It was just past the day’s first half hour when the feeling hit, the recognition that a straightforward England victory was no longer in the piece. The early morning wickets had not come, no damage done with the Dukes replacement Chris Woakes had giddily swung the previous evening. The seventh-wicket Sri Lanka stand was no longer consolatory but instead imposing, the two batters striking with party-pooping intent.
The over was bowled by Gus Atkinson. The ball leapt from the Brian Statham End, the intention to cut Kamindu Mendis in half. Instead came the leaping late dab behind point, both feet off the ground – one for the cameras – for three. Then came the fuller delivery, not overpitched, but driven through cover for four. The bouncer followed, pulled behind square for another boundary, two men perfectly bisected. This was Mendis’s fourth Test and Atkinson’s too, the England seamer having made this whole thing look so easy against the West Indies, 22 wickets quickly devoured. For once, someone else was finding it even easier.
A new character was being introduced. Mendis made his international debut in a T20 against Eoin Morgan’s side six years ago, but his story has played out away from any English attention, Sri Lanka having barely toured here since 2016. Until March, he had been an in-and-out presence in Sri Lanka teams in all formats, still most renowned internationally for his ability to bowl spin with both arms.
The gimmick has yet to return a wicket from 16 T20Is, two coming from his nine one-dayers. But the batting works, the red ball a friendlier face. Playing his second Test this year, against Bangladesh in Sylhet, Mendis hit centuries in both innings. An unbeaten 92 followed in Chattogram, the average beyond Bradman.
But those numbers mean little when you’re out there on the third evening, your side still trailing and four men down, another getting his hand sorted after a Mark Wood examination. The quick is gunning for your shoulders, knees and toes, too. But alongside Angelo Mathews, Mendis got through the early trouble. He got through the ball change. He got through an entire morning with the recovered Dinesh Chandimal, helped by an injury to Wood’s right thigh.
Then he got through to a third Test century, a fist in the air to celebrate but not much else. Just like Jamie Smith’s lack of emotion on Friday, this was a man wanting more.
Mendis had to settle for 113, England a target of 205. For the rest of us, a game and a shift of narrative. The culture of English cricket, beholden to the Ashes, means this summer has been talked about in developmental terms – reflected in Jimmy Anderson having to make way because of a series in a year and a half – not as a contest between two teams. Three comfortable wins over West Indies did not help in changing the story, with the impressive arrivals of Smith and Atkinson discussed in the media alongside how they will fare in Australia.
When Sri Lanka were six for three on the opening day, worries washed over of another one-sided Test in the making, jeopardy remaining absent for at least another week. But as Prabath Jayasuriya leapt low to his left three days later to dismiss Harry Brook and end a growing partnership with Joe Root, tension swirled its way around the boundary and across the seats, plenty left vacant despite it being the weekend.
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The pressure was real, orchestrated by Mendis with the bat and then carried on by Jayasuriya’s left-arm twirl from over the wicket. They were also aided by the economy of Asitha Fernando and Milan Rathnayake. Brook’s innings was one of the slowest of his Test career, his strike-rate below 50.
The threat will carry itself forward to Lord’s and the Oval, even if there are obvious limitations to the visiting bowling attack. Their batting lineup, even with mixed results, possesses 72 Test hundreds compared with England’s 48, with Mathews, Chandimal and Mendis all centurions in this country.
Sri Lanka provided England with a significant scare in Manchester. Now to turn it into something substantial in London.