Brook leads England charge with handy fifty to cut Sri Lanka’s lead

MANCHESTER, England :England went into tea at 176-4 on the second day of the opening test against Sri Lanka on the back of Harry Brook’s half-century to trail by 60 runs after Thursday’s first session had been washed out due to rain.
After posting 236 in the first innings on Wednesday, Sri Lanka could not use their fast bowlers at the end of day one due to bad light as England scored 22 runs off spin in four overs.
But after an early lunch due to the wet outfield on Thursday, the tourists took full advantage of the cloudy conditions in Manchester to pick up three wickets in the first hour that put England on the backfoot.
Asitha Fernando opened the bowling on day two and trapped Ben Duckett leg-before in his second over with an inswinging delivery, with the opener walking back after Sri Lanka successfully reviewed.
He then broke through stand-in skipper Ollie Pope’s defence to hit the top of off stump while his left-arm fast bowling counterpart Vishwa Fernando had Dan Lawrence – opening in place of the injured Zak Crawley – caught behind for 30.
Joe Root and Brook steadied the ship with a 58-run stand but Asitha struck again when he had Root fishing outside off stump, nicking the ball to wicketkeeper Dinesh Chandimal who smartly scooped it into his gloves before it fell short.
Brook, however, had the measure of Sri Lanka’s bowling and scored at a healthy strike rate that has characterised England’s ‘Bazball’ approach in home tests as he remained unbeaten on 53.
The 25-year-old smashed four boundaries while Jamie Smith (22 not out) also danced down the track to smash Prabath Jayasuriya into the stands over the long on boundary.
The pair notched up England’s second fifty-run partnership (51) before the players walked off for tea.