The Albany Gazette - Smith hits back after England collapse against Sri Lanka

England were in the dire position of 66-4 in their second innings on the third day when the wicketkeeper came in to bat on his Surrey home ground.

At tea they had recovered to 140-8 following Smith's third fifty in six Tests since the 24-year-old made his England debut in July.

That left England, already 2-0 up in this three-match series, with an overall lead of 202 and renewed hope of a first home Test clean sweep since 2004 after routing the West Indies 3-0 earlier in the season.

Smith, however, fell on the stroke of tea when he chipped Vishwa Fernando to short midwicket to end a superb 50-ball innings featuring 10 fours and a six that was a testament both to his game management and his superb yet orthodox stroke-play.

Left-arm quick Vishwa Fernando, gaining prodigious swing, also captured the prize wicket of Joe Root for just 12 in a return of 3-40.

Former England captains Michael Vaughan and Alastair Cook had criticised the hosts for sloppy batting while slumping from 221-3 to 325 all out in their first innings.

It is unlikely either of the old batsmen would have been impressed by opener Ben Duckett holing out for seven with a mistimed drive off Asitha Fernando.

Ollie Pope, fresh from 154 in England's first innings -- his first Test century since taking over as captain from the injured Ben Stokes -- also fell for seven by chopping on to Lahiru Kumara off what became the last ball before lunch. That left the hosts 35-2.

Dan Lawrence, a middle-order batsman by trade, had been promoted to open this series in place of the injured Zak Crawley.

But the 27-year-old had yet to get beyond a score in the 30s in four innings against Sri Lanka and it was a similar story on Sunday for all he lofted Asitha Fernando for six.

Lawrence, however, chanced his luck once too often when he charged at Kumara only to edge a drive to wicketkeeper Dinesh Chandimal for a run-a-ball 35.

England's 56-3 was soon transformed into 70-6.

- Root falls cheaply -

Root square-drove Vishwa Fernando for a four that saw him pass Sri Lanka great Kumar Sangakkara's tally of 12,400 Test runs and go into sixth place in the all-time list.

Two balls later, left-armer Fernando's excellent inswinging yorker struck Root on the boot and he was lbw.

Brook was also lbw to another fine inswinger from Vishwa Fernando.

Smith counter-attacked, scoring 20 runs in one over from fast bowler Milan Rathnayake that featured a flashing cut for four and crunching pull for six off successive deliveries.

Two balls later, Smith lofted Rathnayake down the ground for four. He ended the over by punching the paceman through the covers for another well-struck boundary.

Earlier, Olly Stone and 20-year-old debutant quick Josh Hull did the bulk of the damage as Sri Lanka, 211-5 overnight, lost their last five first-innings wickets for 52 runs in 16.2 overs.

The injury-plagued Stone took 3-35 in nine overs and towering left-armer Hull 3-53 in 11.

Sri Lanka captain Dhananjaya de Silva (69) and Kamindu Mendis (64) were unable to add significant runs to their stand after coming together on Saturday with the tourists in trouble at 95-3.

(Y.Harris--TAG)