Key events
England will bat again
No surprise there. There are around 35 minutes of play remaining, an important little spell in the career and life of Daniel Lawrence esq.
“Kamindu Mendis’ performances have a whiff of Shiv Chanderpaul vs England in 2007,” says Alex McGillivray.
I was trying to think of an equivalent. That’s a good one, although by that stage we knew how good Chanderpaul was. It’s pretty rare to see this from a young player on their first tour of England. Mark Taylor is one but he wasn’t exactly alone on the burning deck in 1989. Partly because of another run-monster touring England for the first time, Steve Waugh.
Hang on, I’ve got one: Zaheer Abbas in 1971. He scored 386 runs; no other Pakistan player reached 165.
WICKET! Sri Lanka 196 all out (Kamindu c Woakes b Atkinson 74)
Kamindu slaps a sharp bumper from Atkinson high in the air to mid-off. Another reason to like him: he doesn’t play for his average, not even when it’s uber-Bradman. And another: as he walks off he stops to ask about the health of the fella he hit a few overs ago.
It was an outstanding innings from a player who looks almost too good to be true, and if Sri Lanka are asked to follow on, they should send him back in no lower than No3.
England lead by 231 runs. That was a really good team effort, with the seamers all taking two wickets apiece. Potts and Woakes were the pick, but they all played their part.
55th over: Sri Lanka 195-9 (Kamindu 74, Avisha 0) Pope actually dummied to throw twice, possibly while deciding whether to throw to the bowler or go straight at the stumps. He chose the latter and nailed it.
WICKET! Sri Lanka 195-9 (Kumara run out 0)
Kumara is run out for a useful 22-ball duck. And I bet that sentence has never been written before. Kamindu tried to take a single on the leg side to keep the strike, then changed his mind. Kumara was so far down the track that Pope had time to line up the throw, Chris Lewis-style, and hit the stumps at the non-striker’s end. Brilliant fielding.
54.5 overs: Sri Lanka 195-8 (Kamindu 74, Kumara 0) Kamindu hoicks a short ball from Stone high towards deep square leg, where Joe Root drops a sitter. He misjudged it badly and barely got fingers on the ball. There’s a slight echo of Australia dropping Ben Stokes left, right and centre when he went on the rampage last summer; any other player and I suspect Root would taken the catch.
Kamindu is not any other player. He lashes a pull for four, miles in front of square, then top-edges a hook over the keeper’s head for six. It went straight into the seats in front of the Pavilion, and it seems one of the members has been hurt. There’s break in play, with a few of the players looking concerned. Sky haven’t shown any images of what has happened.
Ah, they’re showing the chap in question now. He’s sitting up, chatting to medical staff, so play should resume any second.
54th over: Sri Lanka 183-8 (Kamindu 62, Kumara 0) Pace from both ends now, with Atkinson returning for a crack at Kumara. No dice, just a maiden. Kumara has done well, surviving 22 balls to add 30 with Kamindu.
53rd over: Sri Lanka 183-8 (Kamindu 62, Kumara 0) When play resumes, Kumara takes an even more painful blow to the membrum virile. He groans audibly, then chuckles slightly at life’s vicissitudes. Even that little chuckle demonstrates an enviable temperament.
52.3 overs: Sri Lanka 182-8 (Kamindu 62, Kumara 0) Olly Stone returns after drinks, with the field set for some short stuff: no slips, no nothing anywhere the bat. And nothing any fielder can do when Kamindu hooks mightily over fine leg for six. That’s a brilliant shot.
He tries to repeat the stroke next ball and whacks it straight into his helmet. He looks okay but he’s being tested for concussion and will need a new helmet.
“It pains me to watch Ollie Robinson’s international career circling the drain but I think he’s done,” says Graham Pierce. “Talent stretches beyond his undoubted ability to bowl with incredible accuracy and control from a high release point. It also includes making the right choices and looking after yourself. He’s never kept himself fit enough for long enough to become a fixture in the side and there are a few stories about his lack of application. Seeing him blowing after a seven-over spell in his late 20s or bowling at mid-70s in a second spell made him a hard player to warm to. At the other end Anderson could do more in his late 30s and 40s and Stokes could bowl 15+ over spells despite his injury history. If Robinson had wanted it more he could have been reaching 90mph with the ball on a string and been a great.”
I don’t know about him reaching 90mph, but then he doesn’t need to do that to take Test wickets all round the world. I’m loath to be too critical simply because I don’t know about his fitness regime or how much he wants it. We can draw conclusions, and I’m sure plenty of them are correct, but we don’t know for sure.
In Robinson’s last two Tests, against Australia and India, he went off because of back spasms. Is that his fault? That’s a serious question, not a passive-aggressively rhetorical one. Like you, I don’t think he’ll play for England again, and nerds of the future will wonder why a fella with 76 wickets at 23 played his last Test aged 30.
52nd over: Sri Lanka 176-8 (Kamindu 56, Kumara 0) Kamindu reaches a hugely accomplished fifty with a delightful shot, walking down the track to whip Bashir wristily over midwicket for four. He turns 26 next month, and all things being equal he will scored industrial quantities of runs in the next 10 years.
Bashir, unsettled by that stroke, drops short and is battered over mid-off for four more. A chip over cover brings a single and ensures Kumara will only have one ball to survive. Which he does.
Drinks.
51st over: Sri Lanka 167-8 (Kamindu 47, Kumara 0) Root is bowling well wide of off stump to Kamindu, who mistimes a lofted drive over cover for two. That takes his Test average to precisely 100.00. Bugger off Bradman, the game’s up.
“What the summer Tests are showing is that by not playing more counties prior to Tests the opposition are not prepared for English conditions,” says Mike Galvin. “ECB suffers as five-day Tests are not lasting the full five days. Shame!”
While I take your point and largely agree, Sri Lanka and West Indies could have been living in this country since 2011, playing cricket every single day, and most of the Tests still wouldn’t last five days.
50th over: Sri Lanka 166-8 (Kamindu 46, Kumara 0) I was getting mixed up: it was Bashir who wanted to change ends, not Woakes. Been a long week. Kamindu rocks back to pull superbly for four; the ball from Bashir really wasn’t that short.
You can’t quite use the old Ilford 2nds line, because Sri Lanka’s top six is pretty strong, but Kamindu certainly looks like a World XI player. The Sky commentary team, mostly former batters, are raving about him.
“Absolutely with you on nostalgia for Strauss’ approach to reviews,” says James Brough. “I think it was Jonathan Trott who would field at square leg and whose responsibility it was to say if the ball was going over the top. This feels like the kind of analytical approach we need. Granted, at the moment Sri Lanka are 158 for 8, but – well, remember Stokes at Headingley 2019, when Australia arguably lost because they’d burned their last review.”
At the time I was convinced the ball-tracking was wrong on that Stokes LBW, not that this has anything to do with the point you were making. Another observation that has nothing to do with what you were saying: if you ever need a pick-me-up, dig out Jonathan Agnew’s commentary on Stokes’ match-winning boundary. It’s spine-tingling.
49th over: Sri Lanka 159-8 (Kamindu 39, Kumara 0) The wicket of Jayasuriya was Bashir’s 30th in Tests; he doesn’t turn 21 until 13 October. I’d need to check to be sure but I think these are the only (male) spinners who have taken more Test wickets before their 21st birthday: Daniel Vettori, Harbhajan Singh, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Saqlain Mushtaq, Narendra Hirwani, Ravi Shastri, Paul Adams, Alf Valentine, Enamul Haque jnr.
Kamindu ignores a few tempters from Root, who has continued at this end, before driving a single off the fourth ball. Kumara (0 from 11 balls) does the rest.
48th over: Sri Lanka 158-8 (Kamindu 38, Kumara 0) Scratch all that follow-on jibber-jabber: Root was bowling so that Woakes could change ends. It’s a fairly harmless over to the left-handed Kumara, including a big off-side wide.
“Are you on 99.94 watch Rob?” says Gary Naylor. “Nine more needed…”
47th over: Sri Lanka 157-8 (Kamindu 38, Kumara 0) Joe Root replaces Woakes, which is a sign that England may want to enforce the follow on. Kamindu gives him the charge and slices a drive over extra cover for a couple. But Root does well to keep him on strike, which means Bashir will start the next over with Kumara on strike.
Since you asked, Sri Lanka need 228 to avoid the follow on.
46th over: Sri Lanka 155-8 (Kamindu 36, Kumara 0) Kamindu walks down the track to Bashir, realises the ball isn’t there for an attacking shot and pushes it safely into the off side. A single off the next ball, the fourth of the over, allows him to keep the strike.
“All this talk of England’s ideal four man attack for the Ashes has got me thinking about my ideal Australian combination,” says Pete Salmon. “Thinking Starc, Hazlewood, Cummins and Lyon.”
Sorry, I was talking about a dream attack for the men’s Ashes, not the over-70s. THAT’S RIGHT! HIGH FIVE!
A friend first and a head coach second…
45th over: Sri Lanka 154-8 (Kamindu 35, Kumara 0) Kamindu turns down a single for the first time, then takes one off the penultimate delivery to keep the strike.
44th over: Sri Lanka 153-8 (Kamindu 34, Kumara 0) We shouldn’t get carried away about Shoaib Bashir, but…
WICKET! Sri Lanka 153-8 (Jayasuriya b Bashir 8)
High-class spin bowling from Shoaib Bashir. Jayasuriya ran down the track, was beaten in the flight and bowled through the gate. A classic off-spinner’s dismissal, and a triumph for the captain Ollie Pope. He kept the field up, which tempted Jayasuriya to try to hit the ball into Marylebone High Street.
43rd over: Sri Lanka 152-7 (Kamindu 33, Jayasuriya 8) Woakes replaces Potts. I missed most of his over because of the below email, but I did see Jayasuriya miss a sinew-straining drive at the last delivery.
“The 2005 attack, despite being four right-arm pace bowlers, showed different threats when all were firing (as in that series),” says, yes really, Andy Flintoff. “Hoggard was a good new-ball swing bowler, Harmison had steepling bounce, Jones could bowl the old ball round corners and Flintoff could bully you into getting out. It’s a shame they couldn’t continue at the top of their game for longer, as the 2006-07 return series might have been very different.”
I’m not sure it would, even with a fit Jones, Vaughan and Trescothick. But yes, variety was one of their greatest strengths in 2004-05. A good example is Hoggard, who wasn’t used much in the second and third Tests of the 2005 Ashes. Then, when it swung at Trent Bridge in the fourth, he blew Australia up on the Friday afternoon. That was the first time, really, that England were undeniably on top.
It’ll never get better than that series, will it.
42nd over: Sri Lanka 151-7 (Kamindu 32, Jayasuriya 8) Kamindu jabs down on a ball from Bashir that keeps very low for a day two pitch. Why on earth did Sri Lanka bowl first?
There’s a bit of a lull, with only 10 runs from the last seven overs. Sri Lanka are going nowhere but at least they haven’t lost any more wickets. At some stage Kamindu Mendis will have to open his shoulders.
41st over: Sri Lanka 150-7 (Kamindu 31, Jayasuriya 8) It feels a matter of time before Potts dismisses Jayasuriya. He beat the bat 14 times in the previous over, and in this one Jayasuriya slices a drive that lands just short of Bashir at point.
“Thanks for your dream pace attack (30th over),” says Matt Dale. “Can I suggest that would be the same response you would have given last year? Have you seen anything this summer that might change your mind? Regarding the overseas TMS link, it is here on the BBC website (they are a lot better at posting it these days).”
I’ve seen nothing to change my mind, mainly because Archer and Robinson haven’t played a Test so all they’ve done is bowl jaffas in my head. I’d give my last Rolo to get Robinson back in the team. He has the tools to be the best bowler in the world, but I’m not sure he’ll play Test cricket again.
Has anything surprised us this summer? Atkinson’s figures are spectacular yet it hasn’t felt particularly surprising. Woakes is what Woakes is, to coin a phrase that should never be used again, and Potts has bowled as we know he can. One change this summer is that I now think Woakes will go to Australia.
40th over: Sri Lanka 150-7 (Kamindu 31, Jayasuriya 8) Bashir gets his first ball at the left-handed Kamindu. Same close field: slip, leg slip, gully. Still no turn for Bashir, but that’s a pretty accurate maiden.
“Rob, a follow up to my earlier email about reviews,” writes Adam Roberts. “I yearn for the days when there had to be agreement from three participants (captain, wk and bowler). If any of them said no, that would be it. A fine – and funny – example was the TB Test against Windies when Josh Da Silva urged the skipper not to review and, when it was unsuccessful, loudly proclaimed (picked up by stump mic): ‘Don’t blame me, I told them not to review’.”
That was a great strength of the Andrew Strauss team wasn’t it? He and Matt Prior almost always made cold, dispassionate decisions. That’s hard enough at the best of times, never mind when you have Stuart Broad and Graeme Swann in your team. Said with love, save the abuse.
39th over: Sri Lanka 150-7 (Kamindu 31, Jayasuriya 8) Potts swings four byes down the leg side to Kamindu, then grimaces after landing awkwardly on the ankle while bowling to Jayasuriya. I think he’s okay. His figures certainly are: 10-3-19-2.
38th over: Sri Lanka 145-7 (Kamindu 30, Jayasuriya 8) Shoaib Bashir comes on for the first time in this game. He has a slip, leg slip and short leg for Jayasuriya, who thumps a flighted delivery through the covers for two. That’s all folks. No sign of any assistance for Bashir just yet.
“Talking of 2005 and Andrew Flintoff, I cannot adequately recommend his latest TV outing (Field of Dreams On Tour),” says Brian Withington. “Deeply insightful and very moving (and funny). There was always more to him than first met my jaundiced eye, and since his accident he has become even more relatable. Unmissable viewing for all cricket followers and other animals.”
I’ve not seen it yet but have only heard extremely good things. I used to think the line “if it saves one life it’ll be worth it” was a bit cheesy, a bit disingenuous. How wrong was I?
37th over: Sri Lanka 143-7 (Kamindu 30, Jayasuriya 6) Potts beats Jayasuriya – he’s a right-hander you know – three times in four balls. He has bowled so well to the right-handers today; in fact, 14 of the 18 runs that Potts has conceded have been scored by Kamindu, so his figures against the northpaws are 2 for 4.
36th over: Sri Lanka 141-7 (Kamindu 30, Jayasuriya 5) “I think I’d like to see England bat again – assuming the opportunity arises,” says James Brough. “This is entirely for cricketing reasons, such as wanting the bowlers to have a rest with the next Test being in a few days. It’s not at all because I’m stats obsessed and Joe Root only needs 199 runs to overtake Alistair Cook and become leading England Test run scorer. Honest…”
35th over: Sri Lanka 141-7 (Kamindu 30, Jayasuriya 4) Potts replaces Woakes, and he bowled so well in his first spell that he might fancy his chances of a five-for. He’d need to take the last three wickets, but stranger things are happening all over the world right now. Potts almost gets his third wicket when Jayasuriya plays and misses at a classic Potts delivery that holds its line outside off.
Potts doesn’t look anywhere as comfortable to left-handers, and a wide half-tracker is cut crisply for four by Kamindu. He’s so good! It’s probably no exaggeration to say that, based on form at the time rather than the player they became, Kamindu is among the best regular No7s in Test history. Adam Gilchrist would be top of the list I guess. Beefy around 1981 would be up there.
“Afternoon Rob,” writes Simon McMahon. “It’s through following the OBO that I know, without having to look it up, that the aforementioned Mr Martin McCague took six Test wickets at an average of 65.00. I don’t think it gets much more impressive than that, either for me, a Scotsman, or for the enduring power of the OBO.”
34th over: Sri Lanka 136-7 (Kamindu 26, Jayasuriya 3) Olly Stone continues after tea. He’s been expensive and incisive, which England much prefer to the alternative, and there’s another boundary in that over. They were leg-byes so they aren’t included in Stone’s figures, which belong to an ODI from the mid-2000s: 10-0-50-2.
“I was really puzzled by your 21st over reference to Potts’ excellent bowling figures of 4-3-2-2 being Jose Mourinho’s dream formation,” says Brian Withington. “Why had David Moyes never used that at West Ham, I wondered? It was only after some belated mental arithmetic that I realised it would have required our keeper to play up front with Antonio …”
Stuart Pearce did that in his first game as Nottingham Forest manager. He picked an XI the night before the game, then his wife pointed out there was no goalkeeper. All’s well that ends well: they played a goalkeeper and beat Arsenal 2-1.
Something for the weekend
“With the proviso of bowling ‘near their best’, I and 1057 others will doubtless opt for our 2005 vintage,” says Dan Silk. “Harmison, Hoggard, Flintoff and especially Jones, together… no hiding place. (Plus we’re only depleting Durham by one bowler.)”
I guess that’s the key point – some attacks look spectacular on paper but you rarely get all four in form at the same time. For our generation 2005 will always be in the top one. Reading Brian Lara’s terrific new book was a reminder of just how unpleasant they could be to face, especially Harmison and Flintoff.
Tea: Sri Lanka trail by 298 runs
33rd over: Sri Lanka 129-7 (Kamindu 26, Jayasuriya 0) Woakes laughs at his own excellence after beating Kamindu with an unbelievable delivery from round the wicket. It curved in and then straightened sharply off the seam. Good luck playing that.
That’s the end of another dominant session from England, who took five wickets to leave Sri Lanka knee deep in bother. The classy Kamindu Mendis stands alone on the burning deck.
32nd over: Sri Lanka 128-7 (Kamindu 26, Jayasuriya 0) Kamindu punches Stone square on the off side for four, which makes him the top scorer in the innings. “Really good player, this young man,” says Mike Atherton on Sky. “Really good player.”
“Is it premature to speculate on whether England will enforce the follow-on?” wonders Nick Way. “Given time and weather, I’d be inclined to give Lawrence and Pope some batting practice.”
Same here, though I wouldn’t necessarily frame it that way. “Ollie, don’t enforce the follow-on, son, you need a hit.” Enforcing the follow-on is so 2001, as England found out when they tried it against New Zealand last year.
31st over: Sri Lanka 124-7 (Kamindu 22, Jayasuriya 0) A delicious delivery from Woakes beats Jayasuriya and whooshes past off stump. That was almost identical to the ball from Potts that bowled Mathews earlier in the day. Almost.
He follows that with a hooping inswinger that Jayasuriya inside-edges onto the pad as he falls over towards the off side, then finishes the over by going past the edge again. Lovely bowling, an expert at work.
At one stage, halfway through the first innings of the second Test against West Indies, a struggling Woakes averaged 88 with the ball this summer. Since then he’s taken 18 wickets at 15 apiece. He. Is. Not. APPRECIATED.
30th over: Sri Lanka 124-7 (Kamindu 22, Jayasuriya 0) Stone continues his spell of short stuff, this time with Kamindu his subject. A nasty lifter hits the glove, then Kamindu top-edges a slightly flustered hook for six. Hot on the heels of last summer’s Ashes, that’s yet another moral victory for England.
“It’s great to see so many positive bowling performances from England’s pacers,” says Matt Dale. “While I don’t always agree with prioritising a series so far in advance, who would your dream England pace attack be for the first Ashes Test in Australia next winter (first XI)?”
My dream attack, the one that makes me go weak at the knees, would be Jofra Archer, a fit, focussed Ollie Robinson, Mark Wood and Ben Stokes. How about you? Easy to say because it will never happen but if you had those four bowling somewhere near their best, it would compare to any pace attack in English cricket history.
29th over: Sri Lanka 118-7 (Kamindu 16, Jayasuriya 0) “Hi Rob. Maybe I missed/slept through it, but has anyone posted the link to TMS today?”, asks OBO stalwart Wayne Trotman, following events from Izmir, Turkey. “And what are the chances of you squeezing in a mention for your hero and mine, Mr Martin McCague? Did he really down 72 pints of Guinness over his stag weekend in Dublin?”
And the rest.
WICKET! Sri Lanka 118-7 (Rathnayake c Smith b Woakes 16)
Chris Woakes strikes in the first over of a new spell. Rathnayake fiddles outside off stump and is superbly caught by Jamie Smith, diving a long way to his left. That’s a nice moment for Smith, who has struggled a bit with the gloves in this innings.
28th over: Sri Lanka 115-6 (Kamindu 13, Rathnayake 19) Rathnayake is fine to continue. For now: Stone hits him again, this time on the glove with a very good short ball. The ball plops to safety in front of short leg, then Rathnayake thick edges for four. He’s getting a good working-over.
“Has Pope had a successful review as captain yet?” asks Adam Roberts.
I think he’s 0/5, though in his defence he’s had some lamentable advice from people who should know better.
27.3 overs: Sri Lanka 111-6 (Kamindu 13, Rathnayake 15) That’s nasty. A short ball from Stone follows Rathnayeke and clatters into the side of his helmet. He’s on his feet but will undertake a concussion test.
