Sri Lanka openers cut England's lead to 196 in first Test

GALLE: Openers led a Sri Lanka fightback after captain Joe Root's fourth double test century gave England a lead of 286 runs in the first cricket test on Saturday.

Kusal Perera reached unbeaten 55 and Lahiru Thirimanne was not out on 34 as Sri Lanka reached 90-0 at tea on the third day.

The steady first wicket stand has cut England's lead to 196 on a wicket where spinners are getting appreciable turn and bounce.

The Sri Lankan left-handers defied Stuart Broad and the pace of Mark Wood before they dug in well against the spin duo of Dom Bess and Jack Leach to keep visitors at bay throughout the middle session.

Perera, who hit four boundaries and a six, reached his half century off 91 balls — his slowest test 50 — with a single when he flicked Wood to fine leg.

However, Perera needed a strapping on his right hand after he was struck hard while negotiating a short pitch delivery from Wood in the same over when he completed his seventh test half century in his 21st test.

Earlier, Root hit 18 fours and a six in his well-composed 228 off 321 balls before England was bowled out for 421 just before lunch.

Sri Lanka was rattled for 135 in its first innings on the first day inside the first two sessions after its stand-in captain Dinesh Chandimal won the toss and opted to bat.

Dilruwan Perera ended Root's long vigil, which began in the last session on the first day, when he had England's skipper caught at deep mid-wicket off an extravagant shot as the offspinner finished with 4-109.

Resuming on 320-4, Root continued to dominate spinners despite Sri Lanka hitting back with three wickets in 12 balls.

Fast bowler Asitha Fernando (2-44) had the overnight batsman Jos Buttler (30) caught behind and Sam Curran was clean bowled off the next ball before Dom Bess, who survived the hat-trick ball was run-out in a mix-up with Root.

But in between those quick wickets, Root raised his double hundred off 291 balls with a slog-swept boundary off Lasith Embuldeniya (3-176) and became the fourth visiting player to score a double century at the picturesque Galle International Stadium.

Chris Gayle (333) of the West Indies, India's Virender Sehwag (201 not out) and Musfiqur Rahim (200) of Bangladesh are the other batsmen to have achieved similar feats at Galle.

No.11 batsman Broad (11 not out) took back-to-back boundaries off Fernando before Root was the last man to be dismissed just at the stroke of first session.