England endured a frustrating end to Day 2 of the third Test against Sri Lanka at The Oval, with bad light forcing them to rely on spin bowling in the final session. The day's play, which began with England resuming at 221/3, saw the hosts bowled out for 325. Despite reducing Sri Lanka to 93/5, an unbroken 118-run stand between Dhananjaya de Silva and Kamindu Mendis allowed Sri Lanka to finish the day at 211/5, trailing by 114 runs.

Olly Stone, one of England's standout bowlers with figures of 2/28, expressed his disappointment about the situation, particularly after England's seamers had been effective earlier. "They’re the rules, aren’t they? You can’t change those," Stone said, referring to the bad light rules. "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."

Stone added that while the ball was still visible, the decision was out of their hands. "Everyone could see the ball, I guess. As a team we want to be out there for as long as we can, but unfortunately, we couldn’t bowl seam. There’s a point where it may become dangerous, and you don’t want to see anyone get hurt,” he added.

Chris Woakes was even forced to bowl off-spin midway through his over after the umpires ruled that the light wasn't suitable for pace bowling. This decision, though within the rules, further slowed England’s momentum, allowing Sri Lanka to rebuild after a precarious situation. Dhananjaya and Mendis both scored vital half-centuries, putting Sri Lanka back in the game.

In the morning session, England’s batters faltered, collapsing from 261/3 to 325 all out. Despite the aggressive approach taken by the English batters, several wickets were lost to risky shots. Stone acknowledged this, saying, "We always say about taking the positive option and on a different day we miss the fielders, it goes to the boundary, and the score creeps up."