Sri Lanka vs. England 2nd Test: Roshen Silva frustrates Joe Root’s side

Sri Lanka vs. England second Test, day two

• England first innings: 290
• Sri Lanka first innings: 336
• England second innings: 0-0 (1.0 overs)
• Sri Lanka lead by 46 runs

Sri Lanka have built a 46-run lead over England in the second Test thanks to Roshen Silva’s 85 on day two in Kandy.

Resuming their first innings on 26-1, opener Dimuth Karunaratne (63) and No.4 Dhananjaya de Silva (59) batted well for Sri Lanka but they found themselves at 165-6 after lunch.

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Coming in at No.7 Roshen “inspired a lower-order fightback”, says Sky Sports, as the home side recorded an all-out score of 336. Roshen’s “resolute” knock helped Sri Lanka score 171 runs for the final four wickets, the BBC reports.

The lead would have been even more had Roshen not been given a five-run penalty for a deliberate short run. The extra five runs were added to England’s first-innings total, bringing it up to 290 from 285.

After Sri Lanka were dismissed there was time for one over at the end of the day which nightwatchman Jack Leach batted out. Joe Root’s England side closed the second day on 0-0.

Going into tomorrow’s third day England will need to be aggressive, says former captain Michael Vaughan. Speaking on The Cricket Social, Vaughan said: “They will look at the likes of Sam Curran and Jos Buttler’s innings but I hope they take a leaf out of Curran’s book, who was disciplined early in his knock.

“If they come out and play their shots, they could lose two or three wickets quite quickly. There is nothing about the Sri Lanka spinners which should worry England too much - they don’t have a Muttiah Muralitharan or Shane Warne - but the tourists do have a collapse in them.

“They should have it within them to bat a decent number of overs and then it’s over to Sri Lanka. But if England find themselves 100-5, as they often do, I don’t think they’ll get out of that when you consider the 46-run lead.”

Day three TV and radio schedule

Tomorrow’s third day in the second Test in Kandy starts at 4.30am (UK time). Sky Sports Cricket’s live TV coverage starts at 4.15am while talkSPORT 2’s radio coverage begins at 4am.