DURHAM — Potent England pace bowling after an unbeaten 155 from Moeen Ali put Alastair Cook's side in complete control on a one-sided second day of the second Test against Sri Lanka in Durham Saturday.
The tourists faced almost an certain follow-on after they slumped to 91 for eight at the close, still 407 behind England which had posted an imposing 498 for nine declared.
Sri Lanka's batsmen had no answer to an attack which moved the ball off the seam to provide a conveyor-belt of catches for keeper Jonny Bairstow, who took four, and England's close fielders.
Chris Woakes, who recently took nine wickets in an innings for Warwickshire, led the way in helpful conditions with a particularly unsettling spell to take 3-9, including the wickets of Kusal Mendis and Milinda Siriwadana in one over.
Stuart Broad also took three wickets, two coming late on as Sri Lanka's resistance broke.
England's bowlers could not have had a better platform to launch their attack than Moeen's 207-ball innings, which was his best in Tests and his second century against Sri Lanka.
At times watchful and then belligerent, Moeen became only the fifth England No. 7 to reach three figures in tests after being promoted one place in the order to cover for the injured Ben Stokes.
The Worcestershire all-rounder moved on from his overnight 28 and made the most of the three lives the tourists gave him Saturday.
Support came from Woakes, who shared a stand of 92, and Steven Finn, who scored just 10 of their ninth-wicket stand of 72. His wicket provided spinner Rangana Herath with momentary cause for celebration as he became only the third Sri Lankan bowler to take 300 test wickets.
Moeen reached his 150 with a huge six before Cook declared midway through the second session.
For Sri Lanka to get anywhere near such an imposing total was a huge ask and James Anderson, who had taken 10 wickets in the first test, quickly removed opener Dimuth Karunaratne with a ripper that bowled him round his legs.
Broad followed up by having Kaushal Silva taken behind by Bairstow and the keeper took further catches to remove Dinesh Chandimal off Anderson and Angelo Mathews and Siriwadana off Woakes.
Broad broke Herath's late resistance via another sharp Anderson catch and removed Shaminda Eranga as England, who won the first Test in the three-Test series by an innings and 88 runs, stayed on course for another crushing win.
Lahiru Thirimanne (11) and Suranga Lakmal (0) were not out at the close. — Reuters
Scoreboard
England (1st innings)
A. Cook c Karunaratne b Lakmal 15
A. Hales c Mathews b Siriwardana 83
N. Compton c Lakmal b Pradeep 09
J. Root c Silva b Pradeep 80
J. Vince c Thirimanne b Siriwardana 35
J. Bairstow c Chandimal b Pradeep 48
M. Ali not out 155
C. Woakes c Mendis b Lakmal 39
S. Broad c Mendis b Pradeep 07
S. Finn c and b Herath 10
J. Anderson not out 08
Extras (b1, lb8) 9
Total (9 wkts dec.) 498
Falls: 1-39 (Cook), 2-64 (Compton), 3-160 (Hales), 4-219 (Root), 5-227 (Vince), 6-297 (Bairstow), 7-389 (Woakes), 8-400 (Broad), 9-472 (Finn).
Bowling: Eranga 27-3-100-0; Lakmal 29-4-115-2; Pradeep 33-5-107-4; Herath 29-1-116-1; Mathews 6-2-16-0; Siriwardana 8-0-35-2.
Sri Lanka (1st innings)
D. Karunaratne b Anderson 09
K. Silva c Bairstow b Broad 13
K. Mendis c Anderson b Woakes 35
D. Chandimal c Cook b Anderson 04
A. Mathews c Bairstow b Woakes 03
L. Thirimanne not out 12
M. Siriwardana c Bairstow b Woakes 00
R. Herath c Anderson b Broad 12
S. Eranga c Root b Broad 02
S. Lakmal not out 00
Extras (lb1) 01
Total (8 wkts, 40 overs) 91
To bat: N. Pradeep.
Falls: 1-10 (Karunaratne), 2-44 (Silva), 3-53 (Chandimal), 4-58 (Mathews), 5-67 (Mendis), 6-67 (Siriwardana), 7-88 (Herath), 8-90 (Eranga).
Bowling: Anderson 11-2-31-2; Broad 11-2-35-3; Woakes 7-4-9-3; Finn 7-3-15-0; Ali 4-4-0-0.
