LEEDS: Australia-born opener Sam Robson was on the verge of his maiden Test hundred as England closed in on Sri Lanka´s first innings total in the second Test at Headingley on Saturday.
England were 211 for two in reply to Sri Lanka´s first innings 257, a deficit of 46 runs, at tea on the second day.
Robson was 98 not out, having put on 142 with Gary Ballance (74) for the second wicket after England captain Alastair Cook had been dismissed early in the day´s play.
Ian Bell, in his 100th Test, was eight not out. Robson was left two runs shy of a coveted century when, to the last ball before tea, he played defensively to Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews.
England resumed Saturday on 36 without loss after bowling out Sri Lanka on Friday, with Yorkshire fast bowler Liam Plunkett taking Test-best figures of five for 64 and Stuart Broad the second hat-trick of his Test career.
Cook was 14 not out, having survived an appeal for a catch by Kumar Sangakkara in the slips on five when replays were inconclusive. But there was no doubt when Cook, who had added just three runs to his overnight score, felt uncertainly for the ball outside off stump and edged Dhammika Prasad to Sangakkara at first slip. That meant in 23 innings since compiling the last of his England record 25 Test hundreds at Headingley last year, Cook had scored 585 runs at a modest average of 25.43.
England were now 49 for one. But Robson, 21 not out overnight, confidently off-drove Shaminda Eranga for four in what was an important innings after his England debut at Lord´s yielded scores of just one and 19.
Meanwhile left-hander Ballance, on his Yorkshire home ground and fresh from his maiden Test hundred at Lord´s, uppercut seamer Nuwan Pradeep and swept spinner Rangana Herath for well-struck fours.
Robson´s edged boundary off Pradeep saw him to fifty in 102 balls including eight fours. At lunch, England were 106 for one with Robson 55 not out and Ballance 30 not out. Ballance had added just one to his lunch score when rapped on the pad by left-arm spinner Herath.
New Zealand umpire Billy Bowden upheld Sri Lanka´s lbw appeal but England challenged and, with tracking technology indicating the ball would have turned past leg stump, Zimbabwe-born Ballance survived. And, to the delight of the crowd, Ballance went on to complete a 116-ball fifty with his seventh four, a cut off Pradeep.Robson, increasingly confident, went down the pitch to Herath and lofted the bowler high back over his head for a boundary.
Ballance had another reprieve when on 61, he was dropped at short leg off the inside edge by Kaushal Silva, with Herath again the luckless bowler.
Robson, on 78, also had a moment of good fortune when hit on the pad by paceman Prasad. But Sri Lanka, thinking he´d jammed down with his bat didn´t appeal although replays indicated the ball would have hit the bottom of middle stump.
Mathews brought himself on, with England 183 for one off 65 overs. And the all-rounder´s ninth ball did the trick, Ballance edging a good-length delivery to wicketkeeper Dinesh Chandimal, recalled after Prasanna Jayawardene broke a finger at Lord´s. (AFP)
