England v Sri Lanka 2024 Test day four – as it happened

England have beaten Sri Lanka by five wickets in the first Test at Old Trafford.
Chasing a target of 205, Ollie Pope’s side made hard work of it to start with, being reduced to 70-3.
Joe Root (62 not out) and Jamie Smith (39) restored some order, however, as England reached the target with plenty to spare.
Here’s how the day’s action unfolded.
“Four down, two to go: England’s hunt for a clean sweep of wins in the Test summer remains alive, but this was a close-run thing. Sri Lanka (who were reeling at six for three half an hour into the match) gave them a terrific fight and it was telling that after the loss of three early wickets England went old-school in approach.”
Read Simon Wilde’s report here.
And there it is — the first win in the interim Pope era coming at 7.17pm — that turned out to be an absorbing Test match.
England win by five wickets with the winning runs coming from Joe Root launching down the ground. He made his 64th Test match half-century this evening. He really is very good, isn’t he?
Man of the match is Jamie Smith. His first-innings century showed his class and why England rate him so highly. He’s a quiet young man but boy is he talented.
There was a lot of fight from Sri Lanka during most of the match and some periods where England were really tested. The visitors showed some real mettle and kept on creating chances throughout with the ball.
At times in the second innings, England’s bowling looked a bit toothless without the injured Mark Wood and no Ben Stokes. Pope is probably realising that this captaincy lark isn’t always easy.Smith showed his class and Chris Woakes seems to be really flourishing in the post- James Anderson world.
All in all a very enjoyable Test match. Not much of a gap now before the next one at Lord’s starting on Thursday.
Thanks for your company over the last four days. Stand by for Simon Wilde’s report on the day’s action.
Oh dear. Smith was looking really very good and for all the world like he would see this home but he’s gone for 39, bowled. It’s gone past the edge onto off stump. Still 22 needed to win. Time for Chris Woakes, Birmingham’s finest, to help Root get England over the line. He’s off the mark with a single through the leg side.
I seem to be some sort of wicket curse. Just as I had pressed send on my last update saying they’re getting on with it, there’s a review for lbw against Root. It’s not given on the field but gosh that is close, it is hitting the stumps but he was too far down — the impact is over three metres so stays with the on-field decision. That was mighty close
We’re getting there now. Smith has turned it on and launched Jayasuriya for six.
There are no issues with the light, it’s brighter than at almost any point in the match.
And now Joe Root has hit his first boundary in the 96 balls he’s faced.
They’ll get this done in the next half an hour.
This is very unBazball — England still need 66 to win and Jamie Smith is 6 off 23.
Bazball 2.0 looks a lot like normal Test cricket.
Normally they say that chief executives want Tests to last five days but in this case, the Lancashire one definitely doesn’t. It will just cost them a load of money if everyone has to come back tomorrow.
Harry Brook is caught and bowled. It’s a low, sharp catch but it’s cleanly taken by Jayasuriya and Brook goes for 32 — that came a bit out of the blue.
Another 86 needed. Jamie Smith will have to do his thing here.
The Brook and Root partnership is pushing things along nicely now and the runs required is below 100. The big question now is how quickly they might get it done. We can play until 7.30pm if needs be — if the light holds.
Tea time and it’s been a lively session. Still a long way to go for England to win this match and Sri Lanka are creating chances. Joe Root survived an LBW review and England will be desperate for this Yorkshire duo to put on a big partnership and Jamie Smith is going to have to do a repeat of his first innings heroics. England require 123 to win – or Sri Lanka need seven wickets.
England are making a bit of a Horlicks of this as Dan Lawrence plays round a straight one from Milan Rathnayake and is hit on the pad. Given out on the field and it’s reviewed. It’s umpires call on height but he’s got to go. England are now 70 for 3.
Ollie Pope has gone for six having played what was not a very good shot. Two balls previously he’d tried to play the reverse paddle off a ball on leg stump line and missed it and was hit on the pad but it had actually hit him on the glove. This time he played it again and gets an edge to De Silva at slip.
It is actually very nice batting conditions now in Manchester and England have raced along to 48 for 1 after ten overs with just the loss of Ben Duckett, who edged to slips for 11.
They need another 157 and if they go along at four an over that will take around 40 overs.
Well well, what looked like a magnificent catch behind the sticks off Asitha Fernando to remove Ben Duckett turns out to be a drop and Duckett gets a reprive.
There’s some early movement here though. It won’t be an entirely straightforward chase but England have scored 11 off 2.1 so they aren’t hanging about.
● Read in full: How fisherman’s son Asitha Fernando became Sri Lanka’s unlikely seam star
Well bowled Woakesy (Nicest man in cricket). Vishwa Fernando is hit just on the knee roll and it is as given out on the field. He reviewed it (might as well) but he has gone without scoring. Asitha Fernando is the last man – and he’s very much not known for his willow wielding.
And that is that. It was the sub fielder Singh who takes the catch in the deep. It was a skier so he did well but Sri Lanka are all out for 326 meaning England need 205 to win. They have 64 overs left today to get them.
Strap in — the sun is out and this could be a fun run chase. Or England will collapse in a heap — one or the other. Either way, it could be worth watching.
A bit of lunch seems to have done the trick. Now Matthew Potts has got Chandimal with a full ball that was driven loosely straight to second slip.
But the lead is 200 even if they do get these last two cheaply – and we know that England often have an issue getting rid of the tailenders.
It is quite interesting watching the England dynamics under Pope — Brook and Duckett have stepped up and seem to be taking on advisory leadership roles.
Praise be. Gus Atkinson has broken the partnership getting the important wicket of Kamindu Mendis who edges low to Root at slip. Scrambled seam does the trick. But that was a fantastic innings — 113 from 183 balls but we’re into the tail now.
As much as Chris Woakes and Gus Atkinson have bowled very well this match, England feel a little toothless without Mark Wood and/or Ben Stokes.
And it is worth remembering that at the moment both Josh Tongue and Dillon Pennington are injured – if we’re thinking ahead to who England take to Pakistan.
They’ll probably take a squad of 16 to Pakistan they’ll probably take five seamers and three spinners.
A magnificent century by Kamindu Mendis — his third Test century comes from a slash behind point. That is a very important innings for his team. The lead is 169 and Sri Lanka are showing some mettle here making things tough for England. They’ve got the new ball but without Wood there isn’t much fear factor in the attack.
There are only two County Championship matches going on at the moment — the rest are all delayed by rain. At Durham, Nottinghamshire are following on and still trail by 246. At Scarborough, Yorkshire have the upper hand over fellow promotion contenders Sussex who are 66 for three in their second innings trailing by 71.
We have some revised timings.
Afternoon session: 13:55 – 16:25 Tea: 16:25 – 16:45 Evening session: 16:45 – 19:00
Zero overs lost.
That was a very brief shower. We start again at 12.55 and I don’t think we have lost any overs. Swift work by the ground staff. The chaps are going round the outfield with the rope which, I have to say, looks like a lovely non-stressful job.
Brief shower — covers are coming off now. But I suspect we’ll have an early lunch. It is a pretty sparse crowd here today and they’re currently sheltering on the concourse.
Well that’s the first hour gone and Sri Lanka have played very nicely. Dinesh Chandimal has fifty despite a very painful thumb after being hit by Mark Wood yesterday. His 27th Test fifty in 80 Tests.
This partnership with Kamindu Mendis is worth 74 and is starting to become a bit of an issue. The new ball is available in seven overs and I can’t imagine they won’t take it straight away. The lead is 142.
Simon Wilde says the wheels aren’t quite off yet for England but they’re a bit wobbly.
Before play, Angelo Matthews had some pretty strong words to say about the ball change that happened yesterday after 41 overs.
“It looked like they were running out of plans but unfortunately the ball was changed. We were told they didn’t have old enough. We were told they didn’t have enough old balls to replace it and it changed the entire momentum of the game.
“You work so hard to get rid of that shine, and we did that. Once the ball was changed, it was a whole different. I don’t know which year the balls were – you’ve got to have a set of rules where you determine how the ball is going to be changed . . . I really don’t know but it can be really disadvantageous for the batters.”
Decent start to the morning for the visitors, they’ve put on 25 in the first half an hour and the partnership is now worth 39 and very handy.
Pope has put four men on the off side and four men on the leg side and told the bowlers to bowl straight.
We will start on time here at Old Trafford. There is even a bit of blue sky above the ground – scenes!
We don’t know the extent of Wood’s injury but either way you suspect they’ll rest him for Lord’s which brings Olly Stone into the mix. He’s playing at Durham but only took one wicket in the first innings.
Simon Wilde writes: It is hard not to see everything that this England pace attack does through the prism of the Australia tour next year. It is not that the Test matches between now and then do not matter, because they are important in themselves and will provide their own stern tests, but since the retirements of Stuart Broad and James Anderson the line-up needs reconfiguring and the priority is to construct a group of quicks with the skills to win matches overseas.
It will require some delicate chemistry to find the best combination. Until that is achieved, each Test will feel like an audition and every injury scare — such as Mark Wood leaving the field late in the day in what seemed a largely precautionary move — carries extra significance.
That said, so far, so good for the new-ball pair of Gus Atkinson and Chris Woakes. It is worth remembering the principal reason for Anderson being ushered into the shadows, beyond the simple fact that he was 41 and Australia looked like a mission too far. He had lost his effectiveness with the new ball to such an extent that in 15 innings before his farewell appearance at Lord’s last month he captured only one wicket in all his opening spells combined.
● Read in full: Chris Woakes will be an Ashes certainty unless rivals step up
A big blow for England is that they’re going to be without pace bowler Mark Wood today. The 34-year-old sustained a right thigh muscle injury late on the third day and will not return to the field today. Wood will continue to be assessed by the England medical team to determine the full extent of the injury. Ouch.
Steve James writes: “You’ve never got enough,” was the oft-repeated mantra of Graham Gooch, and you could sense that something similar was ringing in Jamie Smith’s ears — they are both avid West Ham United fans after all — as Smith left the Emirates Old Trafford field to a standing ovation.
He had just made his maiden Test century, but he was gutted. He courteously acknowledged the crowd’s applause with a few waves of the bat, but his helmet remained on and there was the odd shake of the head.
Smith had made 95 in the third Test against West Indies at Edgbaston, so, having resumed this third day on 72, his first priority was obviously to achieve that coveted century milestone, but, once that had been ticked off, there was undoubtedly the opportunity to kick on and look to what Gooch so famously always called the “daddy” hundreds. That was why Smith was disappointed.
● Read in full: Smith’s calm century comes with shades of Pietersen
Mike Atherton writes: A maiden Test hundred is one of those moments that stays with a cricketer for ever. Having missed out by five runs at Edgbaston, in the final Test against West Indies, Jamie Smith was determined not to miss out again and his fine hundred, along with two new-ball wickets, formed the centre-piece of an opening session on the third day that swung the match firmly in England’s favour.
● Read in full: England sense victory as muddled, lethargic Sri Lanka lose their way