England close in on series whitewash with Sri Lanka reeling at 53/4

Sri Lanka’s pursuit of 337 runs to win the third Test match against England in Colombo took a hit as they were reduced to 53/4 at the end of the day’s play on Sunday.

They still require 274 more runs to avoid a whitewash on home soil.

The day nonetheless began with Sri Lanka getting rid of Keaton Jennings with the first ball of the innings and their innings looked to be under threat when they were reeling at 39/4.

But some bowling errors by Lakshan Sandakan, in the form of no-balls, ensured that the visitors, who already have pocketed the series, ended their innings on 230.

He crossed the line on two occasions when he had Ben Stokes caught on 22 and on 32. On both occasions, the all-rounder had to be called back from the pavilion.

But the England innings was given traction by a 64 from the bat of Jos Buttler as Dilruwan Perera, who took five wickets, reached the 100-wicket mark in Tests at home.

The Sri Lankans, in their pursuit of 327 didn’t get off to a good start with spinner Moeen Ali sending back both openers Danushka Gunathilaka and Dimuth Karunaratne with just 23 runs on the board.

Dhananjaya De Silva was dismissed by Jack Leach while Angelo Mathews’ nine-ball vigil was put to an end by Ben Stokes after Stuart Broad completed a good catch.