Watch: England Pacer Woakes Forced To Bowl Spin, Joe Root Can't Keep Calm

In a bizarre incident that took place during the Day 2 of the third Test between England and Sri Lanka in London, pacer Chris Woakes was spotted bowling spin. Woakes, who remains one of England’s finest pacers, had no option but to turn into a spin bowler because of bad light at the stadium. It all happened after the run out of Sri Lanka batter Dimuth Karunaratne. With dark clouds looming, the umpires were forced to check the light levels, before informing England skipper Ben Stokes that the light was too low for pace bowling.

Woakes, who had already delivered 4 balls in the over, resorted to bowling spin to complete his quota of 6 balls. Seeing Woakes roll his arm, England batter Joe Root, who is also a fine part-time spinner, couldn’t stop laughing. Here’s the video:

STOP WHAT YOU’RE DOING!

Bad light means Chris Woakes is bowling spin pic.twitter.com/TPYSnwXiEN

— England Cricket (@englandcricket) September 7, 2024

Fellow England pacer Gus Atkinson, who was partnering Woakes in the pace attack, however, didn’t have to bowl spin as the umpires found out that the light levels had improved during the change of over.

As for the match, Sri Lanka captain Dhananjaya de Silva and the in-form Kamindu Mendis frustrated England with a unbroken century partnership on the second day of the third Test at the Oval. 

The tourists collapsed to 93-5 before tea, but had recovered to 211-5 when bad light forced an early close. That left Sri Lanka 114 runs adrift of an England first-innings total of 325 built on Ollie Pope’s 154 — his first century as England captain. 

De Silva was 64 not out and left-handed batsman Kamindu Mendis, again down the order at number seven, 54 not out in an undefeated stand of 118 as Sri Lanka looked to salvage some pride at 2-0 behind in a three-match series.

With AFP Inputs