(ESPNCRICINFO) – GUS Atkinson’s magnificent maiden Test century set the tone for another dominant England performance at Lord’s.
By the end of a second day that had begun with England sitting pretty on 358 for 7 in their first innings, Ben Duckett and Ollie Pope were back out there in their second, nudging the lead along to an already imposing 256. Pope, in need of a score after 13 runs in his first three innings as captain, endured a handful of jitters but endured to the close unscathed, after Dan Lawrence had been given out on review for 7, England’s only truly duff note of the day.

In between whiles, Sri Lanka were bowled out for 196 in 55.3 overs, a first-innings deficit of 231, having relied once more on the indomitable skills of Kamindu Mendis to haul them out of a familiar top-order tail-spin.
By the time he was last man out for a punchy 74 from 120 balls, Kamindu had rescued his side from a nadir of 118 for 7 – and briefly lifted his remarkable Test average back above 100 – with his sixth fifty-plus score in only eight Test innings. However, none of his colleagues could manage more than Dinesh Chandimal’s 23 and, with more than three days remaining on a pitch that is already showing signs of turn, England never gave the follow-on any serious consideration.

While it lasted though, Kamindu’s latest onslaught was proof of the spirit that still courses through this Sri Lanka team, even in the midst of another desperate display. On his watch, a previously dominant England attack were given the run-around by an innings containing eight fours and three sixes, one which flew through the window of the MCC Committee Room, and another which left a spectator by the pavilion steps needing treatment for a painful, but thankfully non-serious, blow to the head.

Until his intervention, Sri Lanka’s performance had been every bit as off-colour as their dreadful display on the third day of the first Test at Old Trafford. Then, as now, their foothold in the contest came loose during a muddled morning with the ball, with Atkinson the prime beneficiary as he converted his overnight 74 not out into a sublime 103-ball hundred. It was the first of his professional career, and the first by a designated England No.8 or lower since Stuart Broad’s 169 on this same ground against Pakistan in 2010.