England were left frustrated at the end of Day 2 of the third Test against Sri Lanka at The Oval, as they had to bowl spin in the final session, as Sri Lanka were able to stage a fightback. England’s pacers, led by Olly Stone, left Sri Lanka struggling to 93/5 in the second session, with the hosts themselves being bundled out for 325 after starting the day at 221/3. An unbeaten 118-run partnership between Kamindu Mendis and Dhananjaya de Silva ensued, with both batters scoring fifties, as Sri Lanka went into Stumps at 211/5 as well.

“They’re the rules, aren’t they? You can’t change those,” Stone said at the end of the day’s play, after England bowled 17 overs of spin in a curtailed third session. “It’s taken out of our hands. We’d have obviously loved to have bowled seam there. It’s just one of those things that’s frustrating but has to be done.”

The laws regarding the light and weather state: “it is solely for the umpires together to decide whether either conditions of ground, weather or light or exceptional circumstances mean that it would be dangerous or unreasonable for play to take place. Conditions shall not be regarded as either dangerous or unreasonable merely because they are not ideal.”

However, Olly Stone thought that the ball was visible but the team had to respect the umpires’ decision as well. Meanwhile, there was even a moment when Chris Woakes was forced to bowl spin midway into his over after the on-field umpires said the light wasn’t good enough to carry on with pace as well.

“Everyone could see the ball, I guess. As a team we want to be out there for as long as we can and you have to go off what the umpires say, and unfortunately we couldn’t bowl seam. I guess there’s a point where it may become dangerous, and you don’t want to see anyone get hurt. We’ll keep providing the entertainment whether it be with seam or spin, and trying to take the game forward.” “It’s a tricky one where we wanted to stay out there and that was the option to do so,” Stone said.