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On Saturday, September 7, England fast bowler Chris Woakes was forced to bowl spin due to bad light at the Oval in London during the third and final Test of the series against Sri Lanka. When the on-field umpires brought out the light metre due to the gloomy weather at the Oval, the England cricket team knew that the play would continue only if they employed some spin into the attack, and since Chris Woakes was in the middle of his over, he had to bowl some spin to Kusal Mendis and Pathum Nissanka.
The moment happened in the sixth over from Chris Woakes during the Sri Lankan innings after Dimuth Karunaratne was run out for 9 off 16 with a direct hit from Ollie Stone. With two balls gone in the over of the England pacer, the umpires told captain Ollie Pope to bowl some spin, and then, Chris Woakes had to take it upon himself to give it a tweak like an off spinner.
Chris Woakes conceded six runs in four balls bowled as a spinner to Pathum Nissanka and Kusal Mendis
Chris Woakes conceded six runs in four balls bowled as a spinner, including a drag down which Pathum Nissanka smashed towards the leg side for an easy boundary. Shortly after, the weather in London brightened up a bit, which allowed Chris Woakes to bowl fast with a full run up before he picked up the key wicket of Kusal Mendis for 14 off 13, getting him nicked off to second slip where Harry Brook took a sharp catch.
Sri Lanka were well-placed at 86/2 in the 15th over before England picked up three wickets of Angelo Matthews, Pathum Nissanka, and Dinesh Chandimal in three overs, to put them firmly on the back foot. Pathum Nissanka smashed a half volley from debutant Josh Hull to Chris Woakes at the short cover region, to give the left-arm fast bowler his first wicket in Test cricket for England, but not after he had scored 64 off just 51 with nine fours in his innings.
Earlier, on day two of the third and final Test match, England were bundled out for 325 after their captain Ollie Pope scored 154 off just 156 with 19 fours and two maximums, his first Test hundred against Sri Lanka.
