2nd Test: Gus Atkinson Stars As England Seal Series vs Sri Lanka
Gus Atkinson continued his Lord's love affair by taking five wickets as England thrashed Sri Lanka by 190 runs in the second Test on Sunday to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in a three-match series. Sri Lanka, set what would have been a new Test record fourth-innings winning total of 483, were dismissed for 292 after tea on the fourth day despite fifties from Dinesh Chandimal (58), Dimuth Karunaratne (55) and captain Dhananjaya de Silva (50). Fast bowler Atkinson, who scored his maiden first-class hundred in England's first-innings 427, led the attack with 5-62. Player-of-the-match Atkinson secured a fifth mention on the dressing room honours boards in just his second Test at Lord's after taking 12 wickets on England debut against the West Indies in July. (
He also became just the third England cricketer after Tony Greig and Ian Botham to score a century and take five wickets in an innings of the same Test.
Atkinson followed India's Vinoo Mankad (against England in 1952) and Botham (against Pakistan in 1978) as the only men to have achieved that double at Lord's.
The 26-year-old Surrey paceman's latest impressive return helped England seal a seventh successive win over Sri Lanka following their five-wicket success in last week's first Test at Old Trafford.
"To get on both honours boards is incredible," Atkinson told Sky Sports. "It will take a while to sink in."
This game was also a personal triumph for Joe Root.
For the first time in 145 matches at this level, Root made hundreds in both innings -- 143 and 103 -- to set a new record of 34 Test centuries by an England batsman.
Sri Lanka have little time to regroup before the third Test at The Oval starts on Friday.
De Silva admitted he had erred in opting to field on a