Key events
30th over: England 137-4 (Root 38, Smith 8) Just over ten minutes to lunch. As Nasser Hussain says on Sky, the pitch has behaved well this morning. It still looks awkward, a bit two-paced, but there has been no inconsistent bounce and very little movement.
29th over: England 134-4 (Root 36, Smith 7) “Ooooh, ouch, pick the bones out of that one, as my dear old mother used to say,” says Robert Wilson. “That Pope out was a worldie, a true, authenticated belter. But relax, it’s not a character flaw. It’s an extremely sharp-edged and luminous illustration of something Northern Irish people used to call ‘The Headstaggers’. That moment when solid, dependable citizens suddenly lose all grip on their civic rigour and wake up in the Ladies’ Toilets of a burger bar in Bogota or a Latvian correctional facility.
“The headstaggers is an empathetic term, suggesting a necessary, or at least inevitable, escape valve for a life too rigidly lived. Not so much irresponsible as diagnosable, magistrates and bishops alike smile indulgently upon it. Clemency is automatic and envy not infrequent. It’s been decades since I’ve seen such a lovely pure form of the headstaggers. The way Pope’s sporting IQ fell off that silly cliff was classic, inspiring. Deserves some kind of medal. I hope it really cleared his tubes for him.”
28th over: England 128-4 (Root 36, Smith 1) England lead by 359.
WICKET! England 127-4 (Brook c Madushka b Jayasuriya 37)
Two strikes and out for Harry Brook. He pulls a short ball from Jayasuriya to deep midwicket, where Madushka backpedals to take a good catch. That was very similar to the chance he dropped earlier.
Brook is annoyed and punches his bat as he walks off. It’s another unconverted start, but England are pushing for a declaration so he shouldn’t be too hard on himself.
27th over: England 126-3 (Root 45, Brook 37) Avisha’s spell of rough stuff is over. He’s replaced by Kumara, whose first ball is driven handsomely over extra cover by the rare talent that is Harold Cherrington Brook. That’s 72 unforced errors 37 from just 34 balls for Brook.
26th over: England 120-3 (Root 35, Brook 31) England are on the charge. Root runs down the track to drive Jayasuriya for two boundaries in three balls, one either side of mid-on. After a slow start to the day, England have hit 40 in the last five overs.
25th over: England 110-3 (Root 25, Brook 31) Avisha is no-balled for sending down a third delivery above shoulder height. The extra delivery, pitched up for once, is driven blisteringly through mid-off for four by Brook. He is so watchable.
24th over: England 104-3 (Root 24, Brook 27) Good over from Jayasuriya, two from it.
23rd over: England 102-3 (Root 23, Brook 26) Brook makes room to flat bat Avisha through point for four. That’s basically the shot Pope was trying to play. It’s the start of a productive over for England: three singles, an overthrow and a deft steer for three from Brook. He has raced to 26 from 18 balls.
22nd over: England 91-3 (Root 20, Brook 18) Brook is dropped! He slog-swept Jayasuriya miles in the air towards deep midwicket, where the backpedalling Madushka fumbled a two-handed catch above his head. That should have been taken.
Brook applies sodium to the wound by nailing the same shot for six off the next ball.
21st over: England 80-3 (Root 19, Brook 8) Another over of short stuff from Avisha. It’s a legitimate tactic, and England used it for for about three hours against Australia last summer, but it’s not exactly a pulse-quickener. Two from the over.
“New Zealand trundler Richard Collinge in a candidate,” says Steve Laville. “Ran in like Linford Christie, bowled the ball like Agatha Christie. John Arlott once unkindly suggested that if he simply carried on running, he would arrive alongside the batsman before the ball. Had an endearing talent for taking the wicket of Geoff Boycott though…”
20th over: England 78-3 (Root 18, Brook 7) Root has to scramble to make his ground after being sent back by Brook, who then runs down to meet Jayasuriya on the full and drive a classy first boundary through extra cover. I don’t think he plans on booking in for bed and breakfast.
“All run up and no trousers should really go to Madan Lal from India,” writes Krishnamoorthy V. “He had a funny delivery action too. Chandrasekhar probably bowled faster than Madan Lal. The title for lazy run up (bordering on reluctance) and bowling balls so slow that batsmen like Viv lost their concentration belongs to Mohinder Amarnath.”
19th over: England 72-3 (Root 17, Brook 2) It seems no modern Lord’s Test is complete without a spell of short stuff. Avisha continues to harass the middle of the pitch and is pulled for three singles. England lead by 303, which will please the Fatboy Slim fans out there.
“From the school of inefficient runups, I always had a soft spot for Jacob Oram,” says Rob Little. “Not a bad bowler, but given a) his long run up and b) his enormous frame (he was probably 6 foot 6?), the speed that the ball was delivered at always seemed a bit underwhelming…
“Also relatedly, have always found it funny how slowly Jason Holder bowls (again, an excellent bowler) because given his height you’d expect it to come out more Joel Garner than Mark Ealham…”
Dumb shot or dumb luck?
WICKET! England 69-3 (Pope c Jayasuriya b Avisha 17)
This is a strange and pretty ugly dismissal. Avisha goes around the wicket to bounce Pope, who swats the first ball straight to the man running round from deep backward point. He was the only deep fielder on the off side. Not sure I’ve ever seen a top-order batsman get out quite like that.
18th over: England 69-2 (Pope 17, Root 16) A full toss from Jayasuriya is swept easily through square leg for four by Root, who overtakes Pope despite facing around half as many balls. Pope could learn so much from Root, who makes a fast start in an almost every innings without ever looking frantic.
Pope laps nicely for three to move back ahead of Root.
“With commiserations to Ben Duckett, I really do enjoy a juggling slip catch, especially one involving multiple parties,” writes Brian Withington. “I was too young to see it, but I still recall reading Richie Benaud describing the touring Australian team taking a remarkable three-person catch that ‘deserved to be booked immediately as a variety act for the London Palladium’. I guess I was a bit of a cricket badger in my youth and thanks to my dad was always reading (auto)biographies of players of that post-war era like Benaud (The Way of Cricket, Tale of Two Tests) and Compton (In Sun and Shadow). There were many, many more.”
Do you remember which tour it was? I’d like to read up on that.
17th over: England 59-2 (Pope 13, Root 10) Asitha Fernando replaces Rathnayake and tempts Root into a loose drive that connects with nothing but fresh air. Root pushes a single off the final ball to keep the strike.
16th over: England 58-2 (Pope 13, Root 9) Time for spin, our friend Prabath Jayasuriya. Root drives a dipping full toss through the covers for the first of three singles in the over. He has 9 from 11 balls, Pope 13 from 35. It’s good to see Pope taking his time rather than trying to smack his way back into form.
“This is a 90s-England deep cut, but Peter Such’s run-up was too long for the speed he bowled, whereas Shane Warne would take three steps before delivering his leg spin,” writes Andy Flintoff. “Warne could probably have spun the ball just as efficiently standing still.”
15th over: England 55-2 (Pope 12, Root 7) That ball also ran away for four leg byes, which takes England’s lead to 286.
“I believe Alsager CC set a world record this summer when one of their bowlers delivered the ball following a run up of around 11km,” writes James Butler. “Sadly I don’t know what happened to the ball in question…whether the batter kindly patted it back (which would have been in the spirit of proceedings) or murdered it over long off for six.”
Pope is not out!
He pushed around a good delivery that came back to hit him in front of middle. It’s certainly straight enough – but the technology suggests it would have bounced over the top. That’s an excellent decision from Paul Reiffel; I was giving it out from miles away.
Sri Lanka review for LBW against Pope!
Pope accepts a freebie from Rathnayake, clipping his first boundary through square leg, and then there’s a huge LBW appeal! Paul Reiffel says no but Dhananjaya reviews with one second left. This looks seriously close.
14th over: England 47-2 (Pope 8, Root 7) Pope tries to pull Kumara, is too early on the shot and takes an unpleasant blow on the right elbow. He’s struggling a bit, though it’s more to do with rhythm than the F-word. He may also have lost feeling his elbow because Root seems to be encouraging him to get the physio out.
“Though few can compete with John Price, who would be starting behind the sponge these days (as would Peter Lever, but he was 10mph quicker), I’d nominate Martin Bicknell for distance vs pace,” says Gary Naylor. “At the Oval, he ran in from Michael Holding’s mark from 1976, but, instead of 90mph rockets, he bowled lovely little outswingers at medium-fast. Excellent bowler, but he wore out the shoe leather.”
13th over: England 45-2 (Pope 7, Root 6) Pope almost yorks himself by walking down the track to Rathnayake. In isolation this is a dicey little spell for England, but their lead is such that it doesn’t feel like there’s much jeopardy.
“Not a Test bowler but ‘Tall’ Paul Walter has a long run-up, all 6ft 7ins of him, yet he bowls in the high 70s,” says Guy Hornsby. “He’s got a great slower ball, though.”
12th over: England 45-2 (Pope 7, Root 6) Sri Lanka have been excellent so far – disciplined with the ball and full of intensity in the field. In fact they were too good a moment ago when a throw from the outfield hit the stumps and ricocheted for an overthrow.
Root stays on strike as a result and is pretty fortunate when an edge off Kumara flies bisects gully and slip before racing to the boundary.
11th over: England 38-2 (Pope 4, Root 2) I was just about to say that Madushka had given the wicketkeeping gloves back to Chandimal, which is why he was in the gully.
That will frustrate Duckett, who has had a few nothing scores since that mighty hundred in Rajkot: 4, 11, 15, 27, 2, 3, 71, 76, 3, 25*, 18, 11, 40, 24.
WICKET! England 36-2 (Duckett c Mathews b Rathnayake 24)
Gone! Duckett edges a flashing drive towards gully, where the diving Madushka fumbles a tough chance to his right. Happily for Sri Lanka the ball flies straight towards second slip, where Big Ange takes a smart reaction catch.
10th over: England 36-1 (Duckett 24, Pope 4) Duckett steals a second to fine leg, a good piece of running, and then forces Kumara square on the off side for three. Everything he does is so positive. Pope then plays his first good shot of the morning, a flashing cut for two runs. Would’ve been four but for a fine stop by Karunaratne.
“Watching Kumala trundle in from a Michael Holding length run-up,” begins Jon Salisbury, “I wonder which bowlers had the longest run up for the least return (John Price with his long curving approach?) and conversely shortest runup with lightning speed ( Bumrah, Wasim Akram etc).”
Has to be Bumrah for the latter, doesn’t it? I forget who it was but somebody said he’s the only cricketer who could bowl fast from almost a standing start. Any suggestions for bowlers who were all run-up and no trousers?
9th over: England 29-1 (Duckett 19, Pope 2) Milan Rathnayake is preferred to Avisha Fernando, a bit of a surprise given Avisha’s performance in this series to date. A wide ball is dabbed efficiently for two by Duckett, who keeps strike with a single off the last ball.
8th over: England 26-1 (Duckett 16, Pope 2) Pope survives a huge appeal for caught behind in the first over of the day. It was very similar to Dan Lawrence’s dismissal last night, with one key difference: Pope didn’t inside edge the ball onto the pad and through to the keeper.
I thought it was out in real time; so did the bowler Kumara, who celebrated first and appealed second. But Dhananjaya de Silva decided against a review and the replays showed it was a good decision.
TMS overseas link
Thanks to Wayne Trotman for doing the necessary.
Play is about to begin at Lord’s. It’s an overcast morning so this could be a decent time to bowl.
“Good morning,” writes John Starbuck. “Here’s hoping the match can be concluded by tomorrow, said he selfishly, as I have a hospital procedure on Monday afternoon. We all have different desires.”
We all wish you well John. (Well, I assume we all do.)
Simon Burnton on Gus Atkinson
It was impossible not to imagine a fretful evening, a night of interrupted, restless sleep, a tight fist of tension settling in his gut through the morning, swelling and clenching and twisting sadistically, and, after all that, it being something of a triumph simply to haul his body to the crease, prospects ruined by the moment’s ripe potential and by being forced to spend so long pondering it.
Clearly these are thought processes that are not conducive to sporting success, and evidently Atkinson did not endure them.
Read Ali Martin’s day two report
Preamble
Good morning. I said good morning. Now, what comes next in this list: 1959, 1967, 1978, 2004, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2017, 2018, 2022? England will hope the answer is 2024, because those are the summers in which they have won at least five Tests.
If all goes to plan, the team nobody is calling the Class of 24 will join the list sometime tomorrow. England are in total control at Lord’s after their most dominant day of the series, the highlight of which was Gus Atkinson’s stupendous maiden Test century.
They resume on 25 for 1, a lead of 256, with an unspoken remit to blast Sri Lanka completely out of contention by tea. The greater good comes first, but a few players could do with some runs. Ben Duckett has had a relatively lean spell since his astonishing 153 at Rajkot in February, Ollie Pope has loudly had a poor series and Harry Brook has temporarily forgotten how to convert starts: five of his last seven scores have been between 32 and 56.
There are some emerging demons in the pitch so this won’t necessarily be a day at the buffet for England. But it’s hard to see how they don’t win this game and therefore the series. Sri Lanka were admirably competitive for the first five days of this series; yesterday felt like another demonstration of Mike Atherton’s favourite analogy.
A lengthy Test series can be likened to an arm wrestle; you have a struggle for a short while but it often ends with one team completely flattened. Well played India
— Mike atherton (@Athersmike) March 6, 2021
