England And Sri Lanka Draw Second Test

England And Sri Lanka Draw Second Test

Jonathan Trott (arms raised) grabed the wicket of Tharanga Paranavitana but England were forced to settle for a draw against Sri Lanka at Lord's

©REUTERS/Philip Brown (BRITAIN - Tags: SPORT CRICKET) Picture Supplied by Action Images

England 486 & 335-7 dec. (Cook 106) drew with
Sri Lanka 479 & 127-3 (Paranavitana 44)
Second Test, Lord's
Scorecard | Report by John Pennington

The final day of the second Test between England and Sri Lanka was played out much as was expected with the sides too evenly matched to produce anything other than a draw.

England declared to set Sri Lanka a nominal target of 343 in 58 overs, hoping for a repeat of Cardiff, where the tourists folded for 82 inside 25 overs but this time, they were foiled.

Sri Lanka closed on 127 for three with Thilan Samaraweera (17 not out) and Prasanna Jayawardene (12 not out) blocking out ten overs to take the game into the final hour, at which point the players shook hands.

England had given Sri Lanka a worry or two, removing Kumar Sangakkara (12), Mahela Jayawardene (25) and Tharanga Paranavitana (44).

Sangakkara opened the batting in the absence through injury of captain Tillakaratne Dilshan, cutting his 13th ball to Eoin Morgan at point off Chris Tremlett.

Jayawardene then edged Stuart Broad to Kevin Pietersen, who took a good catch at slip and the third wicket fell when Paranavitana fell to the medium pace of Jonathan Trott, trapped in front to a delivery that swung back in and caught him by surprise.

England could make no further inroads and take their 1-0 series lead to The Rose Bowl, where the third Test begins on 16th June.

Earlier, Alastair Cook reached his 18th Test century and there was a welcome return to form for Pietersen before England's declaration.

Cook progressed from 61 not out overnight to 106 with another fluent innings before he was out stumped as left-arm spinner Rangana Hearth returned three for 87.

He had bowled Trott late on day four and he struck again to remove Pietersen, bowled by a delivery that span and bounced sharply out of the rough - a delivery that would have done for most players.

It came after he had made 72 in 124 balls with seven fours and while Cook and Pietersen were impressive, the fireworks came from Ian Bell, who hit a quickfire 57 in 43 balls to hurry England towards their declaration.

They lost wickets quickly, Morgn and Matthew Prior both falling for four and the latter causing something of a commotion when a window was broken in the dressing room following his run out, Strauss and Prior quickly apologising to spectators who had been hurt by the broken glass.

Prior had a fine game, scoring a superb 126 in England's first innings but it was Dilshan who was named as the man of the match following his knock of 193 in Sri Lanka's reply.

© Cricket World 2011