Sri Lanka Senses Victory at the End of Day 3 in the Oval Test

At the close of the third day in the Oval Test, Sri Lanka is getting a whiff of victory against England. The Sri Lankans are just 125 runs away from the desired win. On day four, they will resume batting with nine wickets in hand and will need to score 125 more runs to secure their first victory against England in 10 years.

Sri Lanka started day three at 211 for 5. Early on, Dhananjaya de Silva was dismissed, breaking his 127-run partnership with Kamindu Mendis. Soon after adding just 13 more runs to the scoreboard, Kamindu Mendis was also dismissed after scoring 64 runs off 91 balls.

No other batsman managed to stay at the crease for long after that. Adding just 52 runs, Sri Lanka was bowled out for 263 in their first innings, trailing England by 62 runs.

In England's second innings, they faced an early blow as opener Ben Duckett was dismissed for 7 runs. Captain Ollie Pope followed with the same score, and Dan Lawrence was out for 35. England kept losing wickets rapidly under pressure from Sri Lankan pacers.

At one point, England had lost 7 wickets for just 82 runs. Jamie Smith tried to anchor the innings but was eventually dismissed for 67. England was all out for 156 in their second innings, with all 10 wickets falling to Sri Lankan pacers.

Sri Lanka was set a target of 219 runs to win. Although Dimuth Karunaratne was dismissed early for 8, Pathum Nissanka and Kusal Mendis remained unbeaten as the day ended. At the close of play on day three, Sri Lanka had scored 94 for 1. They need 125 more runs to win, with Nissanka unbeaten on 53 and Kusal Mendis on 30.