England Bowling Coach Anxious, Joe Root in Splits as Bad Light Forces Chris Woakes to Bowl Spin: WATCH

The crowd at London Oval were left surprised when pacer Chris Woakes turned a spinner on the second day of the third Test against Sri Lanka. He had to cut down his speed, shorten his run-up and bowl spin as the visibility dropped during the game due to bad light.

Left with no other option than to bowl much slower, Woakes tried off-spin while his action resembled Joe Root. But change in style in the middle of a Test match wasn’t easy as Woakes struggled to find the rhythm. He kept on bowling half-trackers as England’s spin bowling coach Jeet Patel looked at Woakes anxiously whereas Root, who was stationed at first slip, couldn’t hold his laugh.

Once the light improved, Woakes was back to his usual business and didn’t take much time to provide England with a crucial breakthrough. He got the better of Kusal Medis, reducing Sri Lanka to 70 for 2 in 10.5 overs.

Sri Lanka were on 211 for five in reply to England’s first-innings total of 325 when bad light stopped play on the second day of the third test on Saturday at The Oval.

The floodlights were on all day in south London. As the afternoon progressed the light deteriorated, with England only allowed to use their spin bowlers, and fielders sometimes clearly struggling to judge the speed and direction of balls hit their way.

At the close of play, Sri Lanka’s Dhananjaya de Silva and Kamindu Mendis were on 64 and 54 respectively, having put on a classy century partnership to haul their side over the 200-run mark after the visitors gave up a flurry of early wickets.

With the exception of opener Pathum Nissanka (64), who became England debutant Josh Hull’s first international test wicket victim, the visitors’ top-order batters struggled to reach double figures.

Earlier, England had resumed on 221 for three. Captain Pope underpinned the innings with a huge knock of 154, but his teammates struggled as the side lost their last six wickets for just 64 runs to some much-improved Sri Lankan bowling.

(With Agency Inputs)