Leach, Moeen spin England to series win over Sri Lanka

PALLEKELE, Sri Lanka (Reuters) - Off-spinner Moeen Ali struck twice in three deliveries as England completed a 57-run victory in the second test against Sri Lanka on the final day on Sunday to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series.

Left-arm spinner Jack Leach, who had taken four wickets on Saturday, picked up the final Sri Lanka scalp to complete a maiden five-wicket haul in his third test with the hosts all out for 243.

Sri Lanka resumed on 226 for seven, needing 75 for victory, and kept the England spinners at bay for 15 minutes before Moeen dismissed Niroshan Dickwella, who was caught at slip by Ben Stokes for 35.

The off-spinner then sent back Sri Lanka’s stand-in captain Suranga Lakmal for a duck two deliveries later. Moeen finished with 4-72 while Leach had figures of 5-83.

Malinda Pushpakumara spooned a catch straight back to Leach as England completed their first away series win in tests since beating South Africa at the beginning of 2016.

It was also England’s first series win in Asia since the 2012 triumph in India and their first in Sri Lanka since 2001.

“It was a brilliant test match. We were very good for the whole game. At times we were under pressure and we responded really well to that,” England captain Joe Root said at the post-match presentation. “(I) couldn’t be more proud of the guys.”

Root was named player of the match for his brilliant 124 in the second innings that helped his team post a daunting target to chase.

Sri Lanka batted well in both innings but Sam Curran’s stylish 64 in the first innings and Root’s astounding knock under pressure in the second made the difference for England.

“Sri Lanka played brilliantly in both innings. At times we lost clusters of wickets but we stayed very calm and managed to find ways to get back in the game and get the control back in our favour,” Root added.

“We said we are going to come out here and play bold cricket, we were quite courageous at times and everyone’s really bought into that. We are seeing the rewards now.

“We have to keep looking to improve. We have seen this team grow in the last six-eight months. We are not the finished article, we want to get to number one at some point.

“We have to be consistent to do that, in all parts of the world and on different surfaces.”

With the Pallekele pitch assisting the slow bowlers, spinners completely dominated the match, taking 38 wickets.

Lakmal was the only seamer to pick up a wicket while the other was a run out.

It was also the first time since 1973 in Karachi that no seamer took a wicket in a test for England.

The third and final test of the series will start on Friday in Colombo.

England  1st innings

 Rory Burns       c Dhananjaya de Silva b Akila Dananjaya               43

 Keaton Jennings  c Niroshan Dickwella b Suranga Lakmal                  1

 Ben Stokes       lbw Dilruwan Perera                                   19

 Joe Root         b Malinda Pushpakumara                                14

 Jos Buttler      c Dimuth Karunaratne b Malinda Pushpakumara           63

 Moeen Ali        lbw Malinda Pushpakumara                              10

 Ben Foakes       c Dhananjaya de Silva b Dilruwan Perera               19

 Sam Curran       c Dimuth Karunaratne b Dilruwan Perera                64

 Adil Rashid      lbw Dilruwan Perera                                   31

 Jack Leach       b Akila Dananjaya                                      7

 James Anderson   Not Out                                                7

 Extras           4b 3lb 0nb 5pen 0w                                    12

 Total            (75.4 overs)                                 290 all out

Fall of Wickets : 1-7 Jennings, 2-44 Stokes, 3-65 Root, 4-89 Burns, 5-134 Ali, 6-165 Foakes, 7-171 Buttler, 8-216 Rashid, 9-225 Leach, 10-285 Curran

 Bowling                 Ov  Md  Rn  Wk  Econ  Ex

 Suranga Lakmal          12   1  44   1  3.67

 Dilruwan Perera       24.4   5  61   4  2.47

 Malinda Pushpakumara    23   4  89   3  3.87

 Dhananjaya de Silva      2   0   4   0  2.00

 Akila Dananjaya         14   1  80   2  5.71

 Sri Lanka  1st innings

 Dimuth Karunaratne    Run Out Ben Stokes                   63

 Kaushal Silva         b Jack Leach                          6

 Malinda Pushpakumara  c Rory Burns b Moeen Ali              4

 Dhananjaya de Silva   c Ben Foakes b Adil Rashid           59

 Kusal Mendis          c Ben Stokes b Jack Leach             1

 Angelo Mathews        c Ben Foakes b Adil Rashid           20

 Roshen Silva          c Moeen Ali b Adil Rashid            85

 Niroshan Dickwella    lbw Joe Root                         25

 Dilruwan Perera       lbw Jack Leach                       15

 Akila Dananjaya       lbw Moeen Ali                        31

 Suranga Lakmal        Not Out                              15

 Extras                6b 6lb 0nb 0pen 0w                   12

 Total                 (103.0 overs)               336 all out

Fall of Wickets : 1-22 Silva, 2-31 Pushpakumara, 3-127 Karunaratne, 4-136 Mendis, 5-146 de Silva, 6-165 Mathews, 7-211 Dickwella, 8-252 Perera, 9-308 Perera, 10-336 Silva

 Bowling         Ov  Md  Rn  Wk  Econ  Ex

 James Anderson  14   2  40   0  2.86

 Sam Curran       4   0  19   0  4.75

 Jack Leach      29   5  70   3  2.41

 Moeen Ali       25   1  85   2  3.40

 Adil Rashid     22   2  75   3  3.41

 Joe Root         8   0  26   1  3.25

 Ben Stokes       1   0   9   0  9.00

England  2nd innings

 Jack Leach       lbw Dilruwan Perera                                1

 Rory Burns       lbw Malinda Pushpakumara                          59

 Keaton Jennings  c Dhananjaya de Silva b Akila Dananjaya           26

 Joe Root         lbw Akila Dananjaya                              124

 Ben Stokes       lbw Dilruwan Perera                                0

 Jos Buttler      b Akila Dananjaya                                 34

 Moeen Ali        lbw Akila Dananjaya                               10

 Ben Foakes       Not Out                                           65

 Sam Curran       b Akila Dananjaya                                  0

 Adil Rashid      lbw Akila Dananjaya                                2

 James Anderson   b Dilruwan Perera                                 12

 Extras           4b 9lb 0nb 0pen 0w                                13

 Total            (80.4 overs)                             346 all out

Fall of Wickets : 1-4 Leach, 2-77 Jennings, 3-108 Burns, 4-109 Stokes, 5-183 Buttler, 6-219 Ali, 7-301 Root, 8-301 Curran, 9-305 Rashid, 10-346 Anderson

 Bowling                 Ov  Md   Rn  Wk  Econ  Ex

 Dilruwan Perera       20.4   2   96   3  4.65

 Malinda Pushpakumara    27   1  101   1  3.74

 Akila Dananjaya         25   0  115   6  4.60

 Dhananjaya de Silva      4   0    7   0  1.75

 Suranga Lakmal           4   0   14   0  3.50

 Sri Lanka  2nd innings

 Dimuth Karunaratne    c Ben Foakes b Adil Rashid               57

 Kaushal Silva         st Ben Foakes b Jack Leach                4

 Dhananjaya de Silva   c Keaton Jennings b Jack Leach            1

 Kusal Mendis          lbw Jack Leach                            1

 Angelo Mathews        lbw Moeen Ali                            88

 Roshen Silva          c Joe Root b Moeen Ali                   37

 Niroshan Dickwella    c Ben Stokes b Moeen Ali                 35

 Dilruwan Perera       lbw Jack Leach                            2

 Akila Dananjaya       Not Out                                   8

 Suranga Lakmal        b Moeen Ali                               0

 Malinda Pushpakumara  c&b Jack Leach                            1

 Extras                5b 4lb 0nb 0pen 0w                        9

 Total                 (74.0 overs)                    243 all out

Fall of Wickets : 1-14 Silva, 2-16 de Silva, 3-26 Mendis, 4-103 Karunaratne, 5-176 Silva, 6-221 Mathews, 7-226 Perera, 8-240 Dickwella, 9-240 Lakmal, 10-243 Pushpakumara

 Bowling         Ov  Md  Rn  Wk  Econ  Ex

 James Anderson   5   2  12   0  2.40

 Jack Leach      28   2  83   5  2.96

 Moeen Ali       19   2  72   4  3.79

 Adil Rashid     17   1  52   1  3.06

 Joe Root         5   0  15   0  3.00