HEADINGLEY: England took three Sri Lanka wickets for 43 runs before tea after Jonny Bairstow had scored a brilliant first Test century on home soil here on Friday.
After Bairstow had made 140 — his second ton in Tests but his first in this country — Stuart Broad and Jimmy Anderson set about the inexperienced Sri Lankan top order.
Broad removed Dimuth Karunaratne and Kusal Mendis — both departed without scoring — either side of Anderson’s first wicket of the summer, a fierce lifting delivery that was too good for Kaushal Silva.
At that stage, Sri Lanka were 12 for three. Dinesh Chandimal and captain Angelo Mathews saw them through to the interval, when the tourists had reached 43 without further loss.
Sri Lanka needed someone to do what Bairstow had managed for England. After an innings notable for the power and quality of its stroke-making, Bairstow reached his century in bizarre fashion. A Sri Lankan attempt to run out Steven Finn at the non-striker’s end went for overthrows, and Bairstow was able to claim the two he needed to reach the milestone on his home ground.
Bairstow celebrated emotionally, raising his bat and looking to the skies before he was embraced by Finn.
Bairstow’s efforts could not prevent a second pre-lunch collapse in as many days for England, however.
After Hales — who was trying to become the first player to reach three figures in Tests, ODI and Twenty20 cricket for England — had gone for 86, Moeen Ali and Broad also fell cheaply.
Finn and Bairstow added 56 for the ninth wicket before Bairstow was caught in the deep attempting to push the score on, before Finn was last out, stumped for 17.
Broad’s two wickets were a perfect example of how to bowl at this ground and Chandimal and Mathews knew they had plenty of work to do to recover the situation in an extended final session.
Score Board
Sri Lanka won toss
England 1st innings
A Cook c Chandimal b Shanaka 16
A Hales c Chameera b Herath 86
N Compton c Thirimanne b Shanaka 0
J Root c K Mendis b Shanaka 0
J Vince c K Mendis b Eranga 9
B Stokes c Mathews b Pradeep 12
J Bairstow c Pradeep b Chameera 140
M Ali c K Mendis b Chameera 0
S Broad b Chameera 2
S Finn st Chandimal b Herath 17
J Anderson not out 1
Extras (lb-8 nb-3 w-4) 15
Total (all out, 90.3 overs) 298
Fall: 1-49, 2-49, 3-51, 4-70, 5-83, 6-224, 7-231, 8-233, 9-289, 10-298
Bowling: Eranga 19-4-68-1 (nb-2 w-1); Pradeep 19-7-56-1 (w-1); Mathews 11-2-31-0 (nb-1); Chameera 17-0-64-3 (w-1); Shanaka 13-3-46-3 (w-1); Herath 11.3-1-25-2
Sri Lanka 1st innings
D Karunaratne c Bairstow b Broad 0
K Silva c Bairstow b Anderson 11
K Mendis c Bairstow b Broad 0
D Chandimal not out 15
A Mathews not out 15
Extras (nb-2) 2
Total (for 3 wickets, 16 overs) 43
Fall: 1-10, 2-12, 3-12
To bat: L Thirimanne, D Shanaka, R Herath, D Chameera, S Eranga, N Pradeep
Bowling: Anderson 6-2-15-1; Broad 7-1-14-2 (nb-2); Stokes 2-1-4-0; Vince 1-0-10-0
Test debuts: J M Vince (England); M D Shanaka (Sri Lanka)
Umpires: Aleem Dar (Pakistan) and R J Tucker (Australia). TV umpire: S Ravi (India). Match referee: A J Pycroft (Zimbabwe)