“To bat long and simple was the message.” – Dhananjaya de Silva after a loss at Lord’s by 190 runs

At the venerable Lord’s, Sri Lanka lost the second Test against England by a humbling 190 runs. The visitors struggled at bat in the second innings, but they could only muster 292 runs after being bowled out for 196 in the first. This resulted in a crushing defeat. Despite a half-century each from Dinesh Chandimal and skipper Dhananjaya de Silva in the second innings, Sri Lanka never appeared to have a chance to pursue the 483 runs.

The skipper said after the loss that they had two days to chase the enormous score and that the players had to bat simply and long, but they didn’t do so. While players surrounding opener Dimuth Karunaratne struggled to get going, he amassed a half-century, and at one point in the second innings, Sri Lanka was 60/3. Afterwards, Gus Atkinson, who amassed a century in the opening session, was unbeatable. He claimed five more wickets at Lord’s and ensured victory for England.

“We batted for two days. To bat long and easy was the advice. They constantly put us under strain when they bat, and even though we had some control, it wasn’t good enough to win an English Test match.

In the post-match presentation, Dhananjaya de Silva stated, “I could have batted first, but our top order was struggling.

We wanted to see what the pitch is going to do and bat next, but it didn’t work at all. However, Kamindu Mendis’ form is a huge plus for England going forward in this Test series. Impressing the skipper, the 25-year-old scored 74 runs in the opening innings of the second match after hitting a century in the first Test. To defeat England in red-ball cricket on their home ground, he is adamant that the team as a whole must advance in all three areas.

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“Kamindu has performed exceptionally well in all save the final inning here. Batting at number seven, he’s racking up runs extremely quickly. To defeat this elite team in England, we must perform better. In all three areas, we need to improve,” Dhananjaya continued.