Gus Atkinson strode through to a magnificent maiden Test century, to land a clean sweep of Lord’s honours-board entries in only his fifth England appearance, as Sri Lanka’s toiling attack endured another of their off-colour sessions to surrender the initiative in the second Test.
By the time Asitha Fernando had wrapped up a personally gutsy display with his own honours-board entry of 5 for 102, England had converted a promising overnight position of 358 for 7 into a dominant 427 all out, leaving Sri Lanka’s openers a tricky 45 minutes of batting before lunch.
The day’s first hour was all about Atkinson, who displayed no nerves whatsoever as he converted his overnight 74 to a mighty 118 from 115 balls. It was his maiden first-class hundred, and the first by a designated England No.8 or lower since Stuart Broad’s 169 on this same ground against Pakistan in 2010.
As had also been the case on the second morning of the Old Trafford Test, Sri Lanka’s intensity was visibly lacking with the contest seemingly on the line, and Atkinson cashed in from the get-go in an eventful opening over. Armed with a ball that was only eight overs old, Lahiru Kumara served up a leg-sided long-hop that Atkinson flicked for a first-ball four, then overcompensated to be drilled through the covers next ball.
Kumara did then strike the pads and extract an lbw verdict from umpire Paul Reiffel, but the collective groan of the Lord’s crowd quickly turned to cheers as Atkinson’s review showed the ball to be missing leg. He was then offered up another leg-side freebie, tucked through fine leg off Milan Rathnayake, then powered into the 90s with a rifled pull through midwicket as Kumara dropped short again.
As had been the case on his debut at this same ground against West Indies in July, when Atkinson had earned himself a total of three honours-board entries with five-fors in each innings and 12 in the match, the stand-out feature of his performance was his cool head. Nothing could fluster him as he kept trusting his eye and his technique, and after reaching 99 with another ice-cool drive off Kumara, he duly landed the sixth-fastest century in a Lord’s Test, from just 103 balls, with a firm push through long-off.
His disbelieving smile as he saluted all four corners of the ground was the only slight hint that this was not an ordinary day out for Atkinson. Matthew Potts, who had played a key role in an 85-run stand for the eighth wicket, fell soon afterwards as Asitha was belatedly called into the attack to strike with a third-ball outswinger, but with Olly Stone quickly settling into his first Test innings since 2021, England marched past 400 to stamp their authority on the match.
Sri Lanka soon reverted to a short-ball tactic, which initially suited Atkinson fine as he thrashed two more fours behind square off Asitha. But, in his attempt to dump the same bowler into the Grandstand, he finally came a cropper, courtesy of a wonderfully timed leap from Rathnayake at deep midwicket, who dived towards the rope – feet in the air – to cling on over his shoulder and end a mighty innings.
Asitha, Sri Lanka’s stand-out bowler of the series, then landed a deserved moment of personal glory, as Stone swung through another short ball to pick out deep fine leg. It made him the first Sri Lanka bowler to claim five wickets at Lord’s since Rumesh Ratnayake in 1991.
