Key events
47th over: Sri Lanka 214-5 (Dhananjaya 64, Kamindu 57) Gus Atkinson is off the field, which is probably a factor in Josh Hull opening the bowling. Chris Woakes opens at the other end, taking a few deliveries to find his line before swinging a good delivery back into Kamindu’s midriff. A maiden.
“Mo retiring is bad day for cricket – what a delight he was – but a good day for Wilfred Rhodes,” says Pete Salmon. “Mo never did bat at 10 or 11, so Our Wilf keeps his record.”
For now: Ben Stokes has batted everywhere except No2.
46th over: Sri Lanka 214-5 (Dhananjaya 64, Kamindu 57) England open the bowling with Josh Hull, which depending on your perspective is either a) a clever way of boosting his confidence or b) two stiff fingers in the direction of Mother Cricket. He starts well, getting some nice some outswing to the left-hander Kamindu, who thick edges a good delivery wide of the cordon for a single.
“Astonishing that Moeen Ali played 298 times for England: 68 Tests, 138 ODIs and 92 T20s,” says Andrew Goudie. “Ultimate team player.”
It was a unique career, wasn’t it? Yes, yes, I know all careers are unique, strictly speaking. But I can’t think of any that resemble Moeen’s.
Play is about to begin. For how long, we know not, so let’s enjoy it while it lasts.
Who wants the TMS overseas link? What’s it worth?
Today’s schedule
Morning 11am-1.15pm
Afternoon 1.55-4.10pm
Evening 4.30-6.30pm
On-the-nose musical interlude
Barney Ronay on Josh Hull
You could – and some will – call Hull’s selection the most damning statement of thanks-but-no-thanks ever directed at county cricket. Picking him is literally saying, there is nothing to be gained from succeeding in this. We will instead pick a 20-year-old with 16 wickets at 62 because we like how he looks. How are you meant to feel about this if you’re a 27-year-old with hard-earned county numbers, winning games every week, running through the pain, dreaming of a bigger stage?
There were more issues with the light yesterday, including a weird few minutes in which Chris Woakes was obliged to bowl four balls of offspin. Here’s what Olly Stone made of it all.
“Imran Khan played 48 of his 88 Tests at No7 and averaged 35,” writes Gary Naylor. “He’d be in the conversation. Shaun Pollock played half his 108 Tests from number 8 and averaged 31 there!”
Imran is in almost every conversation about great cricketers, isn’t he? I do think he played his best cricket at No6, though he was still a giant.
“Hi Rob,” writes Marcus Abdullahi. “Batters to average over 40 batting at 7 (min 20 Tests) from highest average to lowest: de Kock, Gilchrist, Greg Matthews, Litton Das, Chris Cairns, Wasim Raja, Alan Knott, Matt Prior and IT Botham.”
That’s a good list. Litton Das has played some extraordinary innings in that position.
And now it’s over to Andrew Miller for the weather
I think we’ll start on time, but there’s a yellow weather warning from 2pm, so there’s that.
International cricket lost a bit of charm overnight when Moeen Ali announced his retirement from all forms. His England career is hard to summarise, isn’t it? He could exhilarate and frustrate in equal measure; he was England’s most elegant left-hander since David Gower; he was too unselfish for his own good; and he was – for richer and poorer – a beacon of humanity. Moeen has an endearing honesty and self-awareness, as shown by his own assessment of his career.
I hope people remember me as a free spirit. I played some nice shots and some bad shots, but hopefully people enjoyed watching me.
He wasn’t a great player, but he leaves cricket in a better place than he found it. And the extent of his influence on British-Asian cricketers may not become apparent for another 10 or 15 years.
Ali Martin’s day two report
The lower order clearly had licence to thrash and Sri Lanka, re-energised after that tricky first day, were getting the old ball to swing. But among the array of swipes that accelerated things was a curious innings from Harry Brook. So often appearing already set when he arrives at the crease, Brook was instead jumpy here, surviving one howling drop in the deep by Asitha Fernando on 12 before crashing a wide ball to short cover.
Preamble
Shall we try that one again? England were very poor yesterday, but they are still in a reasonable position to complete a clean sweep. Sri Lanka will resume on 211 for 5, a deficit of 114, with Dhananjaya de Silva on 64 and Kamindu Mendis on 54.
Let’s talk about Kamindu. Apart from Adam Gilchrist, has there been a better regular No7 in Test cricket? By that I mean the quality of the player when they were a regular No7. You can make a case for Ian Botham in the late seventies and early eighties and also Quinton de Kock, but Kamindu is in the conversation. And while Gilchrist is the best, Kamindu is probably the most classical No7 we’ve seen.
While he is at the crease, assumptions of an England victory – and they are widespread, even among those who were most criticial of England’s confused, slightly indulgent performance yesterday – look dangerous.
