Adil Rashid said being part of a three-man spin attack is bringing the best out of him after returning career-best figures of 5-49 on day two of the third Test against Sri Lanka in Colombo.
The hosts appeared to be cruising towards a first-innings lead when Dimuth Karunaratne (83) and Dhananjaya de Silva (73) put on a second-wicket stand of 142, but England’s leg-spinner inspired a collapse which saw nine wickets fall for 67 runs in the space of 18.2 overs.
Rashid combined superbly with Keaton Jennings, who produced another sensational display at short-leg to claim four catches, as Sri Lanka crumbled from 173-1 to 240 all out to give England a lead of 96, which they extended to 99 with the loss of no second-innings wickets before bad light brought an early halt to play.
“Maybe there’ve been periods when I felt I’ve bowled better but today it felt good and to get the wickets in that session, with Stokesy at the other end, was a nice feeling. He is a matchwinner, he proved that again for the team, running in, bending his back.
“I think we’ve got to look to be positive tomorrow, like we have the whole series,” added Rashid. “We will take the scoreboard out of it and see where it takes us session by session, hour by hour. We’re not looking at a target, just play your game and see where it takes us.”
