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England are in a completely dominant position after Day 2 of the second Test against Sri Lanka, and will look to have the match wrapped up by the end of the day’s play. Join The Roar for live scores of Day 3 from 8pm (AEST).
After wrapping up the first Test match inside three days, England are looking to do exactly the same thing this time around.
At the end of two days’ play, the only possible results left in the match are an England victory or a draw and with the weather forecast looking good, you can just about rule out the possibility of a draw.
At the end of Day 1, England looked to have already passed a par score, sitting on 6 for 310 from their 90 overs. With the pitch doing quite a bit with the new ball, they batted well right throughout the order.
Day 2 though saw the pitch seemingly flatten out a lot and Moeen Ali took advantage. After being not out on 28 at the end of Day 1, he would end up racing to 155 from just 207 balls in what was a fantastic display of batting with the lower order.
Considering he was already joined by Chris Woakes – who would end up on 39 – he managed to take enough of the strike and find what always seemed to be right option. England would eventually declare on 9 for 498 off 132 overs with James Anderson the other not-out batter.
The way Sri Lanka simply failed to run through the tail of England with the strong bowling line up was dreadful, and it was easy to see their heads were down.
The only bowler even worthy of a mention was Nuwan Pradeep who ended up with 4 for 107 off 33 overs.
It didn’t take long for Anderson, Stuart Broad, Chris Woakes and Steven Finn to start rolling through the Sri Lankan batting order, reducing them to an awful 8 for 91 from 40 overs. Broad and Woakes both picked up three wickets, while Andreson had two and all of the bowlers simply looked dangerous.
Kusal Mendis top scored with 35 – but seeing as the first innings is now a complete write off they have to add as many runs as possible and then somehow get their mindset right to score runs – which will be easier said than done given their struggles with the bat so far in this series.
Prediction
The way England have bowled this series, and the way Sri Lanka’s batting has completely folded, this match will finish sometime today with a comprehensive English victory by an innings and more.
Be sure to join The Roar for live scores of this match from 8pm (AEST) and don’t forget to add your own comments in the section below as the action unfolds.
Follow Scott on Twitter @sk_pryde