Sri Lanka steady in record chase of 362 Visitor finishes day four on 32 without loss #SLvsENG, 

Dimuth Karunaratne and Kaushal Silva battled through 12 tricky overs without being separated as Sri Lanka, set a target of 362 by England, finished day four of the third and final Test at Lord’s on Sunday (June 12) at 32 without loss.

England had begun the rain-hit penultimate day of the series on 109 for 4 and declared its second innings closed at 233 for 7, Alex Hales making a Test-best 94 before being dismissed. The host holds an unbeatable 2-0 lead in the series, and Sri Lanka will need to make 330 runs or bat out the final day if it is to deny England a clean sweep.

Alastair Cook, the England captain, declared his side’s second innings in the final session, hoping to fire out at least one Sri Lankan wicket by stumps. However, Karunaratne and Silva held firm against pace and the offspin of Moeen Ali alike, bedding down to fight another day.

If Sri Lanka chases down the target, it will set a new record for the most runs scored in the fourth innings to win a Test at Lord’s. The record was set by West Indies when it made 344 for 1, requiring 342, against England in 1984, with Gordon Greenidge (214 not out) and Larry Gomes (92 not out) making light of a seemingly difficult chase.

Hales again fell agonisingly short of a maiden Test hundred. This series had seen Hales come close to a century with scores of 86 and 83 in the first two Tests at Leeds and Chester-le-Street respectively. The opener got closer at Lord’s before he was lbw to Angelo Mathews, the Sri Lankan captain, shortly before tea.

Hales had moved on to 45 from his overnight score of 41, when Sunday’s third ball saw him survive a confident lbw appeal from Shaminda Eranga. Later, Eranga succeeded in having Steven Finn, the nightwatchman, lbw for seven.

Finn’s exit brought in Cook, who had been unable to open alongside Hales on Saturday after suffering a knee injury while fielding. Nuwan Pradeep, who had taken three wickets on Saturday, knocked over Hales’ offstump with a ball that kept low when the batsman was on 58, but it was called a no-ball.

Hales drove Rangana Herath, the left-arm spinner, for six over long-on and swept him for four off the next ball. Another swept four off Herath saw Hales into the 90s. But he was squared up and hit in front of his stumps by Mathews six runs shy of a hundred. Hales reviewed the lbw verdict, but the DRS ‘umpire’s call’ ruling, which showed the ball clipping legstump, had him trudging back to the pavilion.

Hales, playing his seventh Test, faced 179 balls in an innings that consisted of 10 fours and a six. He put on 82 for the sixth wicket with Cook. Eranga and Pradeep picked up three wickets each for Sri Lanka.