Sri Lanka’s joy was obvious when James Anderson fended the penultimate ball of the match from Shaminda Eranga to Rangana Herath at leg gully, to provide the bowler with his only wicket in the innings.
The visitors have never before won a Test series in England and few saw this
one coming.
In fact, they have only ever won four series abroad, this one, two against
Zimbabwe and one against New Zealand – and this is the first without Muttiah
Muralitharan.Neither the side nor their captain, Angelo Mathews, looked confident going in
to the final over.Anderson, who batted for 53 balls to save a Test against Australia at Cardiff
five years ago (he managed 55 here, the second-longest scoreless innings in
history), had been at the crease with Moeen for 80 minutes, and had looked as solid as a No 11 can.Bouncing a batsman out is a high-risk strategy for any bowler, but Eranga finally achieved the perfect throat ball with his fifth delivery.Why Anderson tried to ride the bounce rather than duck will remain with him and England supporters for a long time, and he was highly emotional when interviewed in the post-match presentations.“We got quite close and obviously we’re gutted. They’ve been quite tough pitches and we’ve tried our hearts out this series,” he said, before dissolving into tears.
history), had been at the crease with Moeen for 80 minutes, and had looked as solid as a No 11 can.Bouncing a batsman out is a high-risk strategy for any bowler, but Eranga finally achieved the perfect throat ball with his fifth delivery.Why Anderson tried to ride the bounce rather than duck will remain with him and England supporters for a long time, and he was highly emotional when interviewed in the post-match presentations.“We got quite close and obviously we’re gutted. They’ve been quite tough pitches and we’ve tried our hearts out this series,” he said, before dissolving into tears.
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