London: Olly Stone, a right-arm seamer, has been selected to replace the injured Mark Wood in the England squad for the forthcoming match against Sri Lanka in the second of a two-match series, scheduled to commence at Lord's on August 29.
England has announced its playing lineup for the second match of the series against Sri Lanka. The team has made a single substitution, with Stone stepping in for Wood.
Despite facing numerous career setbacks due to injuries, Stone has managed to play only three Tests. However, he has consistently been a vital contributor to the England team during his brief appearances. This summer, Stone has appeared in 28 matches across various formats for Nottinghamshire and London Spirit, marking his second-highest number of appearances in a single season, following a period where he missed the majority of the previous season due to a hamstring injury.
England's Test playing lineup for the match at Lord's: Ben Duckett, Dan Lawrence, Ollie Pope (captain), Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jamie Smith (wicket-keeper), Chris Woakes, Gus Atkinson, Matthew Potts, Olly Stone, Shoaib Bashir.
Earlier this month, on August 25, the uncapped English fast bowler Josh Hull was called up to replace Wood in the last two Test matches of the series against Sri Lanka. Hull took over after the 34-year-old was sidelined due to a right thigh muscle strain suffered while bowling in the second innings of the Manchester Test, as reported by the International Cricket Council (ICC).
Reflecting on the first match of the series, Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to bat. Despite a challenging start at 113/7, it was the innings contributions from skipper Dhananjaya de Silva (74 runs from 84 balls, including four fours) and Milan Rathnayake (72 runs from 135 balls, including six fours and two sixes) that saw Sri Lanka reach a total of 236/10.
England's top bowlers for the match were Chris Woakes (3 wickets for 32 runs) and Shoaib Bashir (3 wickets for 55 runs).
Despite a difficult start and a challenging score of 67/3, a strong performance from the middle-order batsmen Joe Root (42 runs from 57 balls, including four boundaries), Harry Brook (56 runs from 73 balls, including four boundaries), and Jamie Smith (111 runs from 148 balls, including eight fours and a six) helped England secure a lead of 122 runs as they were all out for 358 runs.
Ashitha Fernando (4 wickets for 103 runs) and Prabhat Jayasuriya (3 wickets for 85 runs) delivered impressive performances for Sri Lanka.
In their second innings, Sri Lanka once again found themselves in a challenging position, with the score at 95/4. Nevertheless, veteran players Angelo Matthews (65 runs from 145 balls, including two fours and a six) and Dinesh Chandimal (79 runs from 119 balls, with seven fours) established a partnership of 78 runs, contributing to Sri Lanka's pursuit of a lead. Subsequently, maintaining his exceptional performance, Kamindu Mendis achieved his second Test century in five innings, scoring 113 runs from 183 balls, including 15 fours and a six. Sri Lanka amassed a total of 326 runs, securing a commendable lead of 204 runs.
In terms of bowling, England's leading wicket-taker, Woakes, and Matthew Potts, each took three wickets. In response, England faced a challenging situation at 70/3. Nonetheless, Root's serene and collected half-century (62 runs from 128 balls, including two fours) and solid efforts from Brook (32 runs from 68 balls, including three fours) and Smith (39 runs from 48 balls, including four boundaries and a six) propelled England to a victory by five wickets.
England emerged with a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.
