It is a slightly odd assertion, given that it started with them losing their first three wickets for six runs and limping to the first lunch break at 80 for five, but for most of the opening two days of this game Sri Lanka played well. They fought back to post an acceptable first-innings score, and their efforts in the field on Thursday were enterprising and regularly rewarded. But until Angelo Mathews and Kamindu Mendis led a late fightback, they flirted dangerously with marking the day that Manchester launched its annual Pride festival by surrendering their own.
At least Mathews regained his. Having failed to score in his team’s first innings and then punctuated their efforts in the field with a succession of half-hearted ball chases – at 37 he is perhaps not at his most athletic – in their second, and with his side in dire need, he batted his side, if not anywhere near ascendancy, at least back into the game.
