England Pacer Mark Wood Ruled Out Of Remaining Tests vs Sri Lanka, To Be Replaced By...

Uncapped English fast bowler Josh Hull will replace Mark Wood in the remaining two Test matches of the series against Sri Lanka after the 34-year-old suffered a right thigh muscle strain while bowling in the second innings of the Manchester Test, according to the ICC. Hull is a left-arm seamer, who recently featured in the England Lions fixture against Sri Lanka, and picked up five wickets at an average of 14.8. Wood had an exceptional start to his spell in the second inning, getting the wicket of Dimuth Karunaratne off his first ball, but pulled out of his run-up in the 56th over, and left the field.

He didn't bowl again in the game, which England eventually won by five wickets.

Recapping the first match of the series, SL won the toss and opted to bat first. Struggling at 113/7, it was knocks from skipper Dhananjaya de Silva (74 in 84 balls, with eight fours) and Milan Rathnayake (72 in 135 balls, with six fours and two sixes) that pushed SL to 236/10.

Chris Woakes (3/32) and Shoaib Bashir (3/55) were the top bowlers for England.

Despite a poor start and a tricky score of 67/3, fine performances from middle-order batters Joe Root (42 in 57 balls with four boundaries), Harry Brook (56 in 73 balls with four boundaries), and centurion Jamie Smith (111 in 148 balls, with eight fours and a six) helped England attain a lead of 122 runs as they were bundled out for 358 runs.

Ashitha Fernando (4/103) and Prabhat Jayasuriya (3/85) delivered fine spells for Sri Lanka.

In their second innings, SL once again found themselves in a troublesome position, with the score reading 95/4. However, veterans Angelo Matthews (65 in 145 balls, with two fours and a six), and Dinesh Chandimal (79 in 119 balls, with seven fours) formed a 78-run