[Watch] Olly Stone's brilliant direct hit catches Dimuth Karunaratne short on Day 2 of ENG vs SL 2024 3rd Test

England pacer Olly Stone affected a brilliant direct hit to run Dimuth Karunaratne out on Day 2 of the third Test against Sri Lanka at The Oval. With Pathum Nissanka calling, the veteran opener was heading to the danger end and had to walk back to the pavilion on Saturday, September 7.

The incident occurred in the seventh over of the innings as Nissanka pushed one to short cover and both batters ran off. However, Karunaratne failed to beat Stone's throw as the right-arm pacer wheeled away in celebration.

The Sri Lankan batters had made a promising start in response to England's total of 325. The opening partnership of Karunaratne and Pathum Nissanka amounted to 34.

England collapsed to 325 from 221-3 before Dimuth Karunaratne's suicidal run

The home side held the upper hand at the end of Day 1, getting to 221/3 in 44.1 overs on the back of captain Ollie Pope's century. Although England started the day promisingly, the batters arguably played a bit too many attacking shots, leading to their downfall.

Pope emerged as the top-scorer with 154, while Ben Duckett had chipped in with 86 on day one. Milan Rathnayake was the pick of the bowlers for Sri Lanka with figures of 13.1-3-56-3. Vishwa Fernando, Lahiru Kumara, and Dhananjaya de Silva chipped in with two scalps each.

Asitha Fernando snared a solitary scalp as the tourists managed to make a good comeback after conceding runs at an economy of 5 on day one. While Sri Lanka have lost the series, a consolation win at The Oval would do them a world of good. Coach Sanath Jayasuriya's interim tenure is also set to end after this series.

For England, a 3-0 series victory will cap off a perfect summer as far as their red-ball cricket is concerned. They had already beaten the West Indies in the preceding series by the same margin.