Buttler and Curran revive England on turning track
Joe Root won the toss and elected to bat, but the visitors were dealt an early blow when Keaton Jennings, who starred in Galle with his second Test hundred, edged behind for 1 off the bowling of Suranga Lakmal.
Ben Stokes’ promotion to three in England’s batting line-up did not amount to much, as he was trapped on his crease by the wily off-spin of Dilruwan Perera. Root followed soon after, bowled through the gate by Malinda Pushpakumara. Buttler arrived at the crease intent on upping the ante, employing the sweep and reverse sweep to good effect.
He struggled to find support from elsewhere with Rory Burns the only other frontline batsman to go past 20. The Surrey opener survived for 81 balls, battling to 43 before edging to slip from an Akila Dananjaya delivery. Buttler negated the threat provided by Sri Lanka’s spinners on a turning wicket with aggression, hitting seven boundaries during his 67-ball stay at the crease.
After Buttler departed, Sam Curran took responsibility for England’s innings, helping his side get to tea with the score 212/7, ably supported by Adil Rashid. Rashid departed after the break for 31, and Jack Leach followed soon after, falling to a sharply turning off-break from Dananjaya.
With James Anderson in support, Curran decided to launch some hefty blows on the Sri Lankan bowling attack, frustrating them with some stunning drives down the ground. The young all-rounder decided to take the aerial route, hitting six sixes, with one of those shots taking him to his third Test half-century. Each of those innings has seen him reach the fifty landmark with a six.
Curran eventually departed after he holed out to Dimuth Karunaratne at long-off from the bowling of Perera. Perera was the pick of the Sri Lankan bowlers, finishing with 4/61.
Karunaratne and Kaushal Silva began the Sri Lankan innings against the pace of Anderson and Curran, but the spin of Jack Leach and Moeen Ali entered the attack quickly.
Leach had Silva bowled, rattling the top of off stump with a magical delivery which turned past the outside edge. Pushpakumara joined Karunaratne at the crease, as they took Sri Lanka to stumps without losing any more wickets.