An exciting test match between England and Sri Lanka ends up in a draw - England and Sri Lanka played their first test match of the two test match series at Lords cricket ground. The match saw some great moments. There were moments at time when the result of the match swinged in favor of one team but the other fought hard to bring the swinging ship towards them. Till the last bowl of the game a result seemed eminent but a well fought game ended up in a draw. It was nothing less than one of the most exciting test match one could have witnessed.
On winning the toss the visitors decided to field first looking to take advantage of the weather conditions. The Sri Lankan bowler made merry as England was sent to back foot in the first session of Day 1. Losing wickets at quick succession gave Sri Lanka the upper hand in the game. At lunch England lost 3 wickets at a score of 98. The post lunch session didn’t start off well for the home team as well as they lost the 4th wicket too as Ian Bell after scoring 56 runs lost his wicket to Shaminda Eranga. The Sri Lankans looked to be in a cruise mode when the Joe Root and debutant Moeen Ali steadied the ship. Later the home side ended the day scoring 344 runs losing the wicket of Moeen Ali in the process.
Day 2 saw some brilliant batting display by both the teams as Matt Prior and Joe Root continued to score runs. Root completed his double hundred and remained not out at 200. England managed to score 575 runs. Nuwan pradeep was the top wicket taker as he took 4 wickets for his team. Sri Lanka on the other hand displayed some great batting as they scored 140 runs at the end of Day 2 losing the only wicket of Dimuth Karunaratne who scores 38 runs for his team.
Day 3 saw Sri Lanka bat it out as Kumar Sangakkara and Angelo Mathews both completed their centuries to take their team past the score of 400. Mahela Jayawardene scored yet another half century for his team. Sri Lanka ended the day at 415 losing 7 wickets in total and 6 in a day. the visitors were bowled out at a score of 453 in day 4. James Anderson and Chris Jordan were the two bowlers who took 3 wickets each.
In the second innings of the game England went out of sorts as they lost wickets consistently. It seemed that the home team will not be able to build on the lead as they lost half their team at a score of 102. But it was Gary Ballance this time that saved his side with a brilliant century. England scored 267 in their second innings setting a target of 390 runs. Rangana Herath was the top wicket taker for his team as he took 4 wickets in the innings.
Day 5 again saw a swing of fortunes as Sangakkara and Kushal Silva gave their team a great start and the visitors looked on course to chase the target. But as the team reached a score of 123 lost their second wicket in form of Silva, the team fell off the course and started losing wickets. Anderson and Struart Broad made merry on the track as they took 7 wickets in the innings. Last over’s first bowl saw Broad taking the ninth wicket of visitors. Five balls were left and England needed one wicket to win. But the exciting match ended up in a draw. Joe Root was named the man of the match for this exciting match as the series is on a level after the 1st match.