Mathews resists but England chip away

England continued to chip away at Old Trafford in the opening Test against Sri Lanka with two more key wickets in the post-lunch session. Angelo Mathews put up a resistance for Sri Lanka to bring the deficit down to 15 but with only six more wickets in hand, England continue to hold the upper hand.

Sri Lanka started the session with a boundary as Dimuth Karunaratne drove one to beat the mid-on fielder. England lost a review in the very next over when an lbw appeal against Karunaratne was turned down. Rubbing salt into their wounds, Karunaratne followed that up with another boundary past mid-off to grow in confidence.

Sri Lanka needed their former skipper to bail them out and he did respond in style, taking on Gus Atkinson for two more boundaries. It needed a change from both ends for England to break the partnership as Mark Wood bowled one short, only for Karunaratne to get an inside edge that hit the thigh pad before going straight to Harry Brook at slip.

The wicket didn't deter Mathews as he responded with a six over long on off Shoaib Bashir. However, a pacy delivery from Wood hit Dinesh Chandimal on the thumb, forcing the batter to retire hurt in a significant blow for the visitors. Dhananjaya de Silva, who delivered in the first innings, was caught by surprise due to a lack of bounce as Matthew Potts trapped him leg-before-wicket. With the uncertainty hanging around Chandimal, Sri Lanka need a massive rescue act in the final session to stay alive in the game.

Brief scores: Sri Lanka 236 & 107/4 (Angelo Mathews 48*; Mark Wood 1/11) trail England 358 by 15 runs