"Village cricket stuff" - Fans react to England's batting collapse in 3rd Test against Sri Lanka
England suffered a batting collapse in their first innings of the ongoing third Test against Sri Lanka at Kennington Oval in London. The Sri Lankan bowlers dominated the proceedings in the morning session on Day 2 (Saturday, September 7).
After being asked to bat first, England finished at 221/3 at stumps on the rain-affected opening day. Stand-in skipper Ollie Pope shone with the bat, notching up his seventh Test century.
The right-handed batter scored 154 off 156. Ben Duckett also chipped in with an 86-run knock at the top of the order. However, England's middle-order batters failed to make a significant impact. The hosts were bundled out for 325, losing their last six wickets for just 35 runs.
Milan Priyanath Rathnayake claimed three wickets while Vishwa Fernando, Lahiru Kumara, and Dhananjaya de Silva took two scalps apiece. Asitha Fernando also bagged a solitary wicket.
Following the innings, several fans took to social media, reacting to England's batting collapse. Here are some of the top reactions:
Some fans questioned England's approach with the bat, slamming them for not throwing their wickets away.
"Can't decide if England's batting approach is arrogance or stupidity. Throwing away wickets against a ridiculously weak bowling attack," commented a fan.
"Absolutely dim-witted batting from a lot of the England players there, I get the desire to move the game on, but it's day 2," wrote another.
"Very strange batting display by England this morning. Bat like that against better sides, and 325 won't be reached and won't be enough," chimed in yet another.
It is worth mentioning that the ongoing third and final Test of the series between England and Sri Lanka is a dead rubber. England have already pocked the series with their back-to-back wins in the first two fixtures.
"We’re all extremely happy for him" - Ben Duckett on England's stand-in captain Ollie Pope's century
England's opening batter Ben Duckett stated that the whole dressing room was very happy to see Ollie Pope silencing his critics with a crucial century in the ongoing third Test.
During a media interaction after stumps on Day 1, here's what Duckett said about Pope's batting exploits (via ESPNcricinfo):
"Everyone is so happy for anyone's success in this dressing room, it's an incredible place to be. There was a lot of noise around Ollie. There shouldn't be but there has been and I know what it’s like at the top of the order and he's had a far better summer than I have. To block that out and score an incredible 100 was so good, you could see that from his emotions. We’re all extremely happy for him."
Ollie Pope became the first batter in the 147-year history of Test cricket to hit each of his first seven tons against different opponents.