WATCH: Prabath Jayasuriya bamboozles Brook with unplayable jaffa

On Day 2 of the ongoing Old Trafford Test, the commentators were talking about the lack of spin on the hard Manchester surface and then Prabath Jayasuriya, moments later, ripped one past Harry Brook in probably the ball of this English summer. 

Brook’s reaction of astoundment wasn’t a case of the batter overestimating the juice in the delivery but quite justified. 

Only six overs ago, the commentators were praising Jamie Smith for skipping down the track and lofting Jayasuriya straight for the first six of the innings. They mentioned the absence of turn citing different reasons. Firstly, the Test match had seen very little sun and the morning session on Day 2 was washed out. Secondly, Manchester has one of the hardest squares in England, something like The Oval. The spikes don’t scratch the surface, leaving no rough at all for the spinners to work with. 

Hence Jayasuriya wasn’t a problem for Brook and Smith, having added 62 runs for the fifth wicket. He had bowled one maiden in 10 overs while conceding 41 runs before starting the 40th over of the innings. 

Jayasuriya, without any change in his action, lured Brook to hit into the on-side, pitching on the shorter side of the good length. As Brook looked to work the ball through the on-side, Jayasuriya left him squared up, turning it sharply past the outside edge to hit the top of the off stump. It was a classic left-arm spinner’s dismissal. 

“Oh, he’s finally turned one,” exclaimed Michael Atherton on air. Brook looked like he had seen a ghost, reminding you of Virat Kohli’s dismissal against Adil Rashid in an ODI in 2018. 

Brook scored an impressive 56 and the broadcasters must have shown that dismissal 57 times, from every possible angle. A stump cam angle from the non-striker’s end was followed by the camera panning to the England dressing room. Brook was looking at the laptop screen with video analyst, and given his expressions, one could safely presume that he was looking at his dismissal, still trying to find out where it came from. 

Jayasuriya also broke the sixth-wicket partnership between Smith and Chris Woakes. The pair had added 52 runs, putting England into the lead. In Jayasuriya’s 20th over, Nasser Hussain mentioned that the left-arm spinner had turned only that one ball. 

Next delivery, he spun one past Woakes’ bat, this time hitting the middle and off stump.

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