of swipes that accelerated things was a curious innings from Harry Brook. So often appearing already set when he arrives at the crease, Brook was instead jumpy here, surviving one howling drop in the deep by Asitha Fernando on 12 before crashing a wide ball to short cover.
Pope’s departure, pulling straight to deep square leg, was another self-inflicted dismissal but given the way he had batted up to that point – and the efforts made to keep the game going before its latest bad light farce – it was hard to be too critical. Having come into the match under a bit of pressure, England’s stand-in skipper is enjoying a fine match.
