England vs Sri Lanka, 2nd Test Day 4 Highlights: Gus Atkinson Stars As England Seal Series With Unassailable 2-0 Lead

Right then, that brings us to the end of this entertaining 2nd Test. England are 2-0 up and will go for the clean sweep while Sri Lanka will hope to end it on a good note. The final Test will begin on 6th September, Friday at 10 am GMT, but as you know, you can join us early for all the build-up to the game. Until then, cheers and goodbye!

Ollie Pope, the victorious skipper of England says that he is really happy for getting 2-0 up with some special performances and important contributions. He reckons that this week was a bit different than the last week as they lost wickets at regular intervals. He reckons that the inning from Joe Root helped them to get the humongous lead. He also mentions how the reviews were not being used properly by them. He is also thankful for getting the important contributions from Gus Atkinson and Matthew Potts with the bat as the 30-40 extra runs pushed the morale of the team. He also states that they knew that the pitch was getting worse but it was important to give the bowlers some rest as well. Ends up saying that Oval is their next destination, and they have also got a few Surrey boys in the dressing room that will help them.

Dhananjaya de Silva, the captain of Sri Lanka says that the plan was to keep things simple and bat long. Adds that England always put the pressure back on them and says they did pull things back, but it was not good enough. Says that they could have batted first, but their top order has struggled so he wanted to give them a breather. Mentions that Kamindu Mendis has been excellent since his debut which is a positive thing. Ends up saying that they need to be at their absolute best to get a win here in England and they will try to do that in the next game.

Gus Atkinson is the PLAYER OF THE MATCH for his brilliant ton and a five-wicket haul. He says that he is more than happy to get the honor of scoring a century and picking five wickets in the same match. He also says that batting alongside Joe Root was special for him. He says his dad will be proud of him. He tells that he enjoys bowling at this ground and ends up saying he felt great to attack without worrying about the runs.

Presentation Time...

This Test at Lord's belongs to Joe Root, who stole the show by becoming the leading run-scorer at the venue, reaching 2000 runs, and surpassing Sir Alastair Cook with his 34th Test century. Root notched twin Test tons for the first time in his career, setting a daunting 483-run target for Sri Lanka. Despite the lack of substantial support from his teammates and England's overall subpar batting efforts, Root’s brilliance has been the highlight. Sri Lanka's bowlers, particularly Asitha Fernando and Lahiru Kumara, tried hard but struggled without an experienced third seamer and couldn't contain England's aggressive approach. Though the Lankan bowlers improved in the second innings, exploiting short-ball tactics, the first-innings deficit of 231 proved costly. With Sri Lanka at 53/2, needing 430 more runs, the challenge was steep. Sri Lanka's hopes relied upon the experienced batters who needed to take it session by session going into Day 4. They did put up a fight, but they needed a lot more than that to save this game.

England continued their dominance on Day 2, with Gus Atkinson scoring his maiden Test century and helping push England's total past 400. Asitha Fernando was the standout bowler for Sri Lanka, taking a five-wicket haul. In response, Sri Lanka struggled against disciplined English bowling, losing wickets regularly and failing to form partnerships. Kamindu Mendis fought back with a resilient 74, but Sri Lanka was bowled out, conceding a 231-run lead. England decided not to enforce the follow-on, extending their lead to over 250 by stumps despite losing Dan Lawrence early. Sri Lanka now faced a significant challenge to preserve their decade-long unbeaten Test record against England at Lord's.

After being put into bat, England faced early challenges with batters struggling to convert their starts into significant scores. Despite this, the scoreboard kept ticking, largely thanks to Joe Root's brilliant form. Root stood out with a superb innings, reaching his 33rd Test century and scoring 143 runs, equaling Alastair Cook's record for the most centuries by an English batter in Tests. Sri Lanka started strong with the ball, with Lahiru Kumara and Asitha Fernando securing early breakthroughs, but they gradually lost their edge, allowing England to recover. Root's partnerships with Ben Duckett, Harry Brook, and Jamie Smith helped stabilize the innings, pushing England's total past 300. Gus Atkinson provided late support, scoring his maiden Test half-century, finishing unbeaten on 74. England ended the day in a strong position, with Matthew Potts adding a useful 20 runs towards the end.

Credit to England bowlers who stuck to the correct line and lengths and kept asking the right questions. Dhananjaya de Silva was proving to be a tough nut to crack, but the hosts took the second new ball right after Tea, and that helped them get rid of the Lankan skipper who became the third batter for the visitors to be dismissed in the 50s. After that, it was really about when and not if. Gus Atkinson finished with a nice five-wicket haul, while Olly Stone picked up a couple and Shoaib Bashir chipped in one. Chris Woakes got two and he was the one who wrapped things up in the end to seal the win.

Sri Lanka came into Day 4 with the daunting task of needing 430 runs with 8 wickets in hand. In the first session, the batters did show good determination especially, Dimuth Karunaratne who notched up a well-made half-century as well. However, they did lose Prabath Jayasuriya, the nightwatchman early, and just as when Angelo Mathews and the opener were building up a good partnership, the latter also was dismissed just before Lunch. The pitch was still quite good for batting, and that was visible as the middle-order batters stuck around for a while. However, eventually, Mathews lost his patience and threw his wicket away while Dinesh Chandimal too just after getting to his half-century was gobbled up at short leg.

Well, that's it then! The result was quite inevitable, but Sri Lanka made it difficult for the hosts and only delayed the outcome of this game. England takes an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series and also defeats the Lankans for the first time in over a decade at Lord's. It was a great team performance from the home side, but the spotlight will definitely be on Joe Root's masterclass in both innings while Gus Atkinson marks another memorable performance at Lord's with his maiden ton and a fantastic five-wicket haul as well.

OUT! IN THE AIR... AND TAKEN! Chris Woakes gets the job done for England! He comes 'round the wicket and bowls another slower one. Overpitches the delivery and on off. Lahiru Kumara looks to loft it over the mid on region but he loses his balance. He ends up miscuing it high in the air, Olly Stone excellently backtracks and pouches the skier safely into his hands. ENGLAND BEATS SRI LANKA BY A MARGIN OF 190 RUNS!

Slower now, fuller and on off. Lahiru Kumara does well to detect the slower and pushes it back to the bowler.

Fires in a bouncer, on middle. Lahiru Kumara looks to pull it away but misses on the outer edge.

FOUR! Lashed it away! On a length, just outside off. Lahiru Kumara opens his stance and slaps it against the pace towards the wide long off fence for a boundary.

Good-length delivery on middle and leg, shaping in. Asitha Fernando makes room and looks to slog but inner edges the delivery towards his leg side.

Back of a length, on off. Asitha Fernando guides it towards the right of the gully fielder. The fielder dives to his right and makes a stop.

Bangs in a short one, on off and middle, shaping it in. Asitha Fernando detects the bouncer and ducks under it.

Asitha Fernando is the last man in.

OUT! EDGED AND GONE! Gus Atkinson with another five-for at Lord's! He just loves bowling at this ground, and putting up some great numbers. This one is back of a length and just outside off, angles away, Milan Rathnayake once again goes for the big heave across the line, but this time only manages a nick behind the stumps where Jamie Smith takes a good catch. England are almost there now!