GET APP
Live Now :
Day 1 round-up: Sam Curran exhibited his six-hitting prowess and Jos Buttler made an enterprising 63 to help England overcome a top order collapse and post 285 in the first innings on the opening day of the second Test against Sri Lanka on Wednesday.
England were reeling at 89-4 when Buttler somewhat steadied the innings before Curran clobbered six sixes in his blistering 64 to help them to a competitive score.
Sri Lanka lost Kaushal Silva in their wobbly reply to be 26-1 at stumps, trailing by 259 runs.
Dimuth Karunaratne was batting on 19 with Malinda Pushpakumara on one at the other end.
Earlier, England captain Joe Root won the toss and unsurprisingly elected to bat as the tourists, 1-0 up in the three-match series, sought to build on their victory in Galle last week.
Stand-in skipper Suranga Lakmal dismissed Keaton Jennings in the fifth over before the home side's spinners set about disrupting the rest of the top order.
England named an unchanged side but shuffled their batting lineup and Ben Stokes (19) was unable to justify his promotion to number three, the all-rounder surviving a review before succumbing to a second to be trapped lbw by Dilruwan Perera (4-61).
Root's struggle against left-arm spin, meanwhile, compounded England's crisis after the captain, dismissed twice by Rangana Herath in his farewell test in Galle, fell for 14 to Pushpakumara (3-89).
Rory Burns made 43 before being caught in the slips as England lost four wickets before the lunch break.
Buttler then counter-attacked, hitting Akila Dananjaya, who has been reported for a suspect bowling action but is free to play, for three successive boundaries en route to a run-a-ball 50.
Buttler moved quickly to 63 before a fluffed reverse sweep against Pushpakumara led to his dismissal.
Ben Foakes was unable to match his Galle heroics and was caught behind for 19, bizarrely failing to review the decision as replays showed he had not touched the ball with bat or glove.
Curran then lit up the final session with his binge-hitting, bringing up his third test fifty with his fifth six.
The left-hander dominated his 60-run partnership for the final wicket - the only 50-plus stand in the England innings - with James Anderson before being the last man out.
Sri Lanka made two changes with Herath retiring and regular skipper Dinesh Chandimal ruled out with a groin injury.
Pushpakumara and Roshen Silva were brought in as the hosts battle to stay alive in the three-Test series.
Commentary (England innings)
How vital will Roshen Silva's knock prove? The wicket is doing a lot and now Sri Lanka will hope their bowlers can step up. Also, they need to bundle England out quickly as they will be batting 4th on a wicket which will be expected to crumble even more. England on the other hand, will want one of their batsman to score a big one and the others to play around him. Anything around 250 can be a competitive score. The match is poised nicely and Day 3 promises to be an exciting day of cricket. Do join us for it at 1000 local (0430 GMT). Till then, take care and goodbye.
Once again it was the English spinners who were amongst the wickets. Leach was the most impressive as he finished with a three fer. Adil Rashid and Moeen Ali finished with 5 amongst them. But they will be disappointed in letting Sri Lanka off the hook. They bowled extremely well to the top order but struggled to finish the innings off.
England then managed to take wickets at regular intervals and had Sri Lanka struggling. However, an excellent fightback from the lower-order with Roshen Silva being the hero, helped Sri Lanka take the lead.
England have managed to enter Day 3 without losing a wicket but it is Sri Lanka who will be the happier side walking off. However, they day did not start in the best of fashions for them as they lost the nightwatchman early. Karunaratne and Dhananjaya did score fifties and steady the ship with a 96-run stand but a run out changed the game.
0.6 D Perera to Leach, Not the last ball Perera would have wanted to bowl! He lands it outside off, it turns away further. Leach makes a leave. That is STUMPS ON DAY 2. 0/0
0.5 D Perera to Leach, On middle, Leach watchfully blocks it out. 0/0
0.4 D Perera to Leach, The batsman has defended it by getting right behind the line of the delivery. 0/0
0.3 D Perera to Leach, Tossed up delivery on middle, Leach defends it off the front foot and onto the ground. 0/0
0.2 D Perera to Leach, Flighted delivery on middle, the batsman defends it from within the crease. 0/0
0.1 D Perera to Leach, Starts off with a fuller delivery on middle, Leach defends it off the back foot and onto the ground. 0/0
Live TV