James Anderson surpassed Kapil Dev's tally of 434 Test wickets © Cricaction
England grabbed the Leeds Test by the scruff of its neck after a stellar all-round show on Day 2 that saw Jonny Bairstow become the first centurion of the English summer, followed by a five-wicket haul for James Anderson that helped him surpass Kapil Dev's Test tally of 434 wickets.
Sri Lanka's valiance from Day 1 vanished as their batsmen struggled to cope with copious amount of swing generated by Anderson and Stuart Broad as the duo accounted for nine wickets, bundling Sri Lanka out for a paltry 91.
On a two-paced surface, Bairstow and Hales began cautiously to take their stand past 100 runs. The breakthrough came when Alex Hales decided to go after Rangana Herath and ended up hitting the ball straight to Dushmanta Chameera at deep extra cover. A couple of overs later, Chameera swung into action again, dismissing Moeen Ali (0) and Stuart Broad (0) in the space of five deliveries. The flurry of wickets did not deter Bairstow, as he went on to score his century, his second in Tests.
With just two wickets in hand, Bairstow understandably decided to shift gears. In Steven Finn, he found a batting partner who could hold fort at the other end. The two frustrated the Sri Lankan bowlers with a swift 56-run stand for the ninth wicket. Chameera broke their stand, sending Bairstow back for a well-made 140. Herath returned to the attack and removed Finn straightaway, ending England's innings on 298.
Stuart Broad meant business very early in the innings, when he went around the stumps to the left-handed Dimuth Karunaratne and got the ball to straighten a touch to induce an outside edge. James Anderson joined in, by whipping a short ball to Kaushal Silva, who couldn't get out of the way and gloved the ball to Bairstow behind the stumps. Sri Lanka were in serious trouble at 12 for 3 when Broad picked up his second off the very next over, generating some away movement to send Kusal Mendis packing for a duck.
Angelo Mathews and Dinesh Chandimal came together to dig in and took Sri Lanka to tea at 43 for 3. Right after the break, however, Chandimal nicked a Ben Stokes delivery, that moved away after pitching at length, to James Vince at third slip.
Mathews and Lahiru Thirimanne forged a brief fight before Anderson trapped the Sri Lankan skipper in front of the stumps to go past Kapil's Test tally of 434 and slot in at the sixth spot of all-time wicket-takers. Mathews considered reviewing the decision but eventually decided against it and walked off. Replays suggested that may not have been a wise thing to do as the impact of the ball hitting his pad was clearly outside the line.
Anderson, buoyed by record-breaking feat, got the ball to curl in and away from the batsmen who were clearly befuddled by his art. From 77 for 5, Sri Lanka collapsed to 91 all out, with Anderson picking up a fifer.
Cook enforced a follow-on, but two balls into Sri Lanka's second essay, the umpires called it stumps due to poor light.
Brief Scores: England 298 (Jonny Bairstow 140, Alex Hales 86; Dushmanta Chameera 3-64, Dasun Shanaka 3-46) lead Sri Lanka 91 & 1/0 (f/0) by 206 runs
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