Alex Hales compiled one of the great innings in Twenty20 history to steer England to victory and keep them in the tournament
What a match. What an innings. Thanks for your company. Be sure to stick around on site for all the reports and reaction. But from me, cheerio!
"Conditions were difficult and I feel sorry for the Sri Lankan bowlers but we can take a huge amount out of this game."
"We really messed up dropping five or six catches. We can't afford to drop key players like that. We've got away with it today but we'll have to raise our standards for the next game."
You want answers? You want the truth? You probably will be able to handle the truth. Here's the table:
Alex Hales ends the innings with a six and strides off having amassed 116 from 64 balls. Unquestionably the best ever Twenty20 innings from an England batsmen.
What a shot from Alex Hales! Another huge six! England win by six wickets with four balls to spare.
19.1 overs: England 184-4 Slower ball. Tickled for one by Bopara.
Matthews, whose two overs have gone for 24, will bowl the final over. Let's go ball by ball.
Kulasekara once more. He needs a big over because it'll presumably be the out-of-sorts Mathews to bowl the last. Hales forces the first away for a couple through the covers then smites him over the same region for a six that makes him England's first ever T20 centurion. It's come off 60 balls. What an innings. And what a time to do it. He celebrates by hammering the next into the stands for six more! That was a monumental strike. It leaves England seven to win off six.
After a lengthy discussion, Sri Lanka opt to bowl out Malinga. And Bopara gets off the mark with a beautifully guided dab down to third man for four. If Malinga is wide of the mark with his yorkers then Bopara is good enough to find the fence and he repeats the trick from the next ball! The third ball is again wide of off stump, but wide by about a millimetre. Bopara digs out a single off the next, then Malinga sends down a leg-side wide. A single off the last means Hales keeps strike with England needing another 23 runs from the final 12 balls.
After two wickets and five runs from that over, Kulasekara now has figures of 3-1-16-4. Another 34 required from 18.
"'England should do this from here'" quotes David Green. "You really should know better by now." There's that word again. This is high-quality stuff from Kulasekara and he's nabbed another, Buttler desperately trying to find the rope but only succeeding in chipping a catch to the captain.
A very slippery word. Finally Sri Lanka get the breakthrough they need. Kulasekara (2-1-11-1) returns. His sensational opening over feels a long time ago, but he gets his third wicket after Morgan holes out at the mid-on boundary.
This partnership is now right up there with the highest ever in T20 internationals. And with the game slipping away, Sri Lanka send yorker-addict Lasith Malinga back into the attack. Three runs off the first four balls, but then Hales pounces on a bit of breathing space and flicks through midwicket four four. The final ball slips from Malinga's grip and has Hales ducking. No ball. And a single from the last. Nine from the over. England should do this from here. But "should" is a slippery old word.
Whatever happens in these final six overs England have restored a bit of pride after that miserable fielding display. It should go down to the wire from this point and not many yours truly very much included would've expected that at 0-2. Hales gets down on one knee and mows Mendis into the stands at cow corner for six more! Then repeats the trick two balls later and follows it up with another! Three sixes in four balls! And the final ball is punched through the covers for four! Twenty five from the over 1, 6, 2, 6, 6, 4.
Sri Lanka are on the ropes now Senanayake wanders in for his final over, but Morgan immediately reverse-sweeps for four more. That brings up his 50 from 33 balls. The off-spinner bounces back by slowing his pace to a crawl and England can take only five singles from the next five balls.
A bit of a gamble here: Thisan Perera and his fairly occasional medium pace come into the attack. Though with Mathews struggling, Chandimal perhaps needed to find an over or two from somewhere. Hales slashes the first wide of third man for four to bring up his half century off 38 balls, an excellent knock in the circumstances. A hip-high full toss that should've been a no ball but wasn't given also disappears to the fence. Then the last is a slower ball, dropped on the fence by Mahela Jayawardene! The ball trickles apologetically over the rope. Fourteen from the over.
Senanayake returns. Morgan skips down the track then aborts and does well to block the ball away for a single. And the bowler keeps them to singles until the last, which is a touch too wide and swiped away by Morgan for four. At the same stage Sri Lanka were 89-1
Mendis again. And this time he's not able to keep the batsmen tied down Morgan frees his arms and lofts over the covers for another monumental six, then slashes the last over point for four more. He has 41 from 26, Hales 43 from 34 as long as this pair remain out there England have a chance. A slim chance, but a chance.
Angelo Mathews returns, hoping to sneak another quiet over in with the batsmen struggling to break the shackles. It's a strange captaincy decision for me, as it offers the batsmen the opportunity to break those shackles and they do. Morgan marmalises him over the top of mid on for a huge six, then cuffs him through the covers for four more. A clever slower ball catches the batsman out from the next, but the ball drops safe at mid on. The next is a leg-side slower ball flicked away economically by Hales for four more. Sixteen from the over.
Mendis once more. Four singles. Not enough.
Senanayake once more and it's an excellent over. Hales brings up the England half century with a single, but singles are all England can muster. There's no need for them to throw this chase away every run eked out, even in defeat, will be a help if they are to make the semi-finals. It could come down to run-rate after all. It probably won't. But it could.
Ajantha Mendis into the attack. Morgan unfurls the reverse-sweep straight away, flicking him square for four. Wonderful shot. From the remainder of the over they pick up six more in ones and twos 10 from the over.
Malinga again and he kicks off with another four dots. The required rate steams past 11 an over, but Hales flicks the fifth through midwicket for four. And he picks up a couple off the last.
Senanayake enters the fray with his staccato off-spin. He did all sorts of damage against South Africa last year, and it's largely tidy enough stuff from him here, though unthreatening. Morgan sweeps one away for four but the batsmen can only take seven from the over.
"Surely if Bopara was too injured to bowl his dibbly-dobblers, hes too injured to play?" writes Jonathan Wood, not unreasonably. "And following on from Bernard Welshs wonderment, why wasnt Moeen Ali invited to bowl again when his only over went for 4 runs? Or, to summarise, what the [bad word] is going on? Does anyone have a clue?"
Lasith Malinga into the attack. His first is an attempted yorker, but a little too full and flicked away for a single by Hales. His second is another attempted yorker, this time bang on the money and dug out well by Morgan. His third is another attempted yorker, again bang on the money and again dug out well by Morgan. The fourth is another att well, you get the idea. It's simply superb bowling. A fifth attempt, though, is a foot too full and put away to midwicket by Morgan. From the final ball he's back to his toe-crushing best. Four dots, five runs from the over.
Hat-trick ball for Kulasekara and it's a huge off-side wide. From the third ball of the over Morgan calls Hales through for a rapid single, the fielder misses with his shy at the stumps. A direct hit would've seen England 10-3. Instead Hales remains at the crease to take them to 14-2 with a pull for four, then to 18-2 with a crisp drive for four more. Fine shot.
"Any idea why Bopara who is is one of England's more competent T20 bowlers didn't get to turn his arm over while Bresnan,whose bowling looks more and more innocuous and hittable with every game got to bowl a full complement of pies including the last over?" wonders Bernard Welsh. It's a strange one, and no mistake. We'll find out post-match I suppose, but I'd have to assume he's got a minor injury of some sort.
Alex Hales, who stood at the non-strikers end watching that carnage, gets the chance to put bat on ball and he does so with some verve. Mathews sends down a couple of length balls outside off so juicy they should've come served with a choice of mustards and some gentleman's relish Hales thumps them both to the cover boundary.
So England begin their chase with a double-wicket maiden. That was a quite brilliant over from the always-underrated Kulasekara. The final ball veered away from Ali, who followed it and edged to the man at second slip, who held a tough catch.
Can England get past the Netherlands' 39?
Um so this has started well. Kulasekara begins for Sri Lanka, and his first hoops away from the left-handed Lumb. As Nick Knight points out on Sky, Kulasekara is the only seamer in the top 10 of the T20 bowling rankings, and you can see why he's finding just enough movement and, after four dots, he swings one back into the left-hander and through the gate. Cue flashing bails spinning into the air.
Right, a quick turnaround. The England batsmen are out in the middle stretching themselves into shape.
Sri Lanka batted very well, but England fielded horribly. They'll need to score 190 to win and keep themselves in the hunt for the semi-finals. It goes without saying that Sri Lanka will be very confident of defending this.
Tim Bresnan, who looks like he's dropped a few pounds recently, will take the final over. A single from the first, then ANOTHER DROP! A flat heave from Perera whistles away to Bopara, who puts it down. All the evidence suggests these balls aren't just wet, they're also covered in soap and axle grease. An edge flies away for four more. And the last? Have a guess. Yup, a huge, brilliant, beautiful six from Mathews that isn't a million miles away from the top tier at square leg.
The batsmen crossed over with the ball in the air, but Perera can only skew a single away and Mathews can only follow suit from the next. So two runs and a wicket from the first four balls of this over. That's a superb return for Chris Jordan. Can he finish the job? He gets away with the next a full toss that is flicked away for one. The last is a decent yorker that is squeezed out for another single. Well bowled that man. A very fine over indeed.
Sangakkara goes first ball, miscuing into the night sky. Hales takes a simple catch.
Perera carves another ball away to the midwicket boundary, then from the last another length slower ball is in the slot. Perera frees his arms, swings freely, and gets those in the terraces either scattering or wobbling underneath the catch like an England fielder. A huge six.
Jade Dernbach sends down a slower ball first up Dilshan crouches, waits, then scoops straight over the keeper's head for four. And next up, well, prepare for the rapture, look out for plagues of locusts and flaming horsemen in the sky because England have held onto a catch. Jordan is the man to work this miracle, clinging on for dear life as Dilshan swipes the ball to the midwicket boundary.
If Chris Jordan had dropped a catch I really would be worried. Best hands in the squad.
Jayawardene took just 51 balls for his 89, a quite wonderful innings that might've been extinguished two or three times before Jordan finally struck. Sri Lanka send Thisara Perera up the order and he gets off the mark with a pull over midwicket for a couple.
Four overs to go. Sri Lanka will be aiming for 180 minimum. Jordan returns, Jayawardene lofts over the covers and Bresnan does very well to prevent the boundary with a well judged dive. Next up, a length ball heading for off-stump is swept behind square by the same batsmen for four more. Six from the first two balls of the over, but Mahela misses out from the next and then what's this? A wicket? It is you know! The batsmen swipes and misses, Jordan sends the bails, flashing like the eyes of a Terminator, into the air. Praise be.
Broad sends down an off-side wide, then a half-volley wide of off which goes to the rope via Dilshan's edge. He responds by asking and getting a fresh, dry ball. It's not dry for long Dilshan brings up his half century with a lofted drive smeared wide of mid-off for four.
"Clear that Bresnan and Dernbach dont want Giles to get the gig," honks Richard Thomson. If this forms part of Giles's application process, this has been the equivalent of turning up late for the interview wearing a pair of soiled slacks and swigging from a can of Purple Tin.
Dernbach returns by wanging down a hip-high no ball, but responds well with a slower ball that forces Jayawardene to dab to third man rather than aim another swish over midwicket. The fourth ball, though, is a touch over-pitched and gets punched through the covers with a drive so sweet it should have its own E number. Then there's yet another drop. Jayawardene whumps a full toss to the cover boundary, where Bresnan drops another regulation catch on the run. This is ridiculous. Shambolic. Dire. Or, to put it in English cricket parlance, very, very ordinary.
A Bresnan bouncer is poked high over point for four. And his next is carted away (though that's an unfair description Jayawardene surely plays the most aesthetically pleasing carts in world cricket) for yet another six. England are in big, big trouble here.
Mind you, if you think England have got it bad, spare a thought for Pacific CC:
The latest blow has come in the form of footballers refusing to leave the field of play on Sundays, despite it being booked for cricket. At the end of last season parks patrol officers reasoned with the 20 or so footballers to leave but they would be very slow to do so until they had finished their kickabout, meaning that 40-over games would be reduced to 30 or fewer.
Tredwell skips in for his final over. Jayawardene welcomes him with a quite stunning reverse slog-sweep that rollicks away for four. That brings up his half-century England will feel that he should've been dismissed for a golden duck. That early decision frazzled the England side which is in a way understandable, but you have to say that while you can't control the umpire's decisions you can control the way you react to them. Tredwell's spell ends with Jayawardene skipping down the pitch once more and unfurling another delicious lofted drive, with the ball flying into the stands at cow corner.
Stuart Broad brings himself back into the attack and yet again England let a batsmen off the hook. Dilshan top-edges the first ball towards square leg. Buttler scampers off underneath it, Dernbach trots in from the boundary and the ball drops safe between them. It wouldn't have been a dolly either way, but Dernbach's should really have been galloping in with the intent of making it his. Still, only six from the over.
So at the halfway point Sri Lanka are well placed for an assault on 180-odd. Tredwell continues, but the batsmen have had just about enough of playing it safe against him. Jayawardene registers back-to-back fours, the first with a tippy-toed skip down the wicket and drive wide of mid-on, the second with a sweep that he couldn't have placed better had he been permitted to walk over to the boundary with the ball in his pocket. Then, yet again, England should have cracked this partnership but this time Buttler is the culprit. With Jayawardene scuttling back for two, the keeper collected the throw from the boundary but then missed the stumps with his attempt to effect the run out. It would've been close, but he looked an inch or two short to me. But, with Buttler having failed to remove the bails, it matters not a jot.
With England desperately in need of a wicket they might have had three were it not for some interesting umpiring and some even more interesting fielding Chris Jordan returns. Dilshan again plants that front foot outside leg and swings through the line, carting the ball away for four through midwicket. The third umpire is called into the action once more a few moments later after a running mixup leaves Dilshan scrambling to get back to the crease. A fine full-length dive means he makes it. Nine from an over of worryingly muddled bowling from Jordan, who either didn't have much of a plan or, if he did, was unable to stick to it.
Tredwell isn't posing much of a threat but at least looks to have the batsmen on a leash. Again he keeps things tight and gives away just three singles.
Time for the England captain to turn his arm over. And time for Dilshan to clear the ropes again this time with a vicious swat that disappears over midwicket. All the runs are being scored on the leg side. Broad responds with a shorter ball that rears up and clatters into the opener's helmet. Then has his man: Dishan pulls straight into the hands of Bresnan on the square leg boundary. Bresnan, though, butterfingers the ball to the turf. That's two very ugly drops from England.
James Tredwell into the attack and it's tidy enough fare from the spinner. Four singles and a couple off the last courtesy of a neatly punched Dilshan drive means Sri Lanka are restricted to six from the over.
With the ball zipping about a fair bit, Chris Jordan enters the fray. His radar is all over the place early on, with a hideously over-pitched half-volley pinged sweetly away to the square-leg fence by Jayawardene. While the Sri Lanka No3 looks like finding the terraces with every ball, Dilshan has been decidedly scratchy since that scoop off Bresnan. At the end of the powerplay he has nine from 11, Jayawardene 29 from 19.
Bresnan continues, Jayawardene has an uncharacteristically ugly hoik like a man digging a hole then shovelling the soil over his shoulder but gets enough on it to send the ball fine behind square for six. He has another big heave at the next, this time sending the ball steepling into the air. Dernbach is underneath it you know what happens next. Oh Jade. Jade, Jade, Jade. It's as routine a catch as you'd wish to stand under, but he spills it miserably. For some reason this springs to mind:
The England players (past and present) feel Jayawardene should be back in the hutch
Absolute shocker!!!!!
Tim Bresnan into the England attack. Dilshan plays the perfect scoop shot the Dilscoop to send the ball high over the rope for six. Just brilliant. Bresnan wanders back to his mark with a shrug that says: "Whaddaya gonna do?" But that proves the only scoring shot of the over, with Dilshan attempting to repeat the trick on a couple of occasions with no success.
"I completely disagree with you last OBOer on English team uniform," writes Deepak Tomar. "It looks fabulous, and is a welcome change from usual multi-coloured crap sported by the other teams. Surely other teams designers would have noted how cool the English team looks. I bet there are going to be some copies in the next tournament." I think you're probably in the minority there Deepak. I'd like to see one in the flesh, but on-screen it looks like something has gone awry with the TV contrast.
Oh my word! Does Dernbach have two in two? A cracking delivery squares up the great Mahela Jayawardene, the edge flies low to Lumb in the covers, who dives forward and claims the catch millimetres off the turf. Jayawardene stands his ground, as is his right, and the third umpire takes a long, long look at the catch. And he's decided it's not out. Well, that's a big call. It looked out all the way for me, but the benefit of doubt (and, admittedly, there was a soupçon) goes to the batsman. It's still a fine over from Dernbach, though until the final ball, swatted away by the reprieved Jayawardene for four.
Jade Dernbach's first contribution was a misfield, his second is the wicket of Sri Lanka's dangerman. It's not a great ball to be perfectly honest, a short-pitched effort that would've been signalled as a wide if Perera had not got the faintest of gloves on the ball as it fizzed through to Buttler. Perera shakes his head on his way off.
Kusal Perera took Dale Steyn apart the other day and perhaps that's on Stuart Broad's mind because Moeen Ali is opening the bowling for England. Dilshan squeezes a single away to get Sri Lanka off the mark and a misfield out on the boundary by Dernbach allows Perera to turn one into two from the next. Cue the usual of flood of "Dernbach? Why?" invective from across the England-supporting community. It's a steady effort from Ali, though, with the batsmen able only to work four runs from it.
The teams stride onto the pitch hand-in-hand with a swarm of mascots. Good to see plenty of players chatting to their little sidekicks. The Sri Lankan anthem has to be one of the longest and jauntiest there is. And then there's a song about deity rescuing a monarch.
And it's a vital toss to win, with conditions in the field likely to worsen as the evening goes on. Stuart Broad and his team will have a bowl first up, and hope to cope with Malinga, Mendis, the under-rated Kulasekara and Mathews, and the spin of Senanayake (who has a T20 international bowling average of 13).
Essentially we have an unofficial quarter final stage to this tournament now, as the winner of Pakistan v the West Indies on Tuesday will go through. As for Bangladesh they're out.
Also out are Australia, who are about to go and give India some batting practice. We'll have the OBO for that coming straight outta
Compton Sydney. Thanks for reading, bye!
In a surprise move, Pakistan have called up Jade Dernbach to bowl the final over and Bangladesh have won.
Umar Gul will bowl the final over and Mortaza is showing greater competence with the bat than he did today with the ball. He glides first a full one, then a short one, calmly down to third man for four runs. A dot, a scrambled single and Mahmadullah will face the final ball of the game. It's hit down the ground for one and that's that.
Mortaza again goes over mid-off and gets four with a nice clean hit off of Tanvir. By this point though the required rate is up to 42.00 and, given this isn't England's death bowling attack, nothing that matters is going to happen for the rest of this game. Tanvir, like Shakib and Razzak earlier, is bowling very wide around the wicket and must be close to being no-balled for it. 62 needed from the last over: are you on the edge of your seats?
The aforementioned Daniel Harris has the MBM for Fulham v Everton. You can switch over to that now; this was done so long ago it's now burnt to an inedible crisp.
Umar Gul is flicked away for Mahmudullah, whose name I've been spelling wrong all along, but the relentless Shehzad makes a great stop sliding along the boundary. Ziaur is out first ball and poor old Mortaza walks out to be greeted with a bouncer. He gets his own back, sort of, by belting four over cover.
Another short one, a clueless non-shot sees the bat wafted at the ball and a thin edge through to the keeper.
91 needed then at 22.75 an over. Ajmal comes around the wicket and finds the top edge as Nasir looks to run it to third man. It's not quite the shot he was trying to play but it gets four to the right region anyhow. Mahmadullah gets in on the free-hitting act, slogging a sweep from outside off stump for a flat six over mid-wicket. Nasir goes from the final ball.
Another stumping. He walks down, looks to smash it over cover, misses the quicker ball and is stumped.
Nasir brings out a faint, dusty, faded reminder of his potential as he steps down the track to an over-pitched Afridi delivery and drives it sweetly over mid-off for six. They get a single at the end of the over and look, they've got their hundred.
This is getting close to a pride-salvaging innings from Shakib as he turns a length ball from Gul to square leg for four. He then slaps it to long off for four more with what looks to me like a leading edge off of a horizontal bat. I imagine Gul will being pitching it a bit further up now. He should be out next ball, going for a slog sweep and looping it up to Malik at long leg, but he's dropped an absolute dolly. This is wandering into the territory marked "excrutiating". Finally he goes and no one in the ground makes a noise.
With the required run rate up around 20, Shakib looks to cross-bat a back-of-a-length ball again but skews it up to extra cover on the edge of the circle.
Afridi is close to yorking Nasir, the batsman just jabbing the edge of his bat down on it at the last moment. Even on the odd occasion that the batsmen can get a clean hit on the ball, they haven't got the placement to beat the fielders.
I've just realised that all these spurious stats they're throwing at us are based only on international T20s since 2012, which makes them even more meaningless. Ajmal returns to the attack, which is always a joy to watch, unless you happen to be at the other end facing him. This is setting up nicely for an Ajmal v Narine/Badree bowl-off on Tuesday.
Shakib is so close to being stumped here. He has a wild swing and misses it, coming down the track, but swung so hard that the bat came back around and landed inside the crease. That's mighty lucky. As per tradition, the next ball is swung high over square leg for the first six of the innings... as is the next one! Finally a bit of life from Bangladesh.
Meanwhile on the TV, Saeed Ajaml is having his fielding critiqued by Jonty Rhodes, which seems a little bit harsh. That's like having my OBO reviewed by Rob Smyth.
Can Bangladesh get that required run rate back below 14 in this Afridi over? Nasir gives it a go, trying to whack the leather off it and clearing cover, but it's not a convincing shot and lands short of the fielder who restricts him to one. Two from the over, which is incredible given the match situation. Bangladesh have given up and their fans deserve better.
After a first-ball wicket, Nasir Hossain strides to the middle looking like he has the weight of the world on his shoulders and a run of recent scores of 16, 14, and 15. I don't think Nasser Hussain would have the willpower to put something substantial together in this situation. He gets a couple to bring up a sad, sorry team 50.
This is pathetic. The captain plays down the wrong line to a straight, flat one and is hit in front.
"Fancy a go, Shahid? "Sure, why not?"
Afridi's first ball brings a wicket, which in turn brings captain Mushfiqur to the crease. Looking at the replay I'm not convinced Shamsur got anything on that ball, but at least it brings the end of this formality that little bit forward, right?
It's a straight one from Afridi, which you'd expect. Shamsur doesn't expect this and looks to cut it. He gets a very thin edge through to Akmal who takes a good catch. Wow.
Fancy some more spin? Pakistan do as Zulfiqar, one of 9,342 slow bowlers in today's lineup, gets a game of "Knock Over Some Batsmen". Shamsur goes after him, top edging a big slog sweep, but it lands safely wide of the fielder Ajmal. Not a lot of turn here for Zulfiqar, who's probably pitching it a bit too full up to give the ball time to move. Again it's just four from the over.
36 isn't a great return from the powerplay. It's a dreadful return when you need 11.5 runs per over as Bangladesh now do. There's no real rush for Pakistan to take the wickets either now, as this win makes it a straight shoot-out between them and the West Indies for the semi-final slot behind India; net run rate doesn't come into it.
I can imagine the mood in our Australian office isn't great right now, as the fact that they'll be OBOing a dead rubber with their team eliminated, becomes ever clearer. Anamul isn't giving up the ghost just get as he plonks Ajmal into the fence at cow corner for an ugly, one-bounce four. That's as good as it gets though and the inevitability of the result is illuminated by Ajmal's lack of celebration at the wicket; it really was a very good catch too. We're checking for a stumping now... there was downward movement of the foot after the bails came off but I reckon the toe was already touching the ground.
Tossed up and the batsman gets a leading edge, Ajmal takes a low return catch.
More pace, which is a surprise, in the form of Umar Gul, although he's too canny for the out-of-nick Tamim. Shakib has been promoted to number three. In fact it was the inside edge, then the pad that it took from the batsman on to the stumps. Gul sends down a poor full toss outside off stump, but Shakib can only push it to the fielder. No runs from the first four balls but they scamper a single from the fifth to get Anamul the closest Bangladesh have to a form player on strike. According to the broadcaster, his strong zone is the short ball drifting towards leg. I imagine that's most people's strong zone.
Tamim was halfway down the track by the time that hit the stumps. He ran down, Gul smartly dragged it back and immediately the batsman knew he was in trouble. It took the outside edge and flicked back into off stump.
Run-out chance here as Tamim is struggling to make his ground from the non-striker's end, but the throw from silly point is wide. A slow, short, wide one from Tanvir is left alone by Tamim, which I guess shows the difference in form between now and a couple of years ago for the batsman when he was thrashing England all over the place a couple of years ago there's no way he'd have missed out there. He doesn't miss out here as the fourth ball strays towards leg and is helped on its way to the fence with a lovely swivel pull. A couple of singles, a couple of twos here and there and it's ten from the over.
Hafeez draws a leading edge from Anamul but there's no carry on this pitch and it's perfectly safe. Anamul steps down the track and, although the ball holds up a little in the pitch, he reads it perfectly and smacks four over mid-on. I reckon that's landed on the rope and Bangladesh have been done out of two runs here... nope maybe not, it was a fraction inside looking at the replays.
Pace from the other end though and Anamul gets a boundary off of Tanvir's first ball, deflecting it to third man. Incidentally if Pakistan win then Australia will have emulated England and gone out at the group stage. I'm a little surprised Tanvir is opening the bowling; with the number of spinners at his disposal it might have been an idea for Hafeez to open with spin at both ends and just let that required run rate climb, escalating the pressure. Tamim hooks wildly into no man's land at square leg and gets a couple.
Hafeez opens the bowling, as is normal and as you'd expect with spin proving by far and away the most effective style of bowling so far. Tamil gets four, cutting him through point.
Oh for... Maqsood launches it down the throat of Nasir Hossain at long off and the fielder shells an absolute sitter on the rope. The last ball is a single to mid-on and Pakistan get 190, which is remarkable on this dead pitch where the ball wasn't coming off the bat particularly cleanly. Ahmed Shehzad's unbeaten 111 from just 62 balls has almost certainly put this game beyond Bangladesh. Afridi and Ajmal could defend this in their sleep.
"I know," thinks Al-Amin, "I'll bowl short and wide outside off stump." His first ball with that theory is slashed for four over third man by Afridi, then overthrows give them a couple more. This is a sorry, sorry finish from Bangladesh. Afridi gets a couple more to square leg, then holes out to long on, cross batting a slow, short ball.
That was actually a remarkably good death over from Shakib, going for just five. Less good from Mortaza, whose length ball is whacked for six over mid-on. He has Shehzad caught in the deep by Tamim on the next ball... oh no it's a no-ball! So a free hit and, as the batsmen crossed, Afridi is on strike for it. Exactly zero people are surprised as Afridi belts it his second ball in the innings right over extra cover for six, bringing up the bowler's fifty. Ouch. Afridi is caught off the next ball, only for Anamul Haque to fall over the boundary, again at extra cover, after taking the catch and giving up the third six of the over. The final ball is full, wide and carved past third man for four. 24 from a dreadful, Dernbach-esque over.
Mortaza finishes with eye-watering figures of 4-0-63-0.
Right can Shehzad emulate Alex Hales and become the second batsman to score a hundred at this tournament? He gets a single from Shakib to equal his own record, before Malik has to use his full reach to squirt a single to point. Shehzad works it to mid-on and wants two, but they can only manage a single. The wicket of Malik brings Afridi to the crease and it feels a little unfair that the crowd are getting a little more excited about watching this bowling all-rounder than Shehzad getting his country's first ever century.
And Shehzad pushes a single through cover to reach his hundred, which is met with a smattering of applause. Come on now, crowd, you can do better than that. This century deserves far better than that.
Malik misreads this one entirely, running down the pitch and going through with the shot far too early, giving the captain and 'keeper the easiest of stumpings.
With the spin options wearing thin, Al-Amin is back on. The three seamers have economies in double figures (Ziaur's is 22.00 from one over), whereas the worst of any spinner is Mahmadullah's 8.00. There's a rather loud swear from Shehzad as a slow leg cutter beats his hard slash outside off stump. A couple chipped to mid-on and a single take him to within one of his own Pakistani T20 record of 98.
Shehzad is getting silly now. He has essentially just sat down and tried to play the scoop to fine leg. Unsurprisingly, he misses that one. He misses the next one too, which Mortaza sends miles down the leg side for five unwanted wides. Creamed over cover after that for a one-bounce four; is there any player who veers so wildly between such beauty and such ugliness in their strokes as Shehzad? Heaven knows what that next shot was as he ran down the pitch and used the full face to chip it just over the bowler for a single. This is fantastic nonsense. Four more as a poor bouncer is pulled nicely behind square. That's 16 from the over and Shehzad in touching distance of Pakistan's first ever T20 hundred.
"Who knew, Bangladesh don't do British summer time," my colleague Daniel Harris has just said. OK, OK, I'm an idiot.
With control needed once again, Bangladesh turn back to Shakib. Shehzad, with his marvellous Commander Riker beard, goes inside out over extra cover with a wonderful drive for a couple, then whacks a hideous one straight up in the air that fortunately for him drops into no-man's land as Nasir Hossain goes off for treatment. Just seven off the over, which Bangladesh will reluctantly take right now. I imagine the wicket of Shehzad would have been preferable though.
Its almost as if Bangladesh dont want to be a tiny piece of an unlikely jigsaw of results necessary to get Australia into the #WT20 finals
Malik is an excellent runner between wickets and he has to be here, getting back for a second as a throw from square of the wicket results in a direct hit. So quick is Malik though, that they don't even need to refer it upstairs. Finally Mahmadullah goes for a boundary as he sends down a full toss and Malik welts it for a boundary through mid-on. A second in as many balls follows with a crunching off drive that goes through the fielder Nasir Hossain on the sweep.
Since Shehzad brought up his fifty in the tenth over, he's faced just six balls and added six more to his score. With the seventh ball he doubles that number of runs, hitting a length ball from the seamer Ziaur over mid-on for six more. Another four comes from the second ball, run nicely down to third man and Bangladesh may be regretting not having another spinner in the ranks here. A single to gully brings up the hundred for Pakistan and a big hoik from outside off to mid-wicket brings up the 106 from the next ball. Four more timed beautifully through point makes it 22 from the over. Ah.
Mahmadullah is the most economical bowler in the tournament so far and he's in for his second over. He looks happy to concede singles to cover here with Pakistan coming under increasing pressure from the dearth of boundaries. The run rate is 7.30, which would give Pakistan a very chaseable 146. Mahmadullah sends down a poor full toss, but again they can only get a single.
28 balls since the ball last went over the rope now...
We've not seen many bowlers bowl through in this tournament so far, but Razzak is going to. The fielders are surrounding new batsman Malik and unsurprisingly Shane Warne approves of this aggressive captaincy. The pressure is well and truly on and some good fielding on the rope at third man means it's now 22 balls since the last boundary.
Mahmadullah becomes the third spinner introduced to the attack. As captaincy decisions go, it's not the hardest, but it's certainly the right one given he removes Umar Akmal for nothing at all. It was an appalling shot mind, as Shane Warne says. Earlier in the over, Shehzad brought up his 50 almost unnoticed, but he's playing a lone hand here. After that great start Pakistan are having a bit of a wobblen and their set batsman is almost run out here going for a second to mid-on, but the fielding is pretty ordinary.
Oh dear. An ugly shot, looking to slash it through cover I think, catches a huge edge and loops up to Tamim at short third man. Pakistan in trouble here now their form batsman has gone.
Good move to keep Razzak on I reckon given the control he offers and Shehzad's aggressive mood. Hafeez has struggled a little against him and no sooner does he try to attack him than the left-armer gets him.
That's a beauty from Razzak, turning it past Hafeez's outside edge as the batsman stepped forward and looked to turn him to mid-on. Mushfiqur does the rest.
I would imagine Pakistan will attack now as Al-Amin comes back on. He starts with a good ball, full outside off stump, which tangles Shehzad up as he looks to scoop. A more old-fashioned shot, an inside-out drive over cover, is more successful and it lands on the rope, bringing six runs and taking him to 44. Pakistan have apparently won every game where Shehzad has scored more than 40, although that stat is probably more relevant to superstition than anything else. He's almost swept one on to his stumps here, looking to play the kind of shot that was so successful for AB de Villiers last night. The over mirrors Al-Amin's first, going as it does for 11.
A man who knows a thing or two about good spin bowling, Shane Warne, is in the commentary box. I'm struggling to fathom why Abdur Razzak was dropped by Bangladesh in the first couple of games as Hafeez an excellent player of spin is cautious against him here. He's lucky that these two are good runners between the wicket, as dropping it into the gap is about all they're able to do at the moment.
Spin is, emphatically, the way to go it seems. The first three overs of seam went for 34 runs; the two of spin since then just 12. Hafeez, mindful of the way the wicket-taking delivery gripped the pitch, is watchful against Shakib, who, like Razzak, is bowling from so wide around the crease that he's risking being no-balled. Just four from that over and Bangladesh have come back very well in the powerplay.
Razzak, back into the side today, comes into the attack and his flatter brand of left-arm spin is effective early on. As I said may happen, the ball sticks in the pitch and Kamran knew he was in trouble with his pre-meditated lap scoop thing straight away. Captain Hafeez comes in and gets his first run with a sharp single to mid-on. That's a great over from Razzak, who is bowling from very wide around the stumps. Four runs and a wicket.
Oh what a catch this is! Akmal fluffs a scoop and top edges it to short fine leg, where Ziaur takes a marvellous catch leaping backwards. Like watching Paul Collingwood, that one.
It's fair to say that seam isn't working, so Bangladesh turn to their star all-rounder Shakib and his left-arm darts. He induces a big top edge from the sweeping Kamran Akmal, but with no fielder at deep square leg the ball trickles sadly for four. Akmal tries to slog an ugly leg side wide but misses it and gets a few byes. The final ball brings a shout for LBW from the wicketkeeper but it's come off the gloves. Great start this for Pakistan but it's very much buffet bowling.
Ugh, a disgusting slog from Shehzad over mid-wicket brings four, as does a much nicer flick over fine leg. Mortaza is bowling these on a good length and it's difficult to work out what his idea length would be. He tries a fuller, slower ball and Shehzad makes it three boundaries in three with an inside-out cover drive. A rare dot ball follows before Shehzad dances down the track and lofts a straight drive for six to make it 18 from the over.
"An hour early isn't embarassing," writes Gary Naylor. "I once turned up a whole day early for a ferry to Bergen and had to invest in a Whitley Bay BandB."
Al-Amin Hossain is, as usual, the other opening bowler, which means seam from both ends. The pitch looks so slow that it might be difficult to get the ball away to the fence here, as it could well stick in the pitch. The batsmen are happy to get on to the front foot, work the ball into the gaps here and run the singles quickly. Al-Amin strays on to Shehzad's pads with a full one and fine leg is up, so the batsman easily flicks it over him for four.
Mashrafe Mortaza, who has spearheaded Bangladesh's attack since 1904, is opening the bowling to the out-of-form Shehzad under the watchful eyes of Richard Kettleborough and Ian Gould. Pakistan get off the mark thanks to a misfield at square leg; Bangladesh's fielding hasn't been good so far in this tournament and that's an ominous portent. There's absolutely nothing on offer for the bowlers on what looks to be a featherbed and, after a couple of leaves, I can't imagine that Akmal will need long to get his eye in here. Oh I say that and he's beaten all ends up here by one angled in, the crooked bat wafting miles from both body and ball and it passes low over the stumps. Wide filth for the final ball though and it's cut hard to the point boundary.
Which means we'll begin in a couple of minutes. What do we reckon a good score for Pakistan will be? They're capable of getting 180+, especially if Umar Akmal continues the form he showed against Australia, although I doubt they'll need that many. Anything over 160 should be defended comfortably enough.
"Hi Dan," begins this email from Zeeshan Ahmad. "Any news on the Pakistan flag being allowed inside the stadium? Last I heard they had been banned by the Bangladesh Cricket Board authorities."
I'd not heard about this, but there appears to be something to it. Specifically, Bangladeshis are banned from carrying the flags of any other nation into the ground, so it's not a Pakistan-specific thing.
They're both in the bowling department too: Sohail Tanvir comes in for Bilawal Bhatti for Pakistan, while for Bangladesh, Abdur Razzak replaces Sohag Gazi.
Pakistan: Kamran Akmal, Ahmed Shehzad, Mohammad Hafeez*, Umar Akmal, Shoaib Malik, Sohaib Maqsood, Shahid Afridi, Sohail Tanvir, Umar Gul, Zulfiqar Babar, Saeed Ajmal
Pakistan have won that and will have a bat.
Perhaps surprisingly, Bangladesh can still qualify for the semi-finals. Beat Pakistan today and Australia on Tuesday and they'll have four points; if Pakistan beat the West Indies in the following game, then both of those teams will have the same and it all comes down to net run rate.
The bad news is that Bangladesh's is now a miserable -2.204, largely thanks to that enormous 73-run defeat by the Windies the second-highest in this competition overall and the highest in the main pool stage and their chances of overhauling the West Indies' +1.223 are slightly on the slim side. Still, hope there!
I'm going to sheepishly get a coffee. You guys can get an extra hour's kip, I guess.
Bangladesh doesn't appear to have adjusted its clocks, unlike here, which means I'm an hour early.
Morning folks. Apologies but we don't have long to go until this one starts as it took me a while to get into the building this morning, so let's get on with it.
Bangladesh been pretty dismal in hosting their own tournament. Never mind the lights going out regularly in Chittagong, nor the bizarre decision to hold day-night games in locations that become drenched with dew at night making bowling and catching near-impossible; they've been close to inept when it comes to actually playing
cricket T20. It's three defeats in a row now, narrowly to lil' ol' Hong Kong then utter spankings by the West Indies and India. Captain Mushfiqur Rahim has urged players to play their natural game, but if this is that then things do not bode well for Bangladeshi cricket.
Australia were all out for 86 in the 17th over as India won by 73 runs
It has been a humiliating tournament for Australia, shown up by all three opponents so far. Tuesday evening against Bangladesh will be their only chance to salvage the tiniest bit of pride, but on current form it will also be Bangladesh's best chance of a win in this group. India will go into the semifinals full of confidence.
I shall be here to cover the joy and the glory of that Bangladesh game. In the meantime, given probably most of you won't tune in, and given we're never sure when we'll next see Brad Hodge in Australian colours, I'll leave you with this little blast from the past courtesy of Russell Jackson. This is Geoff Lemon, bidding you farewell.
Well, you could perhaps forgive Australia for being unenthused about this match given they learned earlier tonight that they'd been knocked out of the tournament regardless. At the same time, you could have forgiven India for taking it easy or experimenting given they've already qualified. India did the opposite - they showed up, and Australia did not.
At least Australia's other defeats showed some fight, but this one was dismal. India will be delighted with another comprehensive victory. They win by 73 runs, having made 159/7, then having bowled Australia out for 86. Yuvraj and Dhoni did it with the bat for India, while all their bowlers chipped in. For Australia, Maxwell was their best with bat and ball, while Bollinger and Hodge bowled well, but there was little else to applaud.
Ashwin gets four, and India get Australia in 16.2 overs, Muirhead's cut shot caught behind.
So there are four overs to go, but Australia are nine wickets down. Getting bowled out in a T20 is some task... What can the last pair do?
Well, Hodge had no option by now. Had to try to hit out against Mishra, and it's another deep midwicket catch. One more wicket to fall now.
Four from the over, with Starc run out. Nothing left really.
Shambles. A wicket almost every over now. Starc coming back for a second run on Hodge's stroke, but ends up short of his ground.
Hodge has been left with a thankless sandbagging job to do in this innings. It's no win for him, he'll either be blamed for going too slowly, or hole out pushing the rate. Three from Mishra's over following Haddin's dismissal.
Australia didn't want Mishra to feel left out, so Haddin plays a half-hearted slog-sweep that lofts straight to deep midwicket. This is embarrassing now.
Jadeja continuing, and five from his over. Haddin got one smashed drive away for four, straight down the ground, but couldn't score (or even hit the ball, for the most part) from four other deliveries.
So all this damage has been done without even calling upon Amit Mishra. India's leg-spinner comes on, but to Australia's relief it's an uneventful over. Five singles. So what is happening with Australia? They just look a distracted, frustrated, unhappy team at the moment.
Bizarre game. Bailey hit a beautiful six from Jadeja - down the pitch, perfect skip, perfect easy swing of the bat. Then the next ball he wanted to go again, but swatted too hard at it on the slog sweep. It's down to Haddin and Hodge now.
I can't keep up, there's a wicket every over here. Bailey hits a six, then holes out to deep square leg. Australia's gone now, pretty much. A dire day.
What a spell Ashwin is putting together. 3 for 11 from three overs thus far. He ties up Hodge and Bailey through the rest of that over - it conceded one run and a wide.
He flies, he falls! That is ugly and bizarre. Maxwell went outside his leg stump, tried to reverse sweep Ashwin, and played the ball into his own stumps. He only got a nick on it - full face and it would have flown away. Maxwell loves that shot, but it brought him undone there. Australia's hopes plummet.
Bang! Jadeja comes on to turn it away from Maxwell, left-arm spin, and Maxwell sends his second ball way back into the stands. Eight from that over, Maxwell still flying.
Only three runs from Ashwin's over. He's doing beautifully. Pressure on Bailey, he's short of runs this tournament too.
India's spin king gets another. Neither Warner nor Finch looked right today. Warner lasted longer, but eventually goes for a big shot over midwicket, doesn't get all of it, it goes higher than it does long, and Rohit takes a fine catch running in. India all over them here.
Maxwell special indeed! He's facing Suresh Raina, and smears one six over midwicket, then gets down on one knee and lifts the other one diagonally, high over fine leg, and into the crowd. The TV is showing us that Maxwell has a tournament strike rate of 214. Singles make it 16 from the over.
Warner gets a very streaky boundary behind point, and there are six from the over. The wheels are wobbling. Can Maxwell produce another Maxwell special?
Oh dear. Watson's miserable tournament with the bat continues, just trying to run that ball away to third man I think, and he missed it. Clipped the bails.
Very quiet over there. The wicket and two runs, India are really bossing this match so far. Claustrophobic stuff.
Cam White's recall to the side hasn't been a joyful one. Gets a full ball from Kumar, plays the big drive, doesn't catch it properly, and holes out to cover running in.
Ashwin came on within the Powerplay overs, and it worked immediately with Finch's dismissal. Warner sees a couple zip by his off stump, then eventually gets one he likes a bit more and steps forward to it, crouching, head still, and slams it dead straight for six. That's the only scoring shot in the over.
Kohli wanted that catch. Finch hasn't looked comfortable. He backed way outside leg stump, Ashwin followed him, Finch followed through with a big drive down the ground but was cramped for room, and hit it high to mid on for a simple catch.
Kumar is doing some fine work with the new ball, accurate, pinning Finch, who takes until the fifth ball to get off strike with a slightly desperate swat across the line to mid on. Just one from the over. Top stuff.
Mohit Sharma gets his big chance. Warner forces two off the back foot through cover - nice - then slices two uppishly past point - not so nice. Sprints the single to mid off next. Finch works a single next, then Warner is surprised by a sharp short ball that hits the splice hard. Very good first over from Mohit.
Smack! Finch away first ball, some width from Bhuvneshwar Kumar, and slapped away for four. Gets a leg bye after a big lbw call that was going down leg, and Warner collects a leg bye as well.
For the arithmetically minded among you, that's 160 that Australia have to chase. They certainly have the batting, but can they handle the bowlers? India never completely fired in that innings, but Yuvraj and Dhoni still put on a key partnership of 84 runs in 42 balls. Kohli and Rahane put on 40, and aside from that there was not much to speak of.
Australia still looked a little sloppy with the ball and in the field, so can they find the requisite inspiration to win, even though they can't make the semi-finals? India won't be too fussed, you'd imagine, they'd just want to give their bowlers a good workout.
A good last over from Watson - took a wicket, effected a run out, and went for seven runs, only five of which were off the bat.
A leg bye is all they get.
Fifth ball of the over, it hit Jadeja on the body as he was advancing, then he just kept coming down the pitch. The ball rolled straight to Watson who picked it up, ran past Jadeja and knocked the bails off by hand.
Ashwin can't fully cash in on the free hit, a good yorker squeezed out for two runs.
Ashwin faces his first ball - oh dear, a dot, it cramped him for room as Watson followed him while Ashwin was backing away, but the umpire has called a no ball. Free hit.
A single to third man.
Starc saves four from Jadeja's cut shot. They get two.
He's gone! A very good knock comes to an end with the first ball of the final over, as Yuvraj tries to blast another six but falls a metre short.
The wicket falls after two singles and a wide. Ravindra Jadeja comes out to bat, and gets a leg bye first ball. There are eight left in the match. Seven now, as Yuvraj gets a low full toss outside off stump, but can only bottom-edge the square drive into the ground to Haddin. Then yet another full toss from Starc, he really is getting away with these - that one was dipping a bit, made it hard to see perhaps, and tailed in to the left hander, striking him on the pad for a leg bye.
Finally! Starc has had another miserable game, but he gets something to smile about - round the wicket, left-arm line, angled in at Dhoni, pitched full, and Dhoni misses the big drive.
Watson seeks to assert some control. A Dhoni single behind square, a very good ball that Yuvraj misses outside off, then a bouncer that Yuvraj top edges for four. Lucky, but profitable. Yuvraj is on 49 now, and gets a wide well outside off stump. Then he gets a full bunger on the pads, and lifts it high over midwicket with a lift off the pads. Half century up, well played after a tough start.
Australia have not got their accuracy right at all in this tournament, and India are more than good enough to make them pay. The second-last ball of the over is another bouncer, another hook, another gloved ball, and another four. There's a dot from the last ball, a wide yorker, but Yuvraj has taken 14 from the over, plus a Dhoni's run and a wide.
Starc back with four overs left in the innings. He has two left. I don't have a great feeling about this.
Aaaaaand Dhoni pulls him for six, first ball he's faced.
Dhoni misses the first ball from Bollinger, mistimes the big pick-up shot and gets a dangerous two, then slams the third ball back to Bollywood on the bounce. Looking rusty, is MS. He often does this though, then explodes. There's a small explosion with a clouted four over mid off, after a leg glance for another two. He finishes with two on the pull, so despite looking unconvincing, he's harvested ten from that over. An old pro, this fellow.
A lot of sportsman jargon on the commentary. Plans are apparently like Marie-Antoinette, they must be executed. Watson returns and starts really nicely, keeping Yuvraj to a single in two balls, then cramping Dhoni for another dot, before a strangled deflection off the gloves for a strangled single. No mean feat to keep that man quiet. Watson ruins it though with a couple of wides, one of which is deflected by Haddin to allow them to run two more. Eight from the over, which should have been four. India past the hundred.
BANG! Muirhead on to Yuvraj - it was a risk, with the leggie to the leftie, and it didn't come off. Two massive sixes from Yuvraj over square leg come as Muirhead gets too short. They then work the ball around to finish with 17 from the over. Big one.
"What's the Aussie opinion of Faulkner?" asks Robin Hazlehurst. "He already struck me as a bit unpleasant anyway, in a Stuart Broad sort of irritating way, but his rudeness to the Windies made him just seem nasty tosser."
Yuvraj starting to look a little better. Brad Hodge is back with the ball, got short, and Yuvraj pulled through midwicket. Great for India to get an innings into Yuvraj, he's such an important player when he's up and running. A wide and a couple of leg byes mean there are eight from the over, six recorded against the bowler, and Hodge had an lbw shout that was hitting, but pitched way outside leg.
Dhoni batting in the cap, as he likes to do. A couple of singles round out the over for the cost of five runs, and the wicket of Raina. That's the end of Maxwell's spell: 4-0-20-1. Excellent stuff.
There's another one. Raina sick of being tied down by Maxwell, tried to go long but again picked out long off. Four down now, MS Dhoni to bat.
Bollinger fields well off his own bowling to deny Raina, then after a single Yuvraj gets his first decent shot away, a cover-driven four. He's almost run out next ball, as he comes down the pitch, tries to go back, slips on his backside, and crawls back into his crease as Warner nearly throws the stumps down from cover. He would have been home. Bollinger appeals vociferously after a short ball gets past Yuvraj's waft, but no joy. The last ball cannons into Yuvraj's pad. The Australians will want him out before he finds form - you often see these scratchy starts develop into something good later.
Another close one for Maxwell, as Yuvraj punched just past his outstretched hand, and I think Maxwell got a finger to it. Strange effort, maybe he lost sight for a split second, as he moved his hand across rather than getting his body toward the line of the ball. It didn't stick, and India get five singles.
Two dots to Suresh Raina first up after the wicket, then a proper short ball he hooks for one. Yuvraj plays another dot. Two runs and from the over, India being kept to six per over at present.
Zachary Taylor is as confused as Shaun Pollock with a Duckworth-Lewis table. "Following from Istanbul, where no one is quite sure what time of day it is. You see, daylight savings was supposed to begin last night, but there's an election on for today, and the government announced out of nowhere that the spring forward would be put off until tomorrow (presumably to increase confusion). The problem is, everyone's cellphones and computers went ahead with the time change regardless. It appears no one in the government thought to inform the telecom companies. So there it is. Maybe it's 4:30 pm right now, or maybe it's in fact 3:30."
There's another, India are faltering here. A bowler's wicket, that one, a nice ball back of a length, angled across Rahane by the left-arm Bollinger, taking the edge behind. Big nick.
Oh dear. Brilliant over, only one run from it, Glenn Maxwell tying Yuvraj down utterly. But he could have run out Rahane, as Yuvraj played the ball away, started going, changed his mind, and had Rahane over halfway down. Maxwell had sprinted across to field, but the ball slipped from his hand as he tried to pick up at short cover. He would have had an age to steady and throw down the stumps.
Yuvraj nearly went in that over too, parrying a ball in the air past backward square leg, but survives. Muirhead gets too short in finishing the over, and is cut, but Starc puts in a brilliant diving save at cover to keep Rahane to two. The over goes for...yep, seven.
Anyone else sick of Gangnam Style?
How is that for a start? James Muirhead, the young leggie, comes on to bowl and gets Kohli second ball. It was a lofted drive to long off, the fielding restrictions had just been lifted, and so was the ball - but into White's waiting hands.
Bollinger starts a good tight over, three singles from four balls, but India have found one release shot each over, and Rahane gets the pull away to the square-leg boundary. One more single and it's eight from the over.
"Being an India supporter has been happily boring so far!" says Anish Mangal. "Hope the Aussies have a few tricks up their sleeves." Dougie Bollinger's shirt is looking pretty full, I'll have to say.
Starc gets away with a very wide ball, so Rahane charges next ball and smacks four through cover. Then Starc gets away with a knee-high full toss that goes straight to midwicket. No run. Shane Warne is scolding him on the TV for bowling too many of those, and he's not wrong. A wide and a few singles, India are working in multiples of seven each over.
Shane Watson is what's on now. Rahane nudges one to the leg side, then Kohli produces a beautiful square drive for none, straight to the field. Watto beats him next ball with a yorker outside off. Good start, but Kohli doesn't like those, so as Watson strays perhaps two inches in line - just angled in at off stump rather than outside - Kohli plays the bottom-hand flick over the infield and through midwicket. Some shot. Leaves a short ball next, he knows he has plenty of time. Third man up, long on goes back, and a good thing too, as Kohli drives into the ground and over Watson on the bounce, taking two that would have been four without that fieldsman. He's tripled Rahane's score.
Mitchell Starc is up now. His hair is dishevelled and he looks a bit rough, probably had some nightmares after that West Indies game. Rahane works a three through midwicket, unusual in this form but he sprinted after a wristy flick away. Then Kohli edges safely through third man for four. Starc comes back with a couple of shorter balls that tuck him up, and seven runs are all from the over.
Off spin from the other end as well, with Glenn Maxwell taking up the bowling. Kohli in nice and early is what Australia would want, so they've got some hope of making him nervy. But, he's Kohli, so after a few singles he mows the last ball into the midwicket crowd.
Eventful over. Hodge's first ball was a filthy leg-stump half volley that is swept away for four. His second was, well placed outside off and run for a single. Then he got the wicket, in an over that eventually goes for seven.
I lied about the opening batsmen, Rahane was opening with Rohit Sharma, but now Sharma is gone.
How's that for a start! Australia take a gamble and open the bowling with Brad Hodge's off spin, and does it ever pay off. Fourth ball he has Sharma playing an uppish cut, a bit of a top edge there, and backward point snares it comfortably.
You'll be pleased to know Lou Diamond Phillips was saved from hostage-hood by a grizzled old country cop, who shot the anarchist-punk murderer in the arm. Good move.
Australia has won the toss, breaking Dhoni's 43-year streak of coin mastery. Aussie captain George Bailey has chosen to bowl, so Australia can chase.
Cameron White is in the team for his first match of the tournament, replacing James Faulkner whose unique method of team motivation has been deemed surplus to requirements.
So may I enquire who's out there, following along in the graveyard hours of Australia, the sunset hours of India, or the high-street hours of the United Kingdom? Or in other nooks and corners around the world where cricketing enthusiasts go to hide?
Drop me a line via geoff.lemon.casual@theguardian.com, on any subject that stirs your gravy.
Anyway, we're 21 minutes away from watching some cricket, and the channel I'm on is showing a Lou Diamond Phillips movie, so it's not all bad.
Geoff Lemon here. It's just ticked past midnight here in Australia, and for the fans of that particular nation, the bad news is that Pakistan have just beaten Bangladesh, which means Australia cannot now qualify for the semi-final stage. That's because Pakistan and West Indies each have four points, and are due to play each other, which will leave one of them with six points. India already have six points. Both six points and four points are more points than zero points, and zero points is the number of points that Australia has in their points column. Get the point?
But - BUT - national pride remains on the line. India are probably tournament favourites now, having effortlessly won all their games so far, and Australia will want to knock them off. Actually, what am I talking about. It's T20, there are no favourites. But I'm right in saying that the Aussies still want a win, and individuals will crave some good performances so they can go home and feel like at least they did alright personally, and it was everyone else's fault.
Worst somehow got worse as England concluded an exceptional winter by taking a hammering from an excellent Netherlands
Gilo still thinks he's the man to take England forward, despite delivering perhaps the worst interview of all-time. But that's a riff for another day.
For this one, it's over. We can sleep safe in the knowledge that there is no ruination haunting our rest, and none awaiting us when we arise. Savour it hard, you deserve it.
"I'll be giving them very clear messages", he says, and criticises them for the lack of pride in their performance. No questions as to where he fits in in all of this.
Ashley Giles reckons England were "complacent" too, but Michael Atherton disagrees, arguing that you have to be playing well for that. He's right.
"We've lost KP and Swanny, who've obviously not been here."
Obviously. If only they could remember where they had KP last, he's bound to be in the last place they look.
"There's always that word of 'complacency'", he continues. "No one seemed to have any hunger to go and get any runs".
This is all very reasonable and stuff, and he's coming across as a nice boy. But.
"We lacked a bit of hunger with the bat" says a nowhere near as steamingly, head-kickingly, life-crushingly angry as he might be Stuart Broad.
Credit where it's due. England have secured the second-bottom place in Group A, just above Netherlands on run rate.
"Dear Ashley,
Good luck with that job interview,
Best regards The England Team"
chortles Peter McKean, bitterly.
Where do we go from here? The words are coming out all weird, where are we now?
"Brainless, shameful and totally unacceptable", says Bumble.
And they even craft the perfect ending. A swipe drops between two converging fielders, but it doesn't matter. Of course it doesn't! Tredwell is caught at the wrong end, is run out by bare and nuff, and that's it.
This one was inevitable. Broad goes hard at Bukhari's slower ball, edges plenty, and it caught behind. Luckily for England, Parry is in next.
A boundary! For real! Trusay! Happen! Say! By mistake, obviously, Tredwell going down the ground and slicing square. Where's Jade Dernbach's death batting when you need it, eh? Malik hustles through another over, and really the drama is gone - this is overer than Chris Martin and Gwyneth Paltrow breaking the world pole vault record.
The onslaught shall now commence.
Ah. Oh. Resignation replaces exclamation, as Jordan heaves and Swart, at long off, takes another superb catch, running forward and round before diving to insert fingers under cork. This isn't even close.
We are in the presence of greatness. Defer! Bopara goes to smash Van Beek out of the ground, and instead, picks out Seelaar on the rope, who leaps, pouches, steps quickly, and wobbles to intimate difficulty. Again, brilliantly taken.
You can but greet ineptitude such as this with awestruck ovation. Seelaar back on, and again, England can achieve ones and twos - how very apt - and not much else. Jordan is trying, but Bopara is swithering - does he make sure he's there at the end, or use his batting ability to, you know, bat.
"Time to chuck this winter into the nearest wheelie bin. Is there one handy?" asks Gary Naylor.
Borren continues, and again, it's just singles to begin with, which with the rate now up above 11, Netherlands will take. Jordan then cobbles two twos with a couple of pushes, and England are looking steadier. That will not be sufficient - it's been fifty deliveries since the las boundary
"At least, with KP not there, everyone can have a nice quiet biscuit in the dressing room together", emails Frederick Myles.
Peter Borren's captaincy has been exceptional today - his bowling changes have been superb, and even more than that, his fielding positions - the ball hasn't just gone to hand, it's gone straight to hand. And while we enjoy wading intoEngland, we mustn't forget that. Malik is back on, and England nurdle five singles.
"This really is commendable stuff from England", says David Hopkins. "A win today and we might have been left with the erroneous impression that their failure in this tournament was down to the Duckworth-Lewis nonsense against New Zealand. But that would be dishonest, so they've taken one final opportunity to show that this winter's farce has been due to a toxic mixture of complacency, brittle confidence and quite fantastically inept management. What grace, what dignity! "
How could it come to this? I'm really worried about living. How could it come to this? Yeah I really want to know about this. Is it like today?
It's happening. It's actually happening. Bopara swats to square leg and calls Bresnan back for a second, which is sprinted and lumbered respectively. Bukhari's throw is brilliant, and it's not even close.
Gosh, this is an outstanding display of attacking abjectivity. Borren reintroduces himself, and Bopara drives his first ball back at him - it's a difficult chance, but one he should take, and had he done, that might have been it. But, though he got two hands to it, the ball bounced out. Lucky England, not words one usually supposes to type.
Who doesn't like humour? What's not humorous about humour? Exactly. Seelaar is on and starts with two wides, but settles down, Bresnan attempting to attack but not managing much more. Seven from the over, and the required rate is now up above nine.
After taking care to play himself in, Buttler heaves a slower ball bouncer to square-leg, where Seelaar, walking in, makes a tricky catch look like a complete slice of urine, taking it on his haunches amidst much whooping.
Van Beek into the attack, and England continue with the singles, two from the first three balls, before Bopara volunteers a more expansive drive, taking two to extra cover.
"We should be congratulating the England team", reckons Kabira Namit, "for going out of their way to make a dead rubber interesting. Their sensitivity to audience interests is commendable."
If anyone can, Ravi can - that's see England home with ease and elan, or ruin things with airy carelessness. But England look relatively calm, knocking the ball around and scampering five runs - by the standard, a big over.
"This winter has been as bad as...
... all the '90s put together", offer Ravi Nair.
This is magnificent! England are magnificent! Borren's first ball is wide of off stump, where he wants it, where Borren knows he wants it, and Ali wantonly chops to Cooper at mid off.
With England thoroughly becalmed, Malik comes on, and England muster two runs and two leg byes.
Let's play a game: this winter has been as bad as:
England's current run rate is 4.00, the required run rate 8.15. Netherlands will need more wickets, because ultimately, even this lot will be able to bunt the ball around to get that. But still, this is another excellent over - England can only achieve two.
"This is so, eh, English from England", says Simon McMahon. "I can't think of a worse put-down than that."
This would be wonderful and resounding failure, but Netherlands are bowling brilliantly.
Oh. Oh! Van der Gugten has bowled really well and deserves that, slinging down a wider one that Morgan edges to Borren, who's cleverly stationed himself at about third slip. This is suddenly thrilling.
England must be playing the long game, taking just a single from the first three balls. But then Morgan takes a stride and half down and across, turning Van der Gugten to midwicket for a beautiful four. But. But. But.
The hat-trick ball is wahtever, wide of off-stump, but the next is a beauty, crowding Morgan closer to his stumps and tempting him to play - and miss. Another good over.
They couldn't? They couldn't! They might. Hales misses a swipe, the ball feathers the top of the off bail, he doesn't notice, and it takes an it's behind you from Moeen and Bruce Oxenford before he departs. Bukhari is on a hat-trick, and at the same stage, Netherlands were 35-1.
Sharp fielding at backward point denies Hales twice, as he looks to run the ball down. So, instead, he goes to leg, again picking out the man at 45. So instead, he flashes uppishly, and slices to the man on the point boundary. Good over from Van der Gugten, that.
It's starting. It isn't, but you never know.
Lumb makes to drive a fuller one, checks it, and drills a catch directly to cover.
Bukhari replaces Swart, and his second ball is back of a length, Hales waiting for it, rising, riding, and timing it for four behind square on the off side.
"Stranger things have happened in this tournament" than England losing from here. England chasing 190 to beat Sri Lanka, for example. Anyway, Van Der Gugten is on, and after Lumb takes a single from his first ball, the second swings away from Hales and bounces too - but it's well wide. Still, he's got a decent lick, and a double-emm at the end of Timm and all. It's no Wesley, granted, but it's good.
It's spin to begin, Swart wheeling in and cracking Hales on the pad, just outside the line, before Hales crumps him to midwicket for four. Then, following a single, Lumps drives through cover, Seelaar chasing well to dive headlong and swipe it away from the plasticky thing over the rope.
The batsmen are out.
Can England give this winter the epi
lady logue is deserves? Can they really fail to score 134? Surely they must, if there is any karma, chakra, symmetry and poetry in the world.
Jordan is bowling very sharply here, cracking Cooper's helmet with his second bouncer. Then, when Cooper steps away, he follows him well, for another dot. He might not be ready, but he's fun to watch, his jib coutured in Savile Row, and the final over cedes just one leg bye.
After turning down a single to retain strike, Barresi misses with a hoik at a full, straight one and is hutchwards bound.
Borren, urgently needing runs, swipes a slower ball and caresses a simple catch to Parry at mid-off.
After Broad's first two balls go for just three runs, Barresi tickles the third over extra cover for six. That was timed beautifully. And then, a mess. Borren barges down to long leg and they take a second run that's never on. But Buttler leans around his stumps to take the throw, breaking the stumps with his knee before the ball is in-hand, and the umpire's pop upstairs to reassure themselves that it's not out.
"The thought of a contemporary national anthem fills me with dread. Theyre meant to be written amidst the fervour of a populist movement, wed end up with something written by committee and performed by Elbow.
Back to finish off is Chris Jordan, and Netherlands really need something. But Jordan pins Borren back with some short stuff, followed by a tyorker, and that's another excellent over, just three from it.
Robert Wilson emails in with more put-down patter:
England are grinning now - if they can't win from here, they will need a very stern talking-to from Old Gilo. This is another good over from Broad, but Borren waits for the fifth delivery and administers a delicate uppercut over Buttler for four. He then gets a leading edge to the next one, which drops short of cover.
!!!!! Chris Jordan is something! Cooper has a heave at Broad's first ball and sends it whizzing over mid-on. But if Jordan isn't in pursuit, chasing after it, leading with two hands, determining to go with one, and bending forwards to snatch it one-handed, using the other to snaffle his glasses.
Bopara hustles through six more bowls and finishes with 1-15 - surely he couldn't have taken a more demeaning hiding that did Poorjade.
Otherwise, Daniel Beckell emails with his team for the summer:
Bresnan returns, and is quickly antagonised by Hales, who drops a chance on the square-leg fence. The ball was dipping, but he had hardly to move, and that was a bad error, precisely the shot England wanted Cooper to play. He's left wringing his hands as punishment. Then, the penultimate delivery bounces aeons over Barresi's head - Buttler does well to parry it and prevent the boundary - and two wides are added to the total.
This is a potentially crucial spell from Bopara, a dross of wide ones and slower runs making it sufficiently hard such that by the fifth ball, Barresi is chucking in a delivery stride feint. And he slashes one that sticks, Broad flying after it at point. He can only tip it over the bar, but saves two by preventing a boundary.
This is much better from Parry and a good bowling change from Broad - both Barresi and Cooper prefer some pace on the ball. But, after the first five balls yield just four runs, Barresi gets hold of one, clattering high to extra cover for a one bounce four.
Wesley Barresi is an excellent name. The world can never boast sufficient Wesleys - or should that be Weslies? Anyway, Bopara rushes through another ragtag variety pack of dobblers, and England have wrested back momentum.
Bopara begins his second over with a full bunger on leg stump, Myburgh salivating at the other end. And he tucks right in, smiting it to square-leg - and directly into the gaping palms of Alex Hales. Laugh!
Tredwell begins his last over by deceiving Barresi with turn, bounce and a wide, the ball skipping past his outside edge on leg-side. Buttler is quick to whip off the bails, but Barresi did well to turn and regain his ground, given not out after the third umpire had taken a look. A single then brings Myburgh on strike, and he clips hard to midwicket for two before stretching down the pitch to pound four through square leg.
Ravi Bopara is having a go - I'm surprised he's not bowled more, actually, especially given the obscene mess England have made of the same. And he does well, ceding just five runs.
Quiet over from Tredwell, who's bowling well - but has not impressed Charlie Bird. "First class bowling average: 35.75. Are we really that desperate?"
I'm not sure that's fair - it only matters how good he is now, not whether he took some tap earlier in his career.
Here's Parry into the attack, and offers a nervous tempter to Barresi, duly pasted to deep midwicket. But Lumb is there on boundary, and rises to his right to take a tricky but regulation catch, only to totally mistime his leap and parry the ball for six. Then, gouge it in, Myburgh goes down on one knee to slog sweep six more, also over midwicket.
More from Tredwell, milked for singles - which England will take. And here's Ravi Nair:
"Wasn't Steve Waugh famously once told forget about being the best batsman in Australia, he wasn't even the best batsman in his own family?"
Broad continues, and after two dots, is uppercut for four by Myburgh - somewhat streakily, because it was off the toe. But he responds with three more dots, another excellent over.
Meantime, here's Peter McKean with some put-downs (or should it be puts-down?).
Another over, another bowler - this time, Tredwell. And he starts well, a leading edge zipping just over his head to give Barresi his first run, and then one bouncing more than expected, spiriting straight through Myburgh and bouncing over the top at a cost of three byes. This brings Barresi back on strike, who waits to cut hard backwards of square on the off-side, and somehow nine have come from what seemed to be a decent over. Oh.
Much better - two from the over, and a wicket.
Kevin Wilson, meanwhile, is already contemplating the summer:
Swart goes to swipe a fuller one down the ground, and the ball sticks a little at the same time as he checks the shot. This eventuates a lob, easily held by Parry at mid-on.
Jordan into the attack, and he begins with a leg side wide. He seems to find his range with his second ball, full and just outside off, but then tries a short one, nowhere quick or bouncy enough - Swart waits, and clubs it down to the square-leg fence. Nasser reckons batsmen have spotted that Jordan has a natural length, so are able to wait for him - and Swart does exactly that to the penultimate ball, sending it hurtling through midwicket when it arrives on his pads. And the ultimate one - only in existence because of the opening wide - does similar, this time not encountering bat, but still speeding to the boundary for four leg-byes. Netherlands are going very nicely in-deed.
Bresnan starts well, but is too full and straight with his fourth ball, turned hard through midwicket for four by Swart. And he cuts the next one, top edged just short of third man. Still, that's a better over.
There's a bit of turn in the pitch, and bounce - both pretty slow, but present, at least. Swart turns the first ball backwards of square on the leg side, before Myburgh swats the second ball through midwicket - it sits up very nicely indeed. And the following delivery is banged through mid-on, under Broad's drive, for four more - this is really nicely played, Myburgh somehow moving to leg without cramping himself. The next ball yields a minor lbw appeal, and the one after that is spanked back high back down the ground for four more. 13 from the over.
Moeen Ali will open the bowling, and the ball is dry.
Smylers is snarking this morning. "Before this tournament started Paul Collingwood said 'I don't want people to play like I did'. I think it's fair to say that the England team have accomplished that: Collingwood was renowned for his superb fielding. So that's one goal they've achieved."
The anthems have been played. Makes you proud - though I wonder how a contemporary, honest one might read.
And more with Kevin Watson: "As it's a dead rubber, it would have been nice to have seen Bell and Woakes get a game, perhaps leaving Lumb and Bresnan out. But as they're just replacements, and not seemingly seen as part of England's T20 future, maybe it makes no difference.
Lots of questions for England's new coach, I mean Ashley Giles. Is it time to bring Root back in to open, and try Robson and drop Root down the order to replace Pietersen? Are Trott and Prior going to come back? Is Bairstow going to be put out of his misery and consigned to county cricket for a long, long time? Will Tredwell be Swann's less stellar but Giles-esque replacement? Can someone please sort Steven Finn out? Has Chris Jordan put himself in the mix for Test cricket? Does Jade Dernbach read Twitter (I really really hope not)?"
Email. "It's not Spring on Tyneside Daniel - for the 3rd day in a row it's cold, damp and misty! The only shoots to suggest spring is coming from the dark Winter of English cricket have been our batsmen almost chasing down 190 on consecutive innings. I'll be controversial and say that they should have played Bell and Colly today."
I'd hoped Lathwell might get a game, just shows what I know.
Giles versus Moores. That, according to St. Michael of Atherton, is the battle for the England manager's job. Oh. Geoff Boycott wrote recently that Giles was "a nice nonentity", as devastating a put-down as can be delivered in three words. Send in your favourites - and in the meantime, here are two more classic soul witherers:
Roy Keane on Mick McCathy: "I didn't rate you as a player, I don't rate you as a manager, and I don't rate you as a man".
Apparently there are stiiiiillll people who don't appreciate T20. Yes. Now, of course it's not as good as Tests - but what is? - and yes, sometimes the games are decided quickly - like in most sporting contests. It is also exciting, nuanced, innovative, and better than pretty much anything else you could be doing.
Toss news: Peter Borren calls heads, it's tails, and England will "have a bowl". Whatever happened to narky adults demanding you asked to field? Ah, but at least Peter Borren has some class - he'd have "fielded".
England make one change, Parry in for "Jade", and Netherlands are unchanged for the seventh game in a row row row.
Team news. Stuart Broad is playing. More to follow. Meantime, let's be having your winter tales of woe - or general tales of woe.
Preamble The clocks have gone forward, mornings are light, the birds are back with their aggravating racket; it's spring. It's spring!
But wait! England are still getting beaten at cricket! Yes, the longest winter of all-time - one to make even House Stark shudder, in whose connection Dr Dre could write an entire album, and of such dominance as could only be announced by Jimmy Lennon Junior, is stiiiiiiiiiilllll with us. For one more day. Celebrate its glorious, appalling, glorious end here.
England sauntered past South Africa to reach the final of the women's Twenty20 World Cup, where Australia await
The final starts at 9.30am BST on Sunday, and is unlikely to be as straightforward as this. Anya Shrubsole is the player of the match, which she's have deserved even if she'd only bowled the two deliveries that did for Lee and Chetty. "That was a really good performance. I'm really pleased to be through to the final. It was just about getting enough balls in the right area and hoping for the best, and it's turned out all right."
An important lesson for young bowlers out there, desperate to learn the mystical art of swing bowling it's just about getting enough balls in the right area and hoping for the best. Although she could have been downplaying things a bit there. Anyway, an excellent performance with bat and ball. I'm going to have a little break now I'll be back in an hour for the men's semi-final. Bye!
Ismail bowls what turns out to be the final five-sixths of an over, but it's only a question of time, a question to which the answer is: not much time, not much time at all.
9 wicket win for Eng women over SA to reach final. All a bit easy in the end, @Sarah_Taylor30 upping the ante with 44*.
Taylor's scoop sends the ball rolling to the fine leg boundary, and England are in the final!
Three singles and a very fine tickle to fine third man for four constitute a fine start to the over. Then an accidental bottom-edge goes to pretty much the same place to bring four more. England need three at 0.75 runs per over.
England are just strolling towards victory here. The drama has been seeping out of the game like yoghurt from a cracked container, and now it's basically gone, spread in a probiotic puddle over the bottom of cricket's fridge. England require 2.8 runs from each of the five remaining overs.
Knight scoops the ball into the air in attempting a sweep, but the ball lands totally safe. Then she totally misses Luus' next delivery with a wild swish, and two balls later pokes the ball uppish towards gully, but it lands a yard short. All very uncomfortable, but squeezed in the middle there was a swept four.
Now South Africa are playing fast and Luus, with Ismail returning at the other end. Her first over went for eight, but this one brings just two more singles. England need four an over from now on.
There's another caught-and-bowled chance a few balls later, this time the ball flying just out of reach. Every ball, except the one that led to the wicket, led to a single.
That's the breakthrough, and 18-year-old Suné Luus takes it! It's a decent catch, too, taken with two hands high above her head, and Edwards strolls off, shaking her head.
Van Niekerk continues, and Edwards thumps the ball straight down the ground for four. There should have been more the final delivery was wide and weak, but scooped limply over cover for a single.
Now South Africa bring on Suné Luus, employing spinners at both ends and thus preventing me from saying they're "playing fast and Luus", which is a shame. Dammit, I'm going to write it anyway. She has a decent lbw should against Taylor off the final ball, but no gravy. "Agree with the sentiment that the women's England team seem in a better place than the men overall," writes Indy Neogy. "Still, I worry about the lack of six hitting. That's a disease that the men are only just shaking off. Should we get to the final, I can see the Aussie women piling up a total that we just can't reach."
South Africa have a
knee-jerk reaction to those boundaries Van Niekerk reaction to those boundaries, bringing on the spinner who in her last two games has taken five wickets for 22 runs. Four singles follow.
Over seven ended with a boundary, and over eight starts with one Tryon bowls a little wide, and Edwards pushes the ball through the covers, neatly dissecting two fielders. The next ball is brushed off the pads and away for another, and the one after that evades the dive of Luus on the boundary (to be strictly accurate it doesn't evade her she dived right on top of the ball and into the rope, with the ball stuck under her stomach). That brings up England's 50, and Edwards takes the rest of the over off to celebrate.
Loubser continues, and England score five singles and a last-ball boundary, struck by Taylor along the ground through long on. "My Uncle, Matthew Patridge (yes, my grandfather is called Alan) is cycling 100 miles and running a half marathon for MacMillan Cancer Support," writes The Guardian's own Dan Lucas. "His Justgiving page is here and any support is welcome." Unconventional, but acceptable.
Love watching Taylor and Edwards bat for England. Real authority. Both brilliant in Hobart when they won the Ashes
Tryon, outstanding with the bat, sees if she can sprinkle some magic with the ball. Not yet, would be the answer. "As to whether or not the England Women's team appears to better than the Men's team," writes Robert Wilson, " I hate to say it but they seem notably more likeable as well. Can't help but think that must make a big old difference on the pitch, in the dressing room and on every flight they ever take." But perhaps this England team and any team would start to jar with greater media coverage? Familiarity does breed contempt, after all.
Loubser bowls, and England get three more runs. They are 25% of the way through their innings, and 25.49% of their way to their target.
Daniels continues, and England manage to get some runs off her this time. Four balls and three runs into the over, Daniels pauses to stretch and grimace a bit, doing a decent impression of a person feeling pain, but then recovers to send down two very decent dot balls. As the over ends she leaves the field to receive further treatment.
Kapp gives Edwards some width and she works the ball through the covers for four. Later in the over she tries to scoop the ball to the fine leg boundary and gets it a bit wrong. The ball still goes to the fine leg boundary, but it comes off the edge and flies just over the stumps.
Daniels bowls over two, and her combination of decent pace and excellent, full length ties Edwards up. A maiden over.
Taylor guides Ismail's first ball to third man, and a few balls later Edwards does the same. Taylor then slips the ball wide of third man and runs a couple, and thumps the last through midwicket for four. "In the way that the likes of Glenn McGrath were mentored in his batting by a more skilful colleague," writes Gary Naylor, "perhaps the England Men's and Women's XIs can set up something similar for batting, bowling, fielding, captaincy etc. If the women can be persuaded to pass on their knowledge of course."
Get rid of Sarah Taylor and Lottie and SA are really in this game I reckon. Easier said than done though.
Sciver bowls the final over, and Tryon fails to profit from a full toss from delivery one, and gets out from delivery two. The final pair exchange singles, and it's all over. A decent total, particularly given the way the innings started, and it's entirely down to Chloe Tryon, the only person to score more runs than they faced balls. "We're really pleased to keep them down to that total," says Anya Shrubsole.
SA all out for 101. More than they should have got, fewer than they might were it not for some crap running. 5 run outs.
A fifth run out, a Twenty20 record, and South Africa's innings ends with a delivery to go!
Tryon absolutely launches her bat at that one. Had she middled it, it would still be flying. Had she got any kind of contact, it would have travelled pretty fast. But she missed completely, and was clean bowled. A fine and absolutely essential innings.
Gunn continues after a change of ends, and is immediately tonked over mid-off for four by Ismael. She's run out off her next ball, desperately trying to bring Tryon onto strike and we see why when Tryon hits her first delivery of the over down the ground for six.
That's a fourth run out! She hits to cover but to quote Andy Townsend if anything she hit it a little too well it flew straight to Shrubsole, who returned it accurately enough to the bowler's end.
Ismael takes half the over to score a single, which sets the tone. Just three from the over, the fewest since the 10th. Hazell's four overs brought just eight runs in all.
For the first time in this tournament, Charlotte Edwards bowls and her first delivery is thumped over midwicket by Tryon for the day's first six. Later in the over, and not for the first time, Tryon should have been run out, but the ball is thrown high and wide to the bowler, who collects it shoulder-high and shies at the stumps but misses. A throw over the stumps, or even in their vague vicinity, would surely have brought another wicket.
Gunn bowls, and the momentum has shifted in the last 10 minutes or so as a result of Tryon's aggression. A better throw from that last ball would have got her out, and they may well be punished.
Calamity! South Africa come back for a second run but are watching ball rather than team-mate, run into each other, both fall over and even though England don't field the ball very well, they still can hardly fail to get one of them out. From England's perspective, they probably got the wrong one.
Sciver's over starts with a wide, and sees more evidence of Tryon's blade-swishing ways she thumps one to the midwicket boundary, the ball landing perhaps six feet short of the rope. Twelve runs from the over in all, making it the most productive of the innings so far. "Oh, happy days," writes Damian Sefton. "It is if I am awaking from a delirium, an English cricket team is good. What is it the Womens team understand that the Mens team dont? From the little I have seen and read they still enjoy the game and are able to transmit that to the fans. Whereas the Mens team seem to be on a treadmill churning out a product to be marketed and sold. Anyway enough of my maudlin deliberations, this is some excellent cricket."
There's very clear evidence of South African feet being applied to accelerators before Du Preez's dismissal, with Tryon slapping a short delivery through square leg for four along the way. Meanwhile, back in England, it seems to be county squad photo day.
Du Preez thwacks the ball through midwicket only to see Greenway, running to her right, take a fine catch in the deep.
Natalie Sciver bowls for the first time, having taken three for 10 against Bangladesh a week ago. Tryon thumps the ball in the air through the covers, the ball beating the dives of two fielders on its way to the boundary.
Grundy bowls, and a variety of ones and twos are worked. Eventually Tryon decides to hit big and dances down the pitch to the final delivery, which bounces into her leg but far enough from the stumps for nobody to know where it might have ended up.
A relative dearth of drama, with four singles and absolutely no run-out chances from Gunn's over. "Wow," writes Ravi Nair. "Sarah Taylor is just the fastest-hands-in-the-west isn't she?" Her work to get rid of Van Niekerk was indeed splendidly swift and startlingly accurate.
Well it was all going on there. And Tryon should probably have been run out as well, only for Edwards to pick the wrong end to throw the ball to. I'm not sure I can remember a three-run-out over, but we should have had one right there.
Kapp tickles the ball to short fine leg and sets off, and it's returned to Hazell at the bowler's end. She's poorly positioned, and so it takes a while for her to collect it and take off the bails, but replays show she did so just in time.
Hazell bowls, and appeals loudly as Van Niekerk works the ball off her pads and sets off on a run. The umpire is unimpressed, but Taylor whips off her gloves, gathers the ball and brings down the stumps at the bowler's end, and Van Niekerk is out anyway.
Jenny Gunn continues the medium-fast assault from one end, with spin occupying the other, and her day starts with a wide but improves.
Hazell's second over brings just two more runs, although Du Preez was unlucky with a nicely-struck sweep that picked out a fielder and brought no more than a single. If they continue to score at this rate, South Africa will end their 20 overs with 60 runs.
Some good news for South Africa: Anya Shrubsole won't bowl again today. An excellent little spell from her, bringing 12 runs and two wickets, comes to an end.
Grundy seems to be tying up Du Preez with her looping, full-length deliveries, but then, well, then she isn't. Du Preez watches the first three deliveries before hitting the third high over mid-on for a one-bounce four, and the fourth high over mid-off for another.
Shrubsole keeps going, but in her third over she doesn't threaten the stumps quite as much as she had previously, giving a bit more width at least until the fifth delivery, a fuller length and angling into the pads, fortunately for South Africa just catching the edge of the bat on its way. Van Niekerk doesn't really profit from any of this, mind, picking out fielders a few of times and blocking the rest. A maiden.
Rebecca Grundy has a go with some spin, with immediate rewards. South Africa are in a bad place here, scoring a fraction over three runs an over, with wickets falling fast.
Van der Westhuizen retreats onto the back foot, swishes her bat across the line and ball thumps pad about six inches in front of the stumps, as plumb as you like.
Taylor comes up to the stumps as Van der Westhuizen arrives, but the new batswoman seems far from unsettled, prodding one to square leg for a couple, and the next past third man for the day's first boundary.
An action replay of the first wicket: the same line, the same length, the same result a flying leg stump. Brilliant bowling.
Danielle Hazell twirls the fingers, and Chetty takes a sharp single to mid off and sets off on an extremely optimistic run, giving Heather Knight a chance to shy at the stumps with a guaranteed run-out the reward for accuracy. She misses by a couple of inches, from no great distance.
Gets some big inswing does Anya. Get a legcutter from that action as well and she would be phenomenal.#alicebedser
Shrubsole gets the ball moving from the first ball, and the delivery to take Lee's wicket was just splendid, though the last couple were just as good but just about survived by Van Niekerk. The forecast for today, incidentally, is not entirely sunny but hopefully there'll be no repeat of today's shenanigans.
Ground is looking a bit different today compared to 10pm last night. Eng v SA about to start. pic.twitter.com/ezBxVKAlze
Anya Shrubsole, the best bowler in the tournament, swings the ball through the gate and into middle stump, third delivery of the day and not a run on the board!
The openers stride into the middle, and Lizelle Lee takes guard. This is happening.
We're mid-national anthem here, with action very much about to take place.
South Africa's team in full:
#ProteaQueens L Lee; D v Niekerk; T Chetty; M d Preez; M Kapp; Y vd Westhuizen; C Tryon; S Luus; S Ismail; S Loubser; M Daniels. #SAvENG
England's team in full:
England women's team news: Edwards, Taylor, Knight, Greenway, Sciver, Jones, Beaumont, Gunn, Hazell, Shrubsole, Grundy #wt20
Since the toss, when England chose to bowl first, Sky have been talking about England's batting.
In terms of total number of runs in this tournament, Charlotte Edwards is the best performer in either of today's teams, having accumulated 151 in her five innings, but she wins by a short nose a very short nose indeed from South Africa's Dane van Niekerk, who has scored 150 in hers. In terms of batting averages, South Africa's Van Niekerk, Suné Luus, Chloe Tryon and Lizelle Lee all have better stats than the best Englishwoman (Edwards at 37.75).
So England have won the toss and are going to bowl. "Hopefully we'll put on a big score and our batters will come to the party," says Charlotte Edwards. Mignon du Preez says that she would have chosen to bat anyway, so everyone's a winner. "I think it's going to be an exciting game of cricket," she says. "I think the momentum is with us, I'm very excited for this game, we've got absolutely nothing to lose we're just going to go out there and give it our best shot.
So, what does social media tell us the England team have been up to as they prepare for this crucial semi-final? Let's have a look
Simon will be here shortly. In the meantime, here's Danielle Hazell to keep you company.
Our World Twenty20 semi-final against South Africa is in Mirpur on Friday and the whole England team is desperate to reach the final this weekend. It was disappointing to lose the first game of the tournament against West Indies but since then we have beaten India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka and we're starting to really hit the ground running. We're bowling and batting well and let's hope we can peak for the final, where Australia wait.
I received a special cap before the India victory, as it was my 50th international appearance. It was a proud moment for me whenever you play for your country, if it is the first time, the 25th or the 50th it is always very special and it is something I will always remember. Another 50 would be good.
England restricted Sri Lanka to what seemed like a gettable total of 256-8, before collapsing in abject fashion yet again
Gosh.
Thanks all for your comments and company - see you on Wednesday.
Gosh.
"Abysmal, really", says Eoin Morgan.
You've got to admire it, really - making that sort of mess is a very special skill. We are in the presence of greatness. Defer! Defer!
It's very easy to get stuck into sportsfolk - they live our dreams, for nice money. But, although they don't fail on purpose, it's reasonable to expect them to compete with honour, zest and courage. Today, they did not; rather, they produced a signature performance of profound and unshocking horrificity.
That = a very state.
That; the very state of.
The very state of that.
Anderson scythes across the line, and looks over to where he actually seems to think the ball is going. It is not; rather it kisses his off stump, and this is over, in 26.1 overs!
26th over: England 99-9 (Anderson 7, Gurney 4) Target 257
Eleven runs from the over - a top-edged six from Morgan, and then, from the final ball, Gurney bottom edges four.
Morgan gets much more of this one, but managed to locate the fielder, who manages to locate the ball prior to its bouncing - thanks to a decent dive.
25th over: England 84-8 (Morgan 34, Anderson 7) Target 257
Anderson has a go or two, before eventually swiping a reverse sweep backwards of point for four. And England then pass their lowest-ever score. Who says they can't deliver under pressure?
24th over: England 84-8 (Morgan 34, Anderson 3) Target 257
The crowd are singing the Righteous Brothers' You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'. Did they speak i' that way regularly? Prasad is back on, an' Anderso' is forced to fend him away, the ball staying airborne for a fair while but not going to hand. Then Morgan shmices six over mid off, and the PA plays I Just Can't Enough, a fair assessment of the situatio'.
23rd over: England 76-8 (Morgan 27, Anderson 2) Target 257
Morgan's slog-swept single gets Senanayake four deliveries at Anderson, and the field comes in. And he tries to force away on the back foot, missing, before nabbing a pair to deep backward square.
Senanayake, who is enjoying a superb sojourn through the afternoon, tosses one up to tempt Tredwell into taking a swing that his back can't cash. So he takes a swing that his bat can't cash, holing out to long off. Played.
22nd over: England 73-7 (Morgan 26, Tredwell 4) Target 257
If Morgan bats through, this is still doable. But at the moment, he can't get the ball off the square, Mathews - a bowler he might fancy targeting - bouncing through another over.
21st over: England 71-7 (Morgan 25, Tredwell 3) Target 257
Senanayake is an interesting bowler, flicking them out the front of the hand with a kind of thumb-forefinger snap. It's compelling stuff, because he can skid them on, and also move the ball both ways.
20th over: England 69-7 (Morgan 25, Tredwell 1) Target 257
Dilshan fancies a twirl - and a Twirl, I shouldn't wonder. Morgan clumps a four through midwicket. Well done him. How might one punish performances of this ilk?
19th over: England 63-7 (Morgan 20, Tredwell 0) Target 257
Dan Lucas informs me that England's lowest ODI score is 86, so they're in with a real shot here. Good luck, mates.
No, out - the ball was hitting leg stump, three quarters of the way up. This is some magnificent abjectivity!
The ball might have deviated too much. As if.
Jordan's pinned inside his crease - the ball seemed to swing as much as spin - and that looked very out, though not very unique.
18th over: England 62-6 (Morgan 19, Jordan 1) Target 257
This is, I'm afraid, a shambles of a nonsense. England have batted without fibre, conviction, intensity and joy. Mathews, meanwhile, perhaps mindful of Jordan's bowling on Thursdaym chucks down some short stuff, and Morgan helps himself to a four through midwicket.
Mathews' first ball sticks a little, and the consequence is a tennis ball bounce that means Buttler hits on the up, miscuing towards mid-off. Senanayake pursues, dives forwards, and holds a tricky catch.
17th over: England 55-5 (Morgan 14, Butler 4) Target 257
The run rate isn't yet daunting, but is climbing - 6.12 now. Fine for these two, and Jordan as well, but it's during this partnership that the majority of runs will making.
16th over: England 53-5 (Morgan 12, Butler 4) Target 257
Bopara's footwork has not gone down at all well with Athers, and one can only contemplate what his lad made of it. Anyway, Buttler gets off the mark by thrashing a wide one through cover - this is a real chance for him to show the ability to build an innings under pressure.
15th over: England 46-5 (Morgan 11, Butler 0) Target 257
"Hey, it's the Waitrose era", rejoinders Erik Petersen. "England need all the luxury bits and pieces they can find."
Well. This is an excellent delivery, it might well have pitched on the seam, and it jags more than spins, before Bopara, pushing around off stump, is bowled through the gate.
14th over: England 46-4 (Morgan 11, Bopara 7) Target 257
A kind of short not-bouncer, and Morgan's eyelids light up, the ball crunched to the fence via pull. "We found love in a hopeless place", shouts the PA - can anyone beat a City law firm? Four dots to end the over.
13th over: England 42-4 (Morgan 7, Bopara 7) Target 257
Spin it doth arrive, Senanayake, "another of these bent-arm bowlers", into the attack. This all looks very innocuous, and yet there's only one run located, from the final delivery.
12th over: England 41-4 (Morgan 6, Bopara 7) Target 257
Prasad's third ball is short and wide, also sitting up, and like three bare chested men walk down the street, singing Three Lions, it begs to be hit. Bopara does his civic duty.
11th over: England 37-4 (Morgan 6, Bopara 3) Target 257
Dilshan, who's taken off his under-the-cap beanie, now that everyone's had a good old chuckle about the characters of the game, dives to stop Morgan's drive at backward point. And he's involved again shortly afterwards, when Bopara strokes through the covers (fnarr, etc), again saving a boundary. Still, when two come from the final ball, that's six from the over.
10th over: England 31-4 (Morgan 4, Bopara 0) Target 257
Prasad on, an a wide moves the scoreboard for the first time in time. In tiiiiiime, man, bare time. And what's this! Another? It's there!
9th over: England 29-4 (Morgan 2, Bopara 0) Target 257
Kulasekara has really found his tattva here, at the start of this over, his figures read 4-2-9-3 - and eight of that nine came from his first. Sangakkara is standing up now, and there's a short-leg in - the plan is to draw Bopara forward. But he plays the over well enough, and though it's yet another maiden, England won't worry about the score at this poin - they're just trying to avoid loss of wicket.
8th over: England 29-4 (Morgan 2, Bopara 0) Target 257
Malinga is enjoying this, crowding Morgan with a three short ones and keeping an excellent line. That's another maiden.
7th over: England 29-4 (Morgan 2, Bopara 0) Target 257
A wicket maiden, and England are in a situation. Please show empathy and sympathy by sending in details of your own.
Plumb, and plumbing. Kulasekara persuades one to straighten just enough, Ballance doesn't move his feet, and the ball wallops his pad about shin height at the height of adjacence. The Finisher is in in the seventh over.
6th over: England 29-3 (Ballance 4, Morgan 2) Target 257
Morgan gets himself off the mark with a bop to cover, then Malinga finishes the over with a homing bouncer. It's not that quick, but is highly sharp and nearly has Morgan sniffing cork.
Oh dear - this is all rather familiar. Root goes back when he should come forward to a length ball, which pins him on the crease, squares him, and consequently clunks his westernmost timber as he plays down the wrong line.
5th over: England 26-2 (Ballance 4, Root 0) Target 257
After a dodgy first over, Kulasekara has done well - England are in the beginnings of trouble. Beefy reckons that there wasn't quite the pace on the delivery to play the shot that cost Bell his wicket, and also that it was an unnecessary risk in the context. He'll be delighted to know that I'm minded to agree, so has no need to inquire as to the number of Test wickets I've taken.
Bell tries to run one down to third man, and instead, runs one down to the keeper's gloves. That was good-1.
4th over: England 24-1 (Bell 11, Ballance 4) Target 257
Malinga third delivery is a special, hurled at Bell and then dipping, somehow missing everything. Then, after a single, Ballance flashes at a wide one, ther ball scudding to the point fence.
3rd over: England 19-1 (Bell 10, Ballance 0) Target 257
Kulasekara immediately goes around the wicket to Ballance, who immediately looks comfortable.
Kulasekara eventually finds his line on middle-and-leg, and presto, some swing to. Carberry is slightly squared, the ball does enough to brush the presented face and edge, and is easily caught behind. What was a good start is now less so.
2nd over: England 17-0 (Carberry 6, Bell 10) Target 257
Malinga in from the other end, and a misfield at second slip get Bell a couple. Then, he drives hard through cover - oddly, the ball doesn't go for four. Malinga then no-balls by at least the length of a ridiculous curly moptop, and Carberry forces the free hit through the off-side, that's treemo.
1st over: England 8-0 (Carberry 3, Bell 5) Target 257
This a great start for England, Carberry turning one off his legs for three. And the next ball is a long hop, also doesn't swing, and Bell crunches it through point for four. This is an enormous, huge, 110% summer for me for Bell - he's easily the most natural batsman England have, and his play last summer was, over the course of a series, the best by an Englishman since Gower in 1985. But will he bat at three, and can he recapture the flow?
Kulasekara to open, Carberry to face.
Sri Lanka are huddling. "This doesn't slip", apparently.
Otherwise, this Sri Lanka score is, I suppose, par - but if England bat well, they'll win. And it's looking like they have the genesis of a handy team here; Jordan is laying it down in almost every game, Gurney adds variation - especially important given the spin situation - and Ballance has a lot more than he's shown so far. Add to this the more established players and the clean hitting of Buttler, and suddenly you've the hint of a recovery.
Afternoon all. ODIs, then. Outside of the World Cup, do they have a purpose in and of themselves, or do they exist almost entirely to test players prior to Test selection?
Right that's it from me. Daniel Harris is all done with the tennis and will be settling into the OBO chair shortly. You can get him on daniel.harris.casual@theguardian.com. Bye!
Chris Jordan then, to bowl the final over. It's all a bit of a mess now, with the batsmen belying their place in the order with some wild and wooly swinging that's barely managing to connect with the ball. Jordan's brilliant ball to get rid of Dilshan really did kill their hopes of a huge, imposing target. The batsmen are in two minds whether or not to slog or to work it into the gaps and as such can only manage seven runs from the over.
It wasn't a brilliant innings from Sri Lanka but you have to admire some of the England bowling. There were too many wides but they never made it easy to score and Sri Lanka's batsmen were always chasing them. Special mention has to go to Jimmy Anderson, whose figures of 10-1-38-2 reflect just how well he bowled.
49th over: Sri Lanka 249-8 (Senanayake 1 Prasad 1) Poor again from Gurney, who has been something of a curio today. He presents Chandimal with a gift, overpitched outside off stump, before a much better yorker cramps him up and it's slapped into the grateful mitts of Bopara at cover. In at nine comes Senanayake, whose average of 17 and batting position both make a farce of his description as an all-rounder. He gets off the mark with a single before Kulasekara goes for the big slog, only to pick out Root at deep mid on, where the
12 year old work experience kid fielder holds on. Prasad is the next man and gets a single.
Collapse time.
...
48th over: Sri Lanka 243-6 (Chandimal 10 Kulasekara 0) Jimmy Anderson, who has impressed today, will bowl the final over. He's packed the leg-side with five fielders, which means that he can follow the batsman backing away to leg with far more certainty. He gets the wicket with a short one, before Chandimal whacks a front-foot hoik through mid wicket for four. That's the first boundary scored off of Anderson's bowling today. Indeed it'll be the last after Anderson gets away with another bouncer above head height. England's wides tally should be even more grim than it is.
Jimmy digs one in short and Priyanjan, looking to slog over cow corner, is cramped for space and doesn't connect with the ball properly. Consequently, up it loops and in swoops Cap'n Morgan to catch it.
47th over: Sri Lanka 235-5 (Chandimal 2 Priyanjan 43) Chandimal is the new man and he gets a single from his first ball. Gurney whose propensity for slower balls means he's been described as taking Jade Dernbach's role emulates Jade Dernbach by sending down a slow, wide full toss that's chopped up and over backward point for four by Priyanjan. The batsman goes for the same area from the next ball and it's very well chased down and reigned in by Carberry.
Gurney drops it in outside off and Mathews slaps it straight to Bopara on the edge of the circle. Ravi holds on to it comfortably this time and, as well he should, looks mighty relieved.
46th over: Sri Lanka 225-4 (Mathews 30 Priyanjan 36) This is an edgy contest between batsman and bowler now, with Mathews and Priyanjan looking to back away and make room and Jordan following them nicely. It's been a weirdly one-paced innings this, the run rate having barely changed throughout. Maybe it will now though as Priyanjan moves outside leg and bends down to play the reverse scoop around the corner for four runs. He's a handy looking player, this guy. Jordan is wided for another high bouncer, something he's sent down far too often today.
Near calamity from the final ball as Priyanjan blocks it and, in looking to take the quick single, kicks the ball down to Jordan whose throw goes wide of the stumps.
45th over: Sri Lanka 215-4 (Mathews 26 Priyanjan 31) Sri Lanka look to work Anderson around again, which is fine for the middle overs but it does put the pressure on to attack the other bowlers at this stage of the innings. Oh no this is very poor: Mathews lofts one weakly to cow corner where Ravi Bopara lets it slip through his hands. That was an utter dolly and not the first mistake by Bopara in the field today.
44th over: Sri Lanka 209-4 (Mathews 24 Priyanjan 27) At The Oval, England hit 93 from the last seven overs and the man who was responsible for 38 of them is back on to bowl: Chris Jordan's first ball is overpitched and drilled back down the ground for four by Mathews. He follows that up with a huge bouncer that's somehow not called a wide. Then it's a full-toss on leg stump, which again he gets away with. Another wide down leg now, this is getting ridiculous. Wides have now contributed more runs than Thirimanne and Jayawardene combined. It's been a poor over from Jordan and he's largely got away with it, although Mathews opens the face and, with no third man, runs the final ball down to the boundary for four more. 250 is easily on here.
43rd over: Sri Lanka 196-4 (Mathews 13 Priyanjan 23) Jimmy Anderson is the new man and the clouds are rolling back over Chester-le-Street. Anderson drifts leg side and Priyanjan clips him over the top, in front of square on the leg side but it's cut off. Anderson is struggling a bit to follow the batsman backing away to leg, resulting in yet another wide delivery. All told though, seven from yet another uneventful over isn't a bad return at all for the bowler.
Sorry guys, if you refresh the page it'll correct the score.
42nd over: Sri Lanka 189-4 (Mathews 11 Priyanjan 22) Still bright sunshine out there even though the rain was expected about now. Ravi Bopara is back and Priyanjan gets the loft wedge out, but can't get a clean hit on Ravi's excellent yorker and just chips it down the ground. In fact he's going to change his bat after that. The final ball is short, wide filth but as has been the case so often today, the batsmen can't do owt with it and just four come from the over.
41st over: Sri Lanka 185-4 (Mathews 9 Priyanjan 20) Tredwell's back and we finally get a six, Priyanjan dancing down the track and hitting it straight over the top. They're checking whether it's six or four and the umpires decide it thudded straight on to the padding on the rope. Six more thanks to a slog sweep from the final ball, dragged wide over cow corner and Tredwell finishes with 1-57 from his ten overs.
40th over: Sri Lanka 169-4 (Mathews 7 Priyanjan 6) Jordan, with overs to spare, carries on and induces another play-and-miss. Priyanjan, who looks to have a good, strong, orthodox cover drive, drills one straight at Bopara along the ground and Ravi lets it slip through him for a couple. Then the good, strong, orthodox Priyanjan slashes at a wide one and sends it high in the air towards the wide third man Gurney, who dives forward and puts an eminently catchable catch down. Bah! Lovely follow-up ball from Jordan beats the edge and the powerplay has yielded 1-24 for England, which is an excellent return.
39th over: Sri Lanka 166-4 (Mathews 7 Priyanjan 3) Gurney finds the edge of Mathews' bat with one angled across the right-hander, but it rolls along the ground and through a vacant slip cordon for a single to third man. Truly in the style of his full-time captain, Eoin Morgan locks that barn door by moving a slip into place. Gurney bowls another wide, the tenth of the innings I reckon, but other than that it's another good over for England. Looks like WASP's prediction/arbitrary guess of 250 might [GASP!] be out.
38th over: Sri Lanka 161-4 (Mathews 5 Priyanjan 1) Jordan's delivery to get rid of Dilshan was a thing of beauty. First ball of the over and he gets it to nip back a mile off the seam, whizz through the gap and lop the head off of middle stump as though it were Ned Stark. Priyanjan, not someone I know a great deal about I'm afraid, is the new man and off the mark with a single. This has been a great powerplay from England so far and, with Mathews looking scratchy, Sri Lanka's excellent platform is in danger of going to waste.
Sorry, Robert Wilson.
37th over: Sri Lanka 159-3 (Mathews 4 Dilshan 88) As expected, it'll be Gurney from the other end. He bowls short and Dilshan hammers a pull out towards the rope, but Bell slides across to prevent the four. Aside from an earlier mistake by Root, England's ground fielding has been excellent today. You can't say that about Gurney's bowling in this over though as he drops short and wide to Dilshan, who upper-cuts over backward point for four. Another poor short one finishes the over, but it's pulled straight to the fielder.
"Where's the love for Dilshan?" asks Robert Wilson. "He often does this - nurdles and nudges like it's a hungover breakfast and then gives it some fearsome wellie. It feels like he's taking a run-up here."
36th over: Sri Lanka 152-3 (Mathews 4 Dilshan 81) Right, it's powerplay time and that means a recall for Chris Jordan to the attack. I've just realised that my score and Cricinfo's differ from Sky's the broadcaster have attributed that 34th over boundary to Dilshan rather than Mathews, whereas Cricinfo agree with me. Anyhow, Jordan sends one down the leg side and it's called a wide. Oddly low-key approach to powerplay batting, this, from Sri Lanka. Ah Cricinfo have corrected their score now, so I guess I'll do the same. Sorry about that, folks. The 150 comes up for Sri Lanka with just eight fours and one six. Another wide from Jordan and these are starting to rack up now; two in that set o' six ruining an otherwise immaculate over.
35th over: Sri Lanka 145-3 (Mathews 5 Dilshan 75) Tredwell isn't going to bowl through after all then as, after nine straight overs, he's replaced by Joe Root. He bowls a short wide one that Dilshan misses out on, before nearly getting his man with the next ball as a miscued chip falls into no-man's land. Oh dear he gets away with it again as a waist-high full toss on Mathews' hips is turned around straight to the fielder at fine leg. That might be the worst over ever to get away with going for just one run.
34th over: Sri Lanka 144-3 (Mathews 5 Dilshan 74) Advantage England then, as Ravi comes back? I'd reckon they need to get rid of Dilshan, who has been relatively restrained today by his own standards. If he's there with ten overs to go and his team have seven wickets left, then you know what mood he'll be in. Just five boundaries in his inning so far. Mathews gets one though with a nice pull shot, right out the middle and along the floor through square leg.
33rd over: Sri Lanka 137-3 (Mathews 1 Dilshan 73) Angelo Mathews comes in and works the final ball of the over for a single. That was very poor running from Jayawardene as he ambled back looking for the third run, but a great throw from Ballance.
Oh this is excellent fielding from Ballance. The ball was chopped down to the boundary rope and looked to be running away for four, but Ballance chased it down and seemed to be the only person on the pitch to notice that Jayawardene was out of his ground. The throw came in to Buttler, Mahela didn't dive and he was a good eight inches short.
32nd over: Sri Lanka 132-2 (Jayawardene 1 Dilshan 70) Jimmy's back and there doesn't appear to be even a modicum of swing available to him. You'd think that Sri Lanka's bowlers will find it hard to extract swing in the second innings, what with it being later in the day, but then if we do get rain as apparently we're likely to in an hour or so then there could well be some lingering cloud cover when England get their innings underway.
31st over: Sri Lanka 129-2 (Jayawardene 0 Dilshan 68) Ah, here's Mahela Jayawardene. It's a much-needed wicket for England Athers says to put the brakes on, but really it's more to prolong the foot hovering over the accelerator rather than push down on it. I don't know, I don't drive, I can't do car analogies.
Hey! Tredwell flights one in at 48mph and Sangakkara's eyes light up. He goes down on one knee, pulls out the slog sweep and OH NO! gets a top-edge straight in the air and Buttler runs around to take the catch.
30th over: Sri Lanka 126-1 (Sangakkara 39 Dilshan 67) Good news: the sun is out and the clouds look to have drifted away slightly. It means Gurney isn't getting much swing, although the odd one is nipping about off the pitch. 4,000 tickets unsold for this match, and given Old Trafford is charging £35 for tickets it's perfectly understandable. Athers and Bumble have resorted to discussing the price of pasties at The Oval (£5), such is the interminability of the action if you can call it that on the pitch. It's a struggle to watch, I won't lie.
29th over: Sri Lanka 122-1 (Sangakkara 38 Dilshan 64) Flippant, lazy replies aside, I kinda see Gary's point there. In Durham, in May, anyone could have predicted that this would be a slow, low-scoring, strategic game rather than one of fireworks and sixes. Add to that the fact that it's probably going to rain, and £60 for the only international fixture of the summer in the north east does seem a bit off. Tredwell bowled that over, by the way.
28th over: Sri Lanka 118-1 (Sangakkara 36 Dilshan 62) Huzzah! Praise be! Eoin Morgan makes a bowling change and it's to bring Harry Gurney on for Bopara, albeit with a rather orthodox, defensive ring of fielders. Sangakkara gets hit under the arm as he wanders down the track to a short one and has an uncharacteristically wafty pull that fails to connect. But of movement off the seam back into the left-hander from the final ball, but still neither team looks keen to seize the day.
@DanLucas86 A match like this should be sold in the same way airlines sell tickets. How often do you see empty seats on a Ryanair flight?
27th over: Sri Lanka 114-1 (Sangakkara 34 Dilshan 60) I'm getting the feeling here that Morgan has a strategy in mind and, what with this being the biggest game he's captained as far as I can recall, he's not keen to deviate from it. I say this because Tredwell is continuing and continuing to get milked. Only three from the over but England really need wickets now and they're looking as threatening as Snow Patrol.
26th over: Sri Lanka 111-1 (Sangakkara 33 Dilshan 56) Here we go, Dilshan spots that fine leg is very wide and brings out the Dilscoop, which is a shot I invented years before him when playing with my cousin Jack in the local park so nerr. Bopara is carrying on, but with the batsmen looking increasingly confident you imagine that Morgan needs to shake his attack up a bit, and sharpish. Sri Lanka move quietly on to Nelson and look like they could set an imposing target from here.
25th over: Sri Lanka 104-1 (Sangakkara 32 Dilshan 52) Dilshan works Tredwell to mid-wicket and there's a delayed round of applause as the crowd eventually realise he's moved to his 35th ODI half century. And then a couple of balls later he nabs another single to finally bring up the Sri Lankan hundred. They'll be happy to have done so for the loss of just one wicket given the conditions. Sangakkara chips down the ground but it plugs in the slowest of outfields and they'll just pick up one for it.
"Regarding the Sky gizmo," writes Ian Copestake, "is it named thusly because it was tthought up by white anglo-saxon Protestants? And a very happy birthday to Gary!"
24th over: Sri Lanka 97-1 (Sangakkara 28 Dilshan 49) I might go and stick the new Coldplay album on.
23rd over: Sri Lanka 94-1 (Sangakkara 27 Dilshan 47) An oasis in the desert as Dilshan cuts a short, filthy ball from Tredwell through a gap and sees it trickle to the rope for four. The PA switches to Carly Rae Jepsen's brilliant slice of bubblegum pop 'Call Me Maybe', but reverts to the musical dross as Sangakkara steps down the track a couple of balls later and lofts it over mid on for four more. That takes the run rate above four and just a suggestion that Sri Lanka are ready to kick on.
22nd over: Sri Lanka 83-1 (Sangakkara 22 Dilshan 41) You have to ask yourself whether or not this England side is going to be as effective on the hard, hot, bouncy surfaces they're like to encounter at next year's World Cup. Gurney at least imparts enough over-spin on the ball to get good bounce, and Jimmy is good enough to be trusted, but is Bopara going to get hammered as fifth bowler out there?
21st over: Sri Lanka 79-1 (Sangakkara 19 Dilshan 40) Great stop by Tredwell diving to his right as Dilshan looks to wallop the ball straight back past him. It's a very good over from Tredwell as he also finds Dilshan's inside edge and the opener is lucky not to play on.
20th over: Sri Lanka 78-1 (Sangakkara 18 Dilshan 40) Of course having said all that, Sri Lanka do have wickets in hand and three rather good batsmen available to them. Still, Bopara is keeping them quiet for and it only takes one error etc. etc. Incidentally, Daniel Harris, who will be here later, is covering the tennis from Roland Garros here. Some dodgy fielding now as Sangakkara cuts towards the boundary, Anderson slides and stops it but then throws the ball miles wide of Gurney, who was running in to collect. That was a freebie.
19th over: Sri Lanka 72-1 (Sangakkara 14 Dilshan 38) It's easy to mock this game for being slow and dull, but even in the relative absence of any chances being created you have to be impresses with the economy of England's bowlers they've all been quietly decent, going about their job in an unfussy way and asking the Sri Lankan batsmen to force the issue themselves. Thus far though they've declined to do so.
18th over: Sri Lanka 68-1 (Sangakkara 12 Dilshan 36) This is real cricket, isn't it? The pinnacle of the game in the absence of any Test matches happening right now. In totally unrelated news, Mitchell Johnson is bowling to Kevin Pietersen in the IPL at the moment.
Here, Ravi Bopara bowls a filthy, short, wide one that Dilshan swings wildly at and misses out on four easy runs. The crowd cheers as they think Dilshan has offered a catch from the next ball to mid-off, but it's a bump ball. That first ball aside, this has been a very good over from Bopara, sending down four lovely, accurate yorkers. Indeed the only runs are a couple to mid-on from the final ball.
17th over: Sri Lanka 66-1 (Sangakkara 12 Dilshan 34) Right, time for some spin now, which looks like a risky move. Tredwell has served England very well, but there was discussion during the last match over whether or not teams might have worked him out now, given that he's been a bit expensive of late. Having said that, there's a little turn for him here as he takes the pace off the ball and he first beats Sangakkara's prod and then from the next ball finds the edge, only for it to fly wide of slip. That's a good over, ceding just four runs.
16th over: Sri Lanka 62-1 (Sangakkara 9 Dilshan 33) Close to a run out here as Sangakkara drops one into the gap on the offside and hares down the pitch only to notice Dilshan, who only just passed a fitness test on a groin strain this morning, was stood still. The single was definitely on, but Sanga had to turn and run back and was fortunate that Carberry's throw from square of the wicket was wide. Not sure where Buttler was there, mind, I reckon the run out was still on if he'd been backing up. Short ball from Jordan is swivel-pulled off the back foot for four through backward square leg by Dilshan.
15th over: Sri Lanka 56-1 (Sangakkara 8 Dilshan 28) Bopara drops short to Dilshan and he swivel pulls towards the square-leg boundary, where Bell makes a good stop diving to his right. I reckon a decent score might depend on how many wickets England can take before they have to bring the spinners on, as I don't think there's going to be a lot for Tredwell and Root in this pitch and these two batsmen, if set, will happily take them on. Sangakkara gives Bopara's final ball the charge but changes his mind. Run rate is still below four and we've only had three boundaries.
14th over: Sri Lanka 53-1 (Sangakkara 8 Dilshan 25) Ahh that's lovely from Sangakkara. Jordan strays wide outside his off stump and compounds that error by over-pitching, the batsman guiding it through the covers for four. It feels horribly crass that such a shot from such a player is greeted by the kind of club tune from the PA that you might expect to hear on a Friday night in a Wetherspoons in Milton Keynes. The good news for England is that the boundary brings the only runs of the over.
13th over: Sri Lanka 49-1 (Sangakkara 4 Dilshan 25) Thrills! Spills! It's Ravi Bopara to bowl! Dilshan absolutely murders a single to mid-wicket! Four leg byes down to fine leg off the pad! A dot ball creamed to cover!
On Sky, meanwhile, the commentators have been expressing their surprise that it's not a full-house on this balmy 13-degree day in Durham. Tickets just £60!
12th over: Sri Lanka 41-1 (Sangakkara 2 Dilshan 23) Looks like the "left-armer to Sangakkara" theory was a load of bunkum as Jordan carries on. Or perhaps Bumble and Botham have cottoned on to something that Eoin Morgan hasn't. There's a lot of discussion at the moment about Jordan's run up, which is something of an uncertain shuffle up to the crease before hurling everything into the delivery. There's a run out chance now as Sanga takes a quick single to mid off, but Jimmy's throw is just wide of the stumps. Would have been tight with a direct etc. etc. Incidentally the powerplay has passed by unnoticed. I can't see Sri Lanka run rate 3.42 decelerating from here.
11th over: Sri Lanka 37-1 (Sangakkara 1 Dilshan 21) Anderson into his sixth straight over, so I guess he's not going to be bowling at the death. Given he's got 1-11 from the first five that sounds entirely sensible to me. Anderson sends down an excellent bouncer that beats Dilshan's pull shot; the prodigious swing Jimnmy was finding earlier has all but disappeared now.
Giles Page writes, "I might have missed a lot of the ramifications of the post-KP/Ashes fall out by virtue of being in New Zealand but why are Tredwell & Carberry still playing for England? Tredwell can't get a game for Kent (isn't he playing league stuff?) & Carberry can't score runs! What happened to looking a fresh options or looking at form players?"
10th over: Sri Lanka 34-1 (Sangakkara 0 Dilshan 19) Cricket writers everywhere go weak at the knees as Kumar Sangakkara comes to the crease at the non-striker's end. Change of batsman, change of bowler is the order of the day as Chris Jordan replaces Gurney. His line is slightly off to begin with, a couple of deliveries on the pads that he's a bit lucky to get away with. On Sky, Bumble makes the excellent point that they might be switching Gurney's end to let him bowl to Sangakkara: he was dismissed twice by Ryan Sidebottom when playing for Durham this season and, as Sir Iron Bottom adds, it was Gurney who got him in the first ODI. He'll have to wait though as Dilshan's single is the only incident of the innings and means that the opener will keep the strike.
9th over: Sri Lanka 33-1 (Dilshan 18) Anderson emulates Gurney in that he finds Thirimanne's edge with a back-of-a-length delivery, although he forgets to get hit for six from the next ball. It's a wicket maiden as none of the remaining deliveries offer anything from which to score, and indeed the last one swings away from the dangling bat and takes the edge, Tredwell snaffling it at second slip.
8th over: Sri Lanka 33-0 (Thirimanne 10 Dilshan 18) Still no bowling changes. Gurney gets some bounce to Thirimanne and finds the splice of the bat, but it falls safely in front of the slips. "Bugger this," thinks Thirimanne and, out of nowhere, whacks a full delivery over mid wicket for six! "I've been impressed with some of the youngsters that have come in," says Botham. "Jordan, Gurney, don't know much about them." Including the fact that these "youngsters" are 25 and 27 respectively. That's a much-needed decent over for Sri Lanka, thanks to that six.
7th over: Sri Lanka 24-0 (Thirimanne 3 Dilshan 17) Anderson continues as you'd expect and Dilshan drives him through mid-on where Joe Root dives and can only parry the ball. He's taken enough pace off it to ensure that it doesn't cost his side a boundary, but he's rightly annoyed with himself. There's a band of dark cloud amassing over the ground, but it looks like we should be OK when it comes to rain for now. Thirimanne gets a single to move his strike rate above 11.
Two different games at the moment when Dilshan and Thirimanne are on strike. #engvsl
6th over: Sri Lanka 19-0 (Thirimanne 2 Dilshan 13) "Morning Dan," writes Alfred Moore in the absence of anything happening in the cricket. "Am I the only one who thinks Carberry is worth a run in the team? Age is just a number. If he's got good technique and stands up well to pace and pressure, which his first few tests this winter suggests he does, then he could give England at least three years of top level cricket. And that's not to be sniffed at. See Mike Hussey. It's refreshing to see the England management not just picking the latest hot teenager with the intention of grooming him for the 2021 Ashes."
It's a fair enough argument, but if you compare England's approach to opening an innings compared to the likes of India and Australia, you'd have to say that Alastair Cook's side look a little anachronistic. At 33, I'm not sure Carberry is ever going to adapt his game to become a destructive dasher at the top.
5th over: Sri Lanka 17-0 (Thirimanne 1Dilshan 12) Dilshan is hit on the pads first up and there's a strangled, muted appeal as he was nowhere near in line. Nor was Anderson's second delivery, which swings down the leg side and gives up a wide. A round of applause then breaks out for Carberry as he makes a decent diving stop at gully to keep Dilshan to a single. It's fair to call this a low-key start to the game. Thirimanne finally gets a run as he turns a back-of-a-length delivery off his hips to move to one from 18 balls. Has Alastair Cook switched sides? There's a big appeal from the final ball as Anderson hits Dilshan on the pad again, getting it to nip back quickly off the seam, but it was too high and going down leg. Other than that, etc. etc.
4th over: Sri Lanka 14-0 (Thirimanne 0 Dilshan 11) Dilshan gets the first boundary as Gurney overpitches outside off stump and is pushed with exquisite timing straight back down the ground. The next ball is on a much better length and there's a hint of tennis ball bounce as it lifts past Dilshan's outside edge. "Bugger that," thinks Dilshan though, driving slightly awkwardly past long off for four more next ball. "Bugger that," thinks Gurney with the fourth ball, beating Dilshan's outside edge on the drive. A single brings Thirimanne on strike but he can't score again.
3rd over: Sri Lanka 5-0 (Thirimanne 0 Dilshan 2) So the formula for WASP, developed by these geniuses, is apparently the average score over the past 10 innings adjusted by commentator guesswork. That's it, I'm not reporting on that utter nonsense anymore. Anderson returns and Dilshan nudges another single off his pads to mid-on. The third ball goes to slip along the ground by way of the pad. I'd be tempted to keep Anderson on to Thirimanne for an extended spell here as the batsman doesn't have a clue how to score against him. Excellent over that, from Jimmy.
2nd over: Sri Lanka 4-0 (Thirimanne 0 Dilshan 1) Harry Gurney, who's been quietly impressive in his two international appearances so far, will take the other new ball and he's finding a lot of movement too. He's not finding the tramlines on the batsman's crease though as he starts with a massive wide outside off, but hits the batsman with the next ball. First runs off the bat, at long last, as Dilshan tucks one off his pads to mid-on. Thirimanne gets the strike and he's struggling a bit against the swinging ball, as you might expect from a batsman unused to these conditions with an average of about 29. Just two from the over.
Here's the birthday boy:
@DanLucas86 Are the experts that put WASP together are the same as those who are so successful in predicting how pitches will play?
1st over: Sri Lanka 2-0 (Thirimanne 0 Dilshan 0) It'll be Jimmy to get us underway, as you'd expect. It's a lovely sunny, albeit cool-looking day in Durham. Yes you can say what the temperature looks like. He starts with a good tight line that Thirimanne leaves, before getting one to swing an absolute mile away, called a wide outside the left-hander's off stump. Back to tight outside off, then back to a wide, albeit this time swinging down the leg side. There's something quite poetic about the symmetrical erraticism Jimmy's started with. His fourth legal delivery beats the forward prod of the batsman there's plenty of swing on offer here for Jimmy and those two wides suggest even he's surprised by how much it's moving. Indeed those two wides are the only runs from the over.
On WASP:
"Yeah, we have this maths thing that we have been saying is brilliant but it doesn't really work so we have just made it up"
It's a big day for the OBO today
too . It's Gary Naylor's birthday! Happy birthday, Gary!
Nick Knight reckons that 250 is a par score on this pitch, which has a little grass on it. I'm not that familiar with Sky's new WASP gimmick, but from what I can glean it's a bunch of people guessing what a good score is. Which, in the great pantheon of innovations, sits somewhere alongside my old answering machine that thanked the caller for their call after they'd hung up.
Breaking news: According to Cricinfo, Lakmal has been ruled out of the rest of this series with a hamstring tear, but should be OK for the Tests.
For Sri Lanka Lakmal and Perera are out, Dilshan is fit to bowl. Priyanjan and Prasad replace them.
Toss news: England have won it and will bowl. Michael Carberry is in for Cook. Brilliant.
The other option to replace Cook at the top of the order is Michael Carberry, although I'm not sure why on earth they'd do that. Carberry, likeable and decent player though he is, isn't really the future. He's pushing 34, hasn't quite set the world alight and is reported to have upset the ECB hierarchy with some things he said in this interview with our very own Donald McRae. Any reasons why he might get the nod today?
We also have a weather update: It's likely to start raining around 1pm.
Barbs aimed at the ECB are always fun, aren't they?
Alastair Cook ruled out through injury, so his wife will captain the team today.
Preamble
Morning folks. We've not got a lot of time until things get cracking at Chester-le-Street, and I haven't had much sleep thanks to the neighbours who were playing The Levellers The bleedin' Levellers! until 3 o'clock this morning at full volume, so you'll have to forgive the brevity of this preamble.
Well, that almost came from nowhere. A series that began amid worries about low ticket sales, and the ongoing surface-noise discontent that has surrounded the whole England set-up for the past six months, and that hadn't exactly gripped the nation with three dispiritingly one-sided matches at The Oval, Chester-le-Street and Old Trafford, has suddenly come to the boil. That was a superb game of 50-over cricket in the end, which Sri Lanka just about deserved to win due to their more measured overall batting display, led by the peerless Kumar Sangakkara. England didn't bowl badly, but their batting looked below par until 111-5, when Buttler and Bopara came together in a brilliant partnership, that both deserve huge credit for, with the former's century being one for the ages. Worth a Test place even? Perhaps, though that's for another day, but at least we've had a game. That's me done for the day. Thanks for your emails. Bye.
So, it's Malinga who makes the decisive contribution in the end, with a clever, tricky last over that leaves England too much to do. But Buttler's heroics have made this game. The series is level at 2-2.
50th over. Tredwell takes a single to mid-on. Sri Lanka win by seven runs
49.5 overs Tredwell, then, has to contrive nine runs from two balls. From Malinga. Dot ball. The batsman hacks at a very wide delivery, which is called good, there's no hit. There's no run. All over.
49.4 overs Buttler's heroic innings is over. A brilliant, brilliant yorker from Malinga that Buttler can't get away. He tries to run the single nonetheless, but the ball is in the bowler's hand and breaking the stumps is a formality. Game over now, almost certainly.
49.3 overs REVIEW! Buttler faces, with new batsman Tredwell at the other end. He powers it down the ground, they go for two, it's probably not on, but Buttler scrambles back just ahead of Sangakkara breaking the stumps. He's in. Nine needed.
49.2 overs Jordan, pressure on, is made to wait by more Malinga field-fiddling, which draws exaggerated booing. Then he's OUT, hitting down the ground to Dilshan at deep mid-on. But Buttler's on strike as they change ends.
49.1 overs Malinga bowls. The crowd yelps again. Buttler can only carve it to mid-off for one. 11 needed off five.
49th over, England 289-6 (Buttler 118, Jordan 5) Buttler hits another low full toss to the same mid-on place. Eight from a tense over, to set up a thrilling last over. 12 needed off Malinga's last over.
48.5 overs, Jordan sends a low full toss to mid-on for just one.
48.4 overs Buttler can't find the gap, but picks up one on the offside.
48.3 overs Buttler hits another four! Carved through extra cover, from a ball arrowed in to leg stump.
48.2 overs, Jordan hits a full toss down to mid-on. One run. Buttler back on strike.
48.1 overs, Kulasekara bowls. Jordan misses. Appeal for caught behind. Not given. No run.
48th over, England 281-6 (Buttler 112, Jordan 3) Buttler finds the gap off Malinga's first ball, square on the offside, and takes two. The crowd are roaring their approval now. He then digs out a Malinga yorker with a gloriously timed drive drive, would you believe - that GOES FOR FOUR. Terrific. He then times a slower ball to deep mid-on for two. He doesn't quite get hold of ball No4, which he hoiks down the ground for one, leaving Jordan to face the last two balls of the over. Malinga dillies and dallies with his field placings, to psyche the batsman out, but Jordan is unfazed and he turns a short-ish one round the corner for one. And then - DOT BALL. Butter can't find the gap or keep the strike. Right, I'm going ball by ball now for the last two overs.
47th over, England 271-6 (Buttler 103, Jordan 2) Mendis starts his over well, tucking up Jordan and denying him space to score any runs off the first two balls, before the batsman's push to mid-off yields a single. Which enables BUTTLER TO BRING UP HIS HUNDRED with an on-drive for two. He takes two more off the next ball too, and sneaks another off a mis-field that enables him to keep the strike. This has been one of the best individual England ODI innings for a very long time. Thirty needed off three still a big task. Two of them to be bowled by Malinga.
46th over, England 265-6 (Buttler 98, Jordan 1) What a response from Buttler, meeting Kulasekara's first ball of the over on the half-volley and creaming it over the outfield for SIX. And he repeats the trick with the same shot and the same result - SIX. This is wonderful stuff from England's most watchable one-day batsman. Another flick to deep (enough) mid-on delivers a hastily-run two, before Buttler takes a single to put Jordan on strike for the remaining two balls. There's almost a run-out from the first of them, as Jordan chops to gully, Buttler sets off quickly and has to hurry through. And then Buttler hits a four on the offside same place - off the final ball of the over. Brilliant batting, and Buttler's near to his hundred.
45th over, England 245-6 (Buttler 79, Jordan 0) If you're gonna slash, slash hard, as every club hacker says, and Buttler toe-ends a cover drive which loops up towards the third-man boundary for three. Before Bopara gambles as well and his sweep goes up in the air and is caught behind the wicketkeeper by Thirimanne at leg slip. He didn't quite finish it, but that was an excellent knock from Bopara. Buttler adds one more run but it's a good, nay essential, over from Mendis.
"This is being set up perfectly for a cameo from Chris Jordan," writes Tom Van der Gucht, "coming in with 50 needed off 3 overs, he will crunch and bosh a series of boundaries before securing the winning runs with an almighty 6 off the last ball. This will be a cricketing riposte to Piers Morgan's idiotic tweet during the windies tour that Jordan (a bowler) shouldn't be picked whilst KP (a batsman) is not being selected... It still riles me that one"
Sri Lanka make a possibly vital breakthrough
44th over, England 239-5 (Bopara 50, Buttler 75) Malinga returns from the Nursery End. Buttler scoops one over midwicket for two. He has to stretch for his next scoring shot, cracked square on the offside for one. Bopara adds a single too. Then for the first time in a while some confusion between the wickets as Buttler has to scurry back after initially deciding on a run. Bopara ends the over, though, by bringing up a really well-judged, supportive 50 with a pull to leg. England need 61 from six and might, just, be favourites.
43rd over, England 233-5 (Bopara 48, Buttler 71) England can register ones and twos with a bit more satisfaction now, and that's all they can get in a fine final over from Senanayake. Buttler picks up another really well run single off Senanayake's first ball, and Bopara does likewise off his third. A smart stop by Mathews at midwicket denies Bopara a boundary and the spinner finishes his spell with a much-needed run-stemming over.
42nd over, England 230-5 (Bopara 47, Buttler 69) Mathews is forced into another change, bringing back Kulasekara for his eighth over, from the Nursery End this time. His first ball is a decent attempted yorker, which Bopara scuffs clear and hurries through for onedespite the bowler's swift pick up and throw which hits the stumps, but the batsman is comfortably home. Buttler then works a slower ball away on the legside for another single. Mathews' field placings are allowing England easy ones and twos here, as Bopara demonstrates when nothing more than two deft pushes on the onside from consecutive deliveries bring two runs on each occasion. Then a misfield and mid-off from Thirimanne gives Bopara another two before he doubles up again with a push down the ground. Excellent again from England, suddenly loose and clumsy from Sri Lanka.
41st over, England 220-5 (Bopara 38, Buttler 68) Bopara tries to get in on the act, with a fierce sweep to square leg that is brilliantly cut off by Priyanjan - a superb piece of fielding. Bopara picks up two though, and two more from the subsequent delivery too. But the pressure is showing, and when Mendis drops one horribly short, Bopara finds the gap at deep square leg this time with a thumping four. Three more singles complete yet another extremely productive over for England. Could a former England captain be walking home, sans clothes, yet?
40th over, England 209-5 (Bopara 28, Buttler 67) And still the runs come. Some pantomime booing as a short ball from Malinga isn't called wide. He responds with a clever slower ball that Buttler misses. He doesn't miss the next one though, swivelling and pulling it into the lower tier of the grandstand for SIX. Malinga is rattled, it seems, and his next ball is a rank legside full toss that Buttler just guides round the corner and through the gaps for four. The batsmen takes a single each to round off a superb powerplay for the home side, which yielded 50 runs.
39th over, England 197-5 (Bopara 27, Buttler 55) Senanayake returns to the attack, as Mathews seeks to stem the flow of runs, not all that successfully. A well-essayed sweep and some hard running brings Bopara two, which he follows with an even better-run three. Sri Lanka look just a tad rattled, as the following ball demonstrates, bringing two more thanks to a hashed throw brings overthrows after Buttler's hack on the legside. A single and a two follows. Suddenly, England look like they've played 50-over cricket before. They're going at nine and a half per over in this powerplay.
38th over, England 187-5 (Bopara 20, Buttler 53) Buttler is hogging the strike too, but Bopara gets his first runs for a while after a single from the Lancashire player sends him down the other end. The bowler brings his field in, but the Essex man can steer one down to third man. The batsmen are happy enough to take ones and twos off Malinga, which they suddenly have a bit more freedom to do after recent overs' pyrotechnics. Bopara can even savour a two, cracked just behind backward point to Kulasekara in the deep. It's got a bit more interesting now.
37th over, England 181-5 (Bopara 16, Buttler 51) This is great, textbook one-day batting from Buttler, who reaches his half-century in next to no time. Mathews is chopping and changing a lot now with his field, but the running between the wickets has improved considerably since this pair came together, and a well-scampered two keeps Sri Lanka on their toes. It shows, too, as Kulasekara strays from his length with a legside half-volley that Buttler flicks fine past the keeper for four. He then digs out a yorker, stumbles, and still runs two. To crown it all, he opens his shoulders and smacks a wonderful SIX over extra cover to bring up his 50. England's best over of the innings. By a distance.
36th over, England 166-5 (Bopara 16, Buttler 36) It's powerplay time, which means it's Malinga time. He resumes by conceding a leg-bye. Buttler is seeing the ball onto the bat rather more confidently than his upper-order colleagues, and takes a well-run two square on the legside. Malinga responds with a bouncer that is called wide - a mini-psychological win for England there? before rounding off his over with a short-ish ball that Buttler dabs away on the offside for one. Fifty partnership between these two already.
35th over, England 159-5 (Bopara 16, Buttler 31) This more assertive batting is inevitably prompting yet more ruminations on England's sluggish top order, including from Krishnan Patel.
I was watching the game at my mate's place and we were discussing on how unlikely England always seem of chasing a 270 plus score. Part of it is down to having steady-as-you-please openers in Cook and Bell and following them up with Root and Ballance. Don't you think it is one too many classical batsman to have in a top 4?
35th over, England 159-5 (Bopara 16, Buttler 31) Sri Lanka respond by restoring Kulasekara to the attack, bowling to a much more scattered field than that he opened to, and it looks a shrewd move by the tourists' captain. The batsmen take it in turns to add singles until Buttler finds a gap with a well directed late cut past gully four four. He's gone past 30 in no time, and everyone has woken up.
34th over, England 153-5 (Bopara 16, Buttler 25) Buttler's playing some lovely shots now, cracking Mendis away on the offside for four more and then lofting him in the same direction, with the same result, two balls later. This forces Mathews to adjust his field, sending men back, so Buttler is happy to then flick him down the ground for one. Bopara tries to get in on the act but can only hammer a mis-timed shot to mid-off. If only this had all happened 10 overs ago.
33rd over, England 144-5 (Bopara 16, Buttler 15) Mathews changes ends to the Pavilion End, and concedes boundaries firstly, when Buttler hits his a crisp cover drive to the ropes, and secondly when he dextrously turns one to the fine leg boundary past Sangakkara. Buttler has, unsurprisingly, stepped it up for England here. Shame we have to wait so long.
More on the last, thwarted, review request, from John Starbuck, answering all the big questions:
At that last review, I just heard the longest and fruitiest OOOOH! since Frankie Howerd from Tuffers. It seems the umpire had called 'over' before the Lankans got their review request in. Splitting hairs?
32nd over, England 134-5 (Bopara 14, Buttler 8) Mendis resumes from the Nursery End, and England milk some singles and the odd two, not always convincingly, as with one ball that deceives Bopara and bounces up against his armpit. There are, however, nine runs in the over, as a very well-run three after a leg-before shout against Bopara is turned down. It's given as runs off the bat, which excites Sri Lankan ire and they call for a review, which appears to be turned down. It's not entirely clear whether a formal review has been called for. The replay suggests it hit Bopara's upper forearm.
31st over, England 125-5 (Bopara 7, Buttler 6) ENGLAND HAVE HIT A FOUR! A thumping reverse sweep from Buttler, just behind square, beats fielders, finds ropes. Easy. Bopara strokes - nay, caresses another single down the ground past mid-off. And suddenly we have a seven-run over.
30th over, England 118-5 (Bopara 6, Buttler 1) Bopara tries to force the issue a little, taking runs into the gaps, but there's not much more than that to be had as that elusive boundary continues to exist only in a madman's dreams.
Meanwhile, some of you lot have been rummaging through your dictionaries amid the 'excitement', such as Chris Bourne:
You haven't used "nurdle" yet, or even prod. But the only English international of recent times who could nurdle his way to an ODI victory was Paul Collingwood, a specialist nurdler if ever there was one. Mostly, however, nurdling looks like lack of confidence in this team: if the bowling attack does not do the business, the batsmen have a great deal less swagger about them.
How about the phrase 'considered violence'? I doubt many of this line-up have heard it but they could at least tell Jordan to pad up as next man in. Morgan might do it, but he needs a full-on partner.
29th over, England 113-5 (Bopara 2, Buttler 1) Morgan is quickly onto Senanayake's fuller ball with a two down to deep mid-off before he's haplessly stumped, hoiking and missing after being fooled in the flight. Sangakkara whips off the bails and a danger man is gone. Another one, in theory Jos Buttler enters. He and Bopara dab some singles between them, which is nowhere near enough.
Morgan goes for it, is foxed, and stumped. Game over?
28th over, England 109-4 (Morgan 10, Bopara 0) Mathews returns - the commentary team have decided he is the Bowler To Be Targeted and duly jinx it. Morgan pulls a slow ball to leg for one, before Root makes himself a victim of this approach: his steer on the legside is sent up in the air to Mendis who takes the catch. Bopara comes to the crease at last, some one-day specialists but he can only defend his first two deliveries, before playing and missing. Some "targeting" of the weaker bowler that was. England are now miles behind.
England target Mathews, and it goes wrong. Root mistimes a hook up in the air to Mendis at fine leg, and it's an easy catch.
27th over, England 106-3 (Root 43, Morgan 8) More from Senanayake. Morgan plays and misses a reverse sweep rather messily, and then hacks a bottom edge towards Sangakkara's boots. It's not really a chance, but Morgan's approach is creating wicket-taking as well as run-scoring opportunities. Though we're still awaiting our first boundary since the ninth over. Further and further behind England fall.
26th over, England 104-3 (Root 42, Morgan 7) England are more than 30 behind what Sri Lanka were at this stage, having lost two more wickets. Mendis isn't finding loads of turn here, but his line and variation in length and flight is good and England are struggling to do much more than scamper ones and twos. One such is scampered by Root off the fourth ball of the over, and another such away towards mid-on is scampered by Morgan off the next one. Root gets another single to take England to 104-3.
25th over, England 101-3 (Root 40, Morgan 6) Senanayake returns for the new batsman as the all-spin diet continues. Root manages to flick a probing straight ball away for one. The bowler has an exaggerated shout for lbw but it's going straight past leg stump, not turning enough, but Morgan looked uncomfortable. He looks rather more comfortable with the last ball of the over, which he cuts emphatically for two square on the offside to bring the 100 up.
24th over, England 98-3 (Root 39, Morgan 4) A breakthrough for Sri Lanka! Ballance tries a reverse sweep off Mendis but only flicks it into Sangakkara's gloves. A long partnership is broken, which brings the more expansive Morgan to the crease, and he's off the mark straight away with a deft reverse/paddle sweep over his shoulder for two, as if he's showing Ballance how to do such artful improv shots. He takes a bigger risk with his next, similar, shot, not quite getting hold of it but there's still two in it.
Ballance tries a reverse sweep but only flicks it into Sangakkara's gloves. A long partnership is broken.
23rd over, England 93-2 (Ballance 42, Root 38) Ballance does at least try for a big shot, flaying Priyanjan over extra-cover but can't evade a fielder and only gets one. And then the crowd perks up as three whole runs are threatened as Root chops one away on the offside, but they settle for two. Sri Lanka will be happy with that.
22nd over, England 88-2 (Ballance 41, Root 34) Mendis bowls Sri Lanka's first properly threatening delivery for a while, beating Root all ends up outside off-stump. Singles are exchanged too, as is the way of things. The run rate required is drifting perilously near eight. But if they can stay in, there might might just be a platform. Albeit a platform that's closed for the weekend for essential maintenance and engineering works.
21st over, England 85-2 (Ballance 40, Root 32). More from Priyanjan. Root plays a clever late cut in front of square on the offside for two. Ballance is seeing it onto the bat well too, and is actually heading for a big score amid all the harrumphings about the scoring rate. He even tries a reverse sweep, brings him a single.
20th over, England 80-2 (Ballance 39, Root 28) Ballance forces two more on the offside from Mendis, plus a single. Root manages another well-run single. But we don't want manages and pushes and forces and nudges, we need lashes and smacks and larrupings and hammerings now. Or the dictionary may have to come out.
19th over, England 76-2 (Ballance 36, Root 27) Another change of bowling, as Priyanjan brings yet another spin element to the attack. Ballance has to stretch a touch to carve him away for one off his first ball, and Root opens his shoulders a bit to clip another one down towards deep mid-on for one. There are, I fear, only so many ways a man can carry on describing pushed, nudged, carved, ferreted and scurried singles.
18th over, England 71-2 (Ballance 33, Root 25) There have been only four boundaries in this innings. And there's no more off Ajantha Mendis's first over, though Ballance carves a useful two to deep point, and whips another single away to square leg. Root's push down the ground brings another. Ballance does likewise. It's all very middle-overs-ish at the moment, which would be all well and good if the situation didn't require something more urgent pretty soon.
17th over, England 66-2 (Ballance 29, Root 24) Root picks up two - yes! Two! as Senanayake continues. He's flighting it a bit more now, but England can't cut loose, though Ballance tries to with a hack outside off stump. He does manage to flick one round the corner on the legside for one, mind.
More on the subject of ones and singles, and, more excitingly, ants from Mac Millings:
Your ones of readers' lack of enthusiasm is matched by mine, despite the fact that I, a teacher here Stateside, finished my school year yesterday. I celebrated by turning off my alarm and then waking up at 5am anyway, accompanied by a hangover from just half a sodding bottle of wine. I continue, as I type, to live the life by failing to prevent my two-year-old daughter from getting bitten by fire ants.
16th over, England 62-2 (Ballance 28, Root 21) Ballance hits a one, square on the offside, as does Root to bring up the 50 partnership off 75 balls. Ballance takes two more with an elegant glance to third man that Kulasekara does well to cut off to prevent a boundary. But there's some dots too, and Matthews is bowling an industrious containing spell here.
Time for a drinks break.
15th over, England 58-2 (Ballance 25, Root 20) Senanayake continues, floating one up a bit more which gives Ballance a bit of air to drive neatly on the on-side for one. Root nudges another. And, then - hurrah! - some variety, as they get a TWO (two whole runs off one ball) through Ballance's drive on the off-side. But generally, it's all one this and one that. Runs coming more easily, but not in any kind of match-turning quantity.
14th over, England 52-2 (Ballance 21, Root 18) Matthews continues, and England continue to nudge and flick the ones, bringing up the 50 in the process. They take a big risk though when Root calls Ballance through for a single that the latter doesn't follow up, and Ballance has to scurry through for one with Root already nearly at his end when he sets off. But the throw from Dilshan at the keeper's end misses. A let-off.
More ominous fun with facts:
13th over, England 49-2 (Ballance 20, Root 3) Ballance and Root continue to take in turns to take singles off Senanayake, which they pick up freely enough, but sooner or later England are going to need some big hitting. And on that subject, Andrew Strauss has just reminded us that it's 30 years since Viv Richards' famous 189 at Old Trafford still, for my money, the greatest one-day innings of all time. Well, actually one of the greatest things, anywhere, ever, of all time.
12th over, England 43-2 (Ballance 17, Root 13) Ballance mis-times a pull square on the legside, which yields only one rather than the four or six he might fancifully have been hoping for. He gets hold of his next scoring shot rather more impressively but it's brilliantly fielded at backward point and brings only one run. Root gets a similarly unconvincing single off an inside-edge on the legside, and adds one more. The batsmen looking slightly - slightly - more comfortable, but they're only getting them in ones at the moment, which obviously isn't enough.
11th over, England 38-2 (Ballance15, Root 10) We have spin, as Senanayake comes into the attack from the Pavilion End, and bamboozles Ballance with one absolute ripper that jags away past his edge, and off-stump. There's variation too, as he swings one in to Root, who does well to turn it away to leg for a single. Four from a promising first over from the spinner.
10th over, England 34-2 (Ballance 13, Root 8) There's a change for the final over of the powerplay, which I think we can confidently say Sri Lanka have bossed, with Matthews replacing Malinga and beginning with a maiden. But the Sri Lanka captain is bowling a decent restrictive line too this is now not looking an easy pitch to work the ball away on and has a half-hearted shout for lbw against Ballance, and England can't score a single run. Seems like most of you lot have given up on their chances too - no emails in for at least half an hour or so.
9th over, England 34-2 (Ballance 13, Root 8) A relatively productive over for England, by the standards of the innings so far. Kulasekara continues, off a shorter run and with Sangakkara standing up to the stumps. Root responds well though, stooping to crack a square cut for four before scrambling an inside-edged single with the following delivery. Ballance gets one more with a square cut.
8th over, England 28-2 (Ballance 12, Root 3) An attempt to cut loose - Ballance swivels and pulls Malinga unconvincingly and high down to deep square leg but it drops safely and two runs accrue. It's also a no-ball, which no one notices, so when Ballance is comprehensively castled by a vicious yorker attempting his subsequent free hit, there's confusion as to why Malinga isn't celebrating. It's a great demonstration of intent and ability from the bowler nonetheless as if one were needed. However, Malinga errs a little with one loose ball outside off stump, which Ballance meets with a juicy drive through extra cover for four.
7th over, England 21-2 (Ballance 6, Root 3) They're dealing in singles here, which already seems woefully inadequate. Root flicks one off Kulasekera into the gully area for one, and Ballance adds another with an on-side push. Root plays an identical shot to repeat his earlier single, and his partner cuts one square on the offside for another, but these opening bowlers have control.
6th over, England 17-2 (Ballance 4, Root 1) Root is fighting an internal battle to try to get forward to Malinga, but it's not coming naturally to him. Nor is the bowler allowing him to do much, bowling a tight, regulation length. He can't get it past the circle until the final ball of the over, which he squirts past gully for one.
5th over England 16-2 (Ballance 4, Root 0) Review! Ballance is given out caught behind from another probing Kulasekera delivery, but the decision is overturned, as Snicko and Hotspot show bat hitting pad, rather than ball hitting either. The pad is in play again next ball as Ballance flicks at an away swinger and it squirms past Sangakkara for two leg-byes. England's nerves are apparent as Root tries to call a single from the non-striker's end and has to turn on his heels to avoid a run-out, which he does. He'd have been out of the throw had hit.
Then at last - a decent scoring shot as Ballance sends a straight drive past the bowler for four.
4th over England 10-2 (Ballance 0 Root 0) Malinga's first conceded run is a leg-bye slightly fumbled behind the stumps by Sangakkara, but no matter because Bell is OUT next ball, dabbing rather unconvincingly in front of one that leaves him slightly just outside off-stump and presenting Jayawardene with an easy catch at first slip. Here we go again.
The commentary team are trying to guess where Malinga will pitch each delivery and mostly getting it wrong - predicting fuller deliveries but not seeing them. New batsman Root is forced onto the back foot quickly, as are England figuratively, and Malinga is all over England here.
Malinga strikes again, and both England's openers are out. The task looks mountainous already.
3rd over England 9-1 (Bell 7 Ballance 0) Kulasekera is finding some decent movement off the seam and in the air too, but the first slightly over-pitched delivery is met by Bell unfurling - and few unfurl as he does - a deliciously timed cover drive for four. Kulasekara's comeback ball is a bit handy though, a tempting away swinger that beats Bell's edge, but Bell gets two more off the last ball of the over with a similar drive through the offside. Good cricket all-round in that over, really.
2nd over England 3-1 (Bell 1, Balance 0) Lasith Malinga, as expected, starts at the Nursery End. And what a start he gets a wicket off his first ball. He sends a devilish in-swinger thudding into Cook's pads. The England captain is given not out but the bowler reviews it replays suggest it hit the pad first and that it was taking off-stump out - and a decision is overturned for the first time in the series. Cook is on his way early. Brilliant bowling.
Gary Ballance is, as a result, watchful, as Malinga finds testing line, lengths and swing. It's a wicket maiden and, frankly, as skillful an opening over in an ODI as you could wish to see.
What a start for Malinga, who gets Cook with his first ball, after a review overturns the not-out decision.
1st over England 3-0 (Cook 1, Bell 1) Nuwan Kulasekara takes the new ball from the Pavilion End, with two slips. There's a half-hearted leg-before appeal off the first ball, but it's too high and pitched outside leg and the batsmen duly scurry through for a leg-bye to get up and running. Bell chops one down to wide third man for a single. But it's a tidy, tight over, and the only other run comes off the sixth ball, which Cook turns away to leg for single.
Just been reminded that when England ran up their highest ODI innings score at Lord's, in the 1975 World Cup, India responded with a magnificently uncooperative and curmudgeonly 132-3 off 60 0vers a template that Mike Brearley and Geoff Boycott borrowed for England in the final against West Indies four years later. They don't play it like that anymore.
So, Sri Lanka have to be considered favourites, having reached the 300 mark and with England having never chased down a total that big here. But Alastair Cook's side did a reasonable damage-limitation job here on a good pitch, before letting things slide a touch in the last couple of overs. A score of 320+ looked likely when Dilshan and Sangakkara were in, but the England attack stuck to its task reasonably well.
But nonetheless, 301 on a cloudy afternoon, against a formidable attack is a considerable target for a side not known for cutting loose and hitting big, which someone - or several someones - are going to have to do. At the moment Sangakkara's contribution looks the telling one, and what a player he continues to be, despite a quiet start to this series. Also perhaps the automatic pick for captain of a current World Likeable Players XI (suggestions to the usual address).
Afternoon Dan, afternoon everyone. So, Gurney bowls the final over of the Sri Lanka innings, and it's a variable one - runs and wickets. His first ball, pitched in the blockhole. is bunted down the ground for a single by Senanayake. Priyanjan then artfully digs out another and dinks it wide of mid-on for two. The third ball is a hideous wide down the leg side, before Priyanjan slices one wide of extra cover high in the air and Morgan pouches an easy catch. Another full toss is hoiked square on the leg side for four by Senanayake, who's making a useful contribution here, before yet another full toss yields Gurney's fourth wicket as Senanayake just toe-ends another full delivery up in the air to Cook at mid-off. And then the 300 comes up off the last ball of the innings as Mendis digs out a rare non-full toss and sends it smoothly to the third man boundary for four.
And another, similar dismissal. That's four for Gurney.
A slice high to extra-cover, an easy catch.
49th over Sri Lanka 288-7 (Priyanjan 7 Senanayake 7) Twelve more balls, let's see how long England can take over bowling them shall we? It'll take a little while as the dangerous Mathews goes to the first delivery. That's Jordan's first wicket of the day. Followed very shortly by his second as Kulasekara backed away to leg. Senanayake comes in and shows how it's done, hitting a length ball over the bowler's head for just the second six of the innings.
Right folks, I'm doing the rugby MBM now so Tom Davies will be taking you through the final over, and indeed the second innings. He's on tom.davies@theguardian.com, so do say hello to him.
Good yorker, takes out leg stump to give Kulasekara his third duck of the series.
Big swing at a short-ish one, gets the top edge and goes straight up.
48th over Sri Lanka 279-5 (Mathews 30 Priyanjan 6) So Gurney will bowl his final two overs from the Pavilion End and he sends down another wide here the 14th of the innings. Out of nowhere we get a boundary as the bowler drops short with everyone behind square on the leg side up in the circle. He goes fuller with the next ball and Mathews turns that into a full toss, coming forward and scooping out to the same region for another boundary. 300 still on here.
47th over Sri Lanka 267-5 (Mathews 20 Priyanjan 5) Anderson, who had been off the field getting his cut finger treated, comes back on to complete his quota. He gets the wicket of Thirimanne, yet again, to stall Sri Lanka's innings although the next man is the clean-hitting Priyanjan. Although "clean hitting" is an alien concept right now. As is "acceptable over rate".
He sends a bumper down to Thirimanne, who pulls it around the corner straight to Ballance and we'll have a look to see if he took the catch the fielder says he's not sure. There's a dearth of decent camera angles, but the decision is made that he's got him.
46th over Sri Lanka 260-4 (Mathews 18 Thirimanne 16) Full and wide from Jordan, angled across the left-hander and Thirimanne thumps it over cover for four. The bowler persists with his leg stump line to the right-hander after they switch the strike though, but regardless Sri Lanka are able to milk ones and even a three down the ground. Fireworks at the end of the innings, these ain't.
45th over Sri Lanka 248-4 (Mathews 15 Thirimanne 8) Anderson pitches it up and Thirimanne pulls out the pitching wedge, lofting it high down the ground for four runs to long off. A no ball follows as Anderson Steven Finns his hand into the stumps. In fact Anderson appears to have cut his finger in clipping the stumps, so we'll have a break for him to get some treatment.
Flicking stumps with finger really really hurts. I have a permanent fault in nail of middle finger from that.
44th over Sri Lanka 240-4 (Mathews 13 Thirimanne 2) Jordan now and, not for the first time today, he sends one looping a long way down the leg side. And again. Every time Mathews backs away to hit it, Jordan overcompensates massively. Cook surely needs to stick more fielders on the off side so that Jordan can bowl a line he's more comfortable with? A third wide now and we still have three balls to go in this over. The good news for England is that Sri Lanka can barely lay bat on ball now. Mathews manages to slap one on the up over cover, but Anderson reels it in well and that's a good over for England, all in all.
43rd over Sri Lanka 234-4 (Mathews 11 Thirimanne 1) Ahh. Kumar goes to the first ball of the innings, perhaps a little overenthusiastic in going after Tredwell and getting in a bit of a tangle. Still, that's a magnificent century from one of the greatest players you'll ever see. The opener Thirimanne is in next and Tredwell, repaying the faith his captain has shown in him, keeps him quiet for the rest of the over. One run and a wicket from the over mean that Tredwell finishes with figures of 10-0-39-1.
Sangakkara comes down the track and looks to hit over the top but falls over in doing so. Buttler does the formalities.
42nd over Sri Lanka 233-3 (Mathews 11 Sangakkara 112) Gurney comes around the wicket and is immediately slammed through cover for four runs, with the batsman backing away to the leg side. He follows this up with another short, wide one that's fortunately cut off at point. Full and wide next up and Mathews slams four more over extra cover. This is a very poor line from Gurney, who is in danger of undoing all his good work if he keeps this up. He comes back over the wicket to Sangakkara, who backs away and looks to hit over the off side.
41st over Sri Lanka 221-3 (Mathews 2 Sangakkara 109) Joe Root comes back, which is probably a bit risky in the last ten over with Sangakkara having taken a liking to him so far. Clearly Cook trusts Root economy 7.16 ahead of Bopara economy 9.00. Still, he's been rewarded with an over that costs just four runs.
"Hi Dan," begins Peter Ranger. "Following the game through twitter and the OBO it seems like Sanga was struggling at the beginning but now having made his century, twitter is full of people claiming it to be an excellent century. Scoring a century is of course a fantastic achievement at any level (and certainly not something I'll ever manage) but at international level I think I'd choose a century where the batsman looks in great nick from ball one and then maintains it all the way through. Apart from that, well done Kumar."
40th over Sri Lanka 217-3 (Mathews 0 Sangakkara 107) Gurney carries on and Sangakkara goes back in his crease and opens his stance to hit straight down the ground for four. His footwork has been so impressive today, going back and forward brilliantly to get to the pitch and hit straight to the fence. Less impressive has been Jayawardene, whose tortured innings comes to an innocuous end. Cap'n Mathews comes to the crease with Sri Lanka's momentum wavering. Mathews very nearly drags the last ball back on to his stumps and the powerplay comes to end with England perhaps the happier side. Just 24 runs from it.
Slapped straight to cover.
39th over Sri Lanka 212-2 (Jayawardene 7 Sangakkara 102) Dropped short, Sangakkara swivels and pulls off the back foot to mid wicket and that's a brilliant hundred from just 95 balls. His first ever at Lord's too and his 19th in ODIs overall. Jayawardene meanwhile looks to force things as he has a big wild slog at Jordan and connects only with fresh air. He's a man out of form and looks it. Jordan sends a massive wide down the leg side that's worth mentioning if only for an excellent one-handed take by Buttler. This time Jayawardene does connect with it as Jordan gets his line wrong again, and lofts it over mid-wicket for his first four of the match.
38th over Sri Lanka 202-2 (Jayawardene 2 Sangakkara 98) Cook is varying things a bit here, bringing Gurney on from the Nursery End in place of Anderson. A quick single, dropped into the off side, moves Sangakkara on to 98, before Jayawardene backs away and misses out with a big swish that sees the ball whizz just over the stumps. The crowd think Jayawardene's gone as he drives to Morgan at backward point, but there was no reaction from the fielder as it bounced just before him. Just one from the over and Sri Lanka are crawling through the powerplay at just 3/over right now.
37th over Sri Lanka 201-2 (Jayawardene 2 Sangakkara 97) Ian Botham knows better than you and boy oh boy does he want you to know it. There so many non-OBO-approved words to describe him. Anyhow, Jordan is bowling as Sri Lanka bring up the 200, with both batsmen content to continue knocking it around for singles. The loss of Dilshan may have upset them a bit as you would have thought they might have started going for it now otherwise. Instead it's just a pair of singles as Jordan keeps things much tighter.
36th over Sri Lanka 199-2 (Jayawardene 1 Sangakkara 96) Powerplay time! Anderson bowling his eighth over now and you imagine that Sri Lanka's batsmen will treat him with all due deference even with the fielding restrictions. Dilshan tries the scoop once again and misses out once again. He puts that one away to the next ball and gets out the club and hoiks through mid on for four runs.
He's bowled scooping the very next ball though. Utterly needless shot, although I suppose he needed to improvise given how badly he was struggling to hit the thing. Jayawardene, whose average of 33 is much lower than I'd expect, comes to the crease in need of a few runs in the series. If he struggles again here then England will be right back in this match after that 172-run partnership.
@DanLucas86 If Bopara and Root do not comprise a fifth bowler in England, they're not a fifth bowler anywhere. Cook needs bowling options.
Dilshan steps across his stumps, looking to scoop needlessly and is clean bowled.
35th over Sri Lanka 193-1 (Dilshan 67 Sangakkara 95) We're back and Sangakkara once again comes down the track and hits over wide mid-on for four more. I'd say he's happy to hit against the spin, but neither Tredwell nor Root is actually spinning it much.
Joe Root comes on to have a bowl and immediately tumbles into Dilshan at the non-striker's end. He floors the batsman and lays there on the poor man's ankles, unable to get up under Dilshan's weight then bringing him to the ground as he tries to roll away. It looks like Dilshan is in some discomfort and we have a drinks break.
34th over Sri Lanka 184-1 (Dilshan 66 Sangakkara 87) Dilshan still isn't quite reading the pace of the pitch here, as evidenced by the surprise on his face as Anderson drops his length a little shorter and it gets big on him. Ooh and then he sends one down on a good length that wobbles past Dilshan's outside edge. Sri Lanka are biding their time until the powerplay now, I'll wager.
33rd over Sri Lanka 179-1 (Dilshan 63 Sangakkara 85) Tredwell might well be bowling through here. Just three singles from a quiet over.
"Having a glorious day at Lords," says Rob Wright. further heightened by the exciting prospect of a tour of the media centre. Apparently the cream of the world's sporting media are in there. See you in a bit then, Dan." They let me in the media centre there once. I haven't been invited back.
32nd over Sri Lanka 179-1 (Dilshan 63 Sangakkara 85) Anderson is back into the attack for Bopara, which is sensible. Although if Jimmy can't get a wicket soon then you're going to have Root and/or Bopara bowling much later than I imagine Cook is comfortable with.
"Bowlers - choice of:" begins John Starbuck. :If England do win this match (mockers warning!) and thus the series, would they experiment with the line-up for the last game? Maybe try bringing in a couple of full-time bowlers for Bopara and Treadwell? If so, who?" It's a bit mean to suggest that Tredwell isn't a full-time bowler.
31st over Sri Lanka 173-1 (Dilshan 60 Sangakkara 82) England could be chasing a massive total here. Mid-on goes back for Tredwell to stop Sangakkara from hitting straight, so the batsmen goes wider over the newly vacant mid-wicket region for another four. What a lovely sound that shot made, as firm, crisp and woody as they come.
30th over Sri Lanka 167-1 (Dilshan 59 Sangakkara 77) Dilshan misses out as he slaps a full toss all along the floor straight to the fielder at extra cover. England's attack is looking very sterile right now, as you'd expect when you need to get 20 overs from Tredwell, Root and Bopara in the sunshine, against a batting lineup that has Dilshan, Sangakkara and Jayawardene in it. A filthy leg-side delivery from Bopara then beats Buttler and rolls down the ground for five wides. Four more from the next ball as Sangakkara steps forward and lofts it over mid-off. Twelve from the over.
29th over Sri Lanka 155-1 (Dilshan 57 Sangakkara 72) Sangakkara steps down the track to Tredwell's first ball and lobs it beautifully back over the Kent man's head for four. To answer Ian Copestake's earlier question, this is how Kumar responds to getting bogged down: stick it out in the knowledge that he'll read the bowling soon enough. 72 from 72 balls makes this his highest score in any format at Lord's.
28th over Sri Lanka 147-1 (Dilshan 55 Sangakkara 66) With Jordan needed to bowl at the death, Ravi Bopara comes back on. Dilshan reverts to the scoop to a back-of-a-length delivery outside off stump but can only catch it with the back of his glove in the follow through, knocking it down into the ground at Buttler's feet. No chance for the 'keeper standing up there. Oh and then Ravi nearly strikes as Sangakkara gets a thick edge wide of Buttler and through the vacant slip region for four. That's the first slip-up in a while by Kumar. Dilshan then misses out on a wide half volley, his timing just failing him again.
27th over Sri Lanka 141-1 (Dilshan 54 Sangakkara 61) Glorious sunshine beating down on the Lord's pitch now and Sri Lanka are just milking the singles. Four of them, this time.
26th over Sri Lanka 137-1 (Dilshan 52 Sangakkara 59) Jordan, who hasn't been at his best today, carries on. England are still in this game because, as we saw at Durham with his wicket of Dilshan, Jordan is still good enough to unsettle a set batsman and pick up a wicket from nowhere. Nonetheless, these two are looking ominously good. Shout for a run out as Dilshan takes a quick single to Cook, but the dive means he's comfortably home. "You have to watch for the bat bouncing up" says Nick Knight, before Botham rightly points out that the batsman also had his arms and upper torso grounded in the crease.
25th over Sri Lanka 134-1 (Dilshan 51 Sangakkara 57) Here is your obligatory entry telling you this over happened. It's a good one from Tredwell, but Sri Lanka are under absolutely no pressure given that he's the only one bowling in the middle overs to keep it tight.
24th over Sri Lanka 131-1 (Dilshan 50 Sangakkara 55) Jordan comes back with wickets the order of the day from Cap'n Cook, but he starts with a wide down the leg side. The good news is that he found a bit of swing there. Sangakarra then clips him over square leg to move to his 86th ODI half century from 53 balls. What a wonderful innings this has been. Dilshan drops the very next ball into the off side to pick up his own 50, from 72 balls. This one's been more attritional and more a struggle, but he's thoroughly earned it. Sangakkara then cuts a wide one with the most beautiful of timing, the most perfect placement, past point for four more.
23rd over Sri Lanka 123-1 (Dilshan 49 Sangakkara 49) WASP has decided to head north of 300 now and, to make things worse for England, the sun is back out. Perhaps bowling first wasn't the right decision, although it's easy to say that with the benefit of hindsight and you can't really blame Cook what with the cloud cover earlier. Good over this though from Tredwell, yielding just three.
22nd over Sri Lanka 120-1 (Dilshan 48 Sangakkara 47) From 0 off 12 balls, Sangakkara has quietishly gone to 42 from 47 while Dilshan has barely had the strike of late. Bopara strays on to leg stump and Sangakkara clips him through mid-on for another boundary as he has done so often throughout his career. 1215 times in ODIs, to be exact. Dilshan turns it into an expensive over by clumping four more down the ground.
21st over Sri Lanka 108-1 (Dilshan 42 Sangakkara 41) Sri Lanka are treating Tredwell with due deference here, but Sangakkara is starting to read him easily enough and works it away for a pair of twos through backward point. I'd be tempted to get Anderson or Jordan on for a couple of overs now because England are growing increasingly desperate for wickets.
20th over Sri Lanka 103-1 (Dilshan 42 Sangakkara 36) Bopara is on in place of Root, which is understandable. After
Sangakkara's charge, England have slammed those brakes back on in double quick time a series of singles, Sangakkara drives beautifully through extra cover for four more.
"6'4''? And you manage to play the danscoop?" asks Sam Rhodes. "What kind of chin music was your cousin bowling?" I have a strong, tennis ball-proof jaw.
19th over Sri Lanka 96-1 (Dilshan 40 Sangakkara 31) Tredwell, having gone for just one in his first over, is entrusted to carry on despite Sangakkara looking like he's starting to get into this whole batting thing. It's a good decision as the first five balls go . . . . ., but then Sangakkara comes forward and teases the last one down the ground, under the dive of Ballance for four.
"There is something that just looks right about Gurney and Jordan," writes Robert Wilson. "I can't help feeling that part of it is because they are not grotesque beanpoles. Seems England have dropped their faintly pervy obsession with unconscionable seven-foot giants which can't help but be good news. Tremlett may have been a tragically missed bus but I am not sure Boyd Rankin would have got much of a look in had he been 5'11". As for Steven Finn, well..."
Robert's email had the subject line "Short People Are Just Better", which hasn't endeared him to your 6'4" OBOer.
18th over Sri Lanka 92-1 (Dilshan 40 Sangakkara 27) It looks as though England are saving Anderson until Thirimanne comes in, but that could be a while as England are relying on Sri Lanka to do something stupid here rather than go after the wickets themselves. Which isn't the worst idea, as Root sends one down wide of Dilshan's off stump that the batsman should put away, but doesn't. Sangakkara then comes down the pitch and whacks one straight, past the diving Root's outstretched hand for four. The next ball is clipped over Bopara at mid on for another boundary and that fickle mistress momentum is swinging Sri Lanka's way. A third successive boundary is driven classically through mid-off.
17th over Sri Lanka 78-1 (Dilshan 39 Sangakkara 14) Tredwell, the main whose bowling is as varied as the names in my inbox and Twitter feeds today, is on. Variety is overrated though as his over yields just a single.
16th over Sri Lanka 77-1 (Dilshan 38 Sangakkara 14) A boundary! Jordan, whose length has been a bit short, is hooked around the corner for a boundary by Sangakkara, the batsman's first of the day.
A couple of questions, from Ian Copestake:
@DanLucas86 Hard to tell if the Lankans are stuck here or if England are bowling well. I suspect the latter, supported by well set fields.
15th over Sri Lanka 68-1 (Dilshan 35 Sangakkara 8) Root continues and it's as exciting as you'd imagine. The highlight being a beautiful push down the ground for a single from Sangakkara. The lowlight an ugly, high full toss that Dilshan slogs horribly to square leg for another single. Sri Lanka go past their Old Trafford total.
14th over Sri Lanka 63-1 (Dilshan 31 Sangakkara 7) Sangakkara comes down the pitch and looks to clump it in the most ungainly, unSangakkaraesque manner through mid-on where Cook dives to stop it well. England's ground fielding has been very good not just here but under Moores in general so far, and that shot epitomises how it's affecting the Sri Lankan batsmen. A few balls later he dances down the track again and squeezes it off the toe end of the bat into no man's land at mid off for a couple more. He's struggling here, Kumar.
13th over Sri Lanka 57-1 (Dilshan 29 Sangakkara 4) Root continues. Sri Lanka aren't scoring but they're looking comfortable, which is uncomfortably reminiscent of Durham. On Sky, Russell Arnold and Nasser think my prediction of 290 as a good score might be a bit much; closer to 250-260 and it looks like they could be right, especially under the cloud.
12th over Sri Lanka 54-1 (Dilshan 27 Sangakkara 3) A double change in the bowling, with Jordan to bowl up the slope from the Nursery End. Peter Moores' record of bringing new players through for England is probably the big reason to be optimistic about him taking over the reigns to rebuild the England Test side and you would imagine that Jordan has played his way into that team for the series against Sri Lanka in the coming weeks. With any luck, England have learned from Steven Finn and won't bother trying to fiddle with his run-up. A wide down the leg side is just about the only blemish from a perfunctorily fine over. Dilshan is still leaving a big gap between his bat and pad, which is how he's been out twice so far in this series, so perhaps it'd be worth bowling Jordan from the Pavilion End, down the slope. He's a little leg-side with his line here, overcompensating for that slope.
11th over Sri Lanka 50-1 (Dilshan 26 Sangakkara 2) Joe Root is on ahead of James Tredwell now. There's not going to be any turn here, I imagine, but the slow wicket might help with both batsmen struggling to time the ball. Sanakkara finally gets off the mark with a single from the 13th ball he's faced. Indeed, singles are the order of the day: five of them to be precise, as the 50 comes up.
10th over Sri Lanka 45-1 (Dilshan 23 Sangakkara 0) Speaking of pressure, Sangakkara is now 0 from eight balls and can't get Gurney past the fielders. Ten balls now. Eleven. Ah and then a wide ruins Gurney's chances of a third maiden, far too short and rising like a Rafa Nadal smash shot. That's it for the over though and I'd say England have just, just edged the powerplay.
9th over Sri Lanka 44-1 (Dilshan 23 Sangakkara 0) There's what we're obliged to call the Pressure Releasing Shot, Dilshan bringing out the Dilscoop, which I'm calling the Danscoop because I totally did that years before he did in the park against my cousins. Ahem. Anyway, he pulls it out twice in a row here to pick up a couple of boundaries over the 'keepers head. Anderson responds by banging it shorter and quicker, outside off stump to beat Dilshan's third attempt at the shot. Oh and then Dilshan gloves the final ball up in the air, over Buttler's head and fortuitously away for a couple. That one nipped back down the slope and caught Dilshan trying to leave it.
8th over Sri Lanka 34-1 (Dilshan 13 Sangakkara 0) Dilshan is really going for everything here, but his timing is dreadful and he can't get it past the ring of fielders. Gurney is once again bowling a lovely line, if perhaps a tad short, and there are no runs for Dilshan off the first five balls, before he steals a leg bye from the last ball. Excellent over from Gurney, of whom I like the look.
7th over Sri Lanka 33-1 (Dilshan 13 Sangakkara 0) Runs! And slightly forced, you'd say, as a bouncer from Anderson is hooked awkwardly over square leg for four by Dilshan. He didn't look to comfortable there, but this pitch is probably a bit too slow for bumpers against these two. Jimmy then strays on to the pads and Dilshan gets a couple more before putting the next one away for a quick single.
"'As thick(e) as Robin'? Am I being also being a tad thick here?" asks Ian Copestake. "No, wait. This is a popular beat combo reference isn't it? Carry on." It's just one guy, who did that stupid catchy song that everyone hates.
6th over Sri Lanka 26-1 (Dilshan 6 Sangakkara 0) The wicket came from the first ball of the over, with the ball far too far outside off and probably not short enough for the shot. It was also an excellent catch from Jordan on the dive. This is a great over for England, Sangakkara looking to chop the fifth ball down to third man but very well stopped on the dive by Tredwell at slip. Gurney is looking threatening, Sri Lanka are watchful and that's a second maiden on the spin.
The pressure built from that maiden manifests immediately! Gurney drags it slightly short and Perera looks to murder it over mid-wicket once again, but only succeeds in getting an edge as thick(e) as Robin and sends it to Jordan at second slip, where the Sussex man is looking an increasingly secure bet.
Let's just give Chris Jordan a knighthood now and be done with it. Blooming decent snaffle that one.
5th over Sri Lanka 26-0 (Dilshan 6 Perera 19) Sri Lanka's batsmen slide again as they look for a quick single that wasn't on, Bopara missing with the throw on the dive from the side of the stumps. It's been a hairy start for these two between the wickets, as is always the risk with a new opening partnership. Anderson's six balls are right on the green stuff money that is, as opposed to the grass off the strip and that's a great maiden.
Here's Gary Naylor.
@DanLucas86 I've not nodded off (yet) but a seat at The Oval at 9.20pm and another at Lord's at 8.20am, is a bit of a tester!
4th over Sri Lanka 26-0 (Dilshan 6 Perera 19) There was a good stop with the boot by Anderson in that last over to save three runs from a Perera straight drive. Not so good is this ball from Gurney, which drops short and is hooked over the rope in front of square leg by Perera, in a manner reminiscent of his hero Sanath Jayasuria. A couple of balls later Dilshan has a big swing and a miss, before Bopara has a throw at the wrong end when they go for a quick single. The six aside, that was a good over from Gurney. The six aside.
3rd over Sri Lanka 18-0 (Dilshan 5 Perera 12) Michael Holding points out that Anderson has taken exactly half of wickets in the UK and half away, which nicely highlights just how well he's adapted his game to become more than just a swing bowler. Where do we think Jimmy stands in the pantheon of England bowlers? Obviously not right at the top table along with yer Stathams and Truemans, but the weight and the distribution of wickets puts him pretty high I reckon. Sri Lanka get a couple of runs here as Dilshan considers a cheeky single, changes his mind, the fielder shies at the stumps, hits them and watches it richochet away for overthrows. A good over from Anderson, conceding just four runs.
2nd over Sri Lanka 14-0 (Dilshan 3 Perera 10) Gurney from the Nursery End. He's offering Dilshan a bit too much width and the batsman cuts his first two balls, but can't find the gap and only gets one run from doing so. With the left-hander Perera on strike he goes a bit wide in the other direction and is cut to the boundary for a couple, with Ian Bell to thank for keeping that to two. He's a good, strong punch batsman Perera, but Gurney tightens his line and it's just a couple more from the over.
1st over Sri Lanka 9-0 (Dilshan 1 Perera 8) Bowling first looks to be a good call from Cook as the clouds have come over at Lord's. Anderson is, as you know by now, opening the bowling. He shapes his first ball away from Dilshan and finds the edge, but it's all along the ground for a single wide of the slips to third man. The third ball brings a strangled shout for LBW against Perera, but it's pitched miles outside leg, before Anderson loses his line a little and gets clipped for four through backward square leg. He overcompensates next up and is cut from wide outside off stump through point for four. Anderson conceded ten runs in the last match but he's given up nine in his first over here to allow Sri Lanka a good start.
It's just been pointed out that Gary Naylor has been at Lord's since about 8am. I assume he's nodded off, given we haven't heard from him yet.
You may have noticed that Thirimanne has dropped down the order, with Perera opening. It's a sensible move, getting him away from Jimmy Anderson, who's had his number so far in this series.
No WASP news so far, which isn't something I'm missing much, personally. I'd say 290 is a very good score on this pitch. Or anything north of 67, if you're Sri Lanka.
Tomorrow on Sky you can watch the T20 match between Leicestershire and Birmingham. Wait, what?! "Thin end of the wedge," says my colleague John Ashdown, ominously.
"I fear that Malinga is due a massive game," says Ian Copestake. "But then I also feel Eoin Morgan is due something massive. Basically something massive is going to happen, and it is hopefully not the Duckworth Lewis calculations."
Well the forecast is for lovely sunshine all day, which is good news for everyone who couldn't do with an early finish to the innings so that they can get some lunch before going straight into a rugby MBM at around 2ish.
The teams in full:
"I dislike anyone," begins Ian Copestake, before thankfully continuing, "who basically invites Piers Morgan to take the moral high ground. Paul Downton has let himself down and the whole of 4B down."
4B? I'm being thick here, aren't I?
Time for the toss: Whoever wins will bat, surely. Cook wins it and... bowls?!?! The England captain makes the good point that Lord's doesn't tend to get any worse for batting, which is fair enough, I guess. Still, it looks a great batting pitch. England are unchanged.
Angelo Mathews says he would have bowled as well, so that shows what I know. Chandimal and Herath are out, Perera and Mendis come in.
Weather update: there are dark clouds approaching Lord's. Because of course there are.
Stirring things is Tom van der Gucht, whose email subject "Bring Back Dernbach" made me shudder as I was walking into the office listening to The National this morning:
"Whilst reading through 2013 cricket statistics I was astonished to discover that the much ridiculed dearth / death bowler Jade Dernbach was the second highest T20 international wicket taker that year! He also had a decent average and strike rate. Which I suppose goes someway to explain why England kept on picking him."
It won't have gone unnoticed by many fans that Paul Downton already has a bit of egg on his face, having had to apologise to Kevin Pietersen for opening his big mouth while forgetting about the confidentiality clause in KP's termination agreement.
The England and Wales Cricket Board and its managing director, Paul Downton, have apologised to Kevin Pietersen after the recent criticism from Downton of the batsmans attitude in the winter Ashes series.
Downton appeared on BBC Radio 5 Lives Test Match Special on 22 May to discuss a number of issues but his comments about the former England batsman Pietersen drew particular attention.
KP and the ECB: an early 90s indie band or a very English farce...
Preamble
Morning folks. All sat comfortably? Well so are Ian Ward and Andrew Strauss on Sky, in the glorious sunshine that's currently bathing Lord's. For the first time, this ODI series has moved into warmer climes and on a beautiful, hot day at a beautiful looking ground, we could be seeing a lot of runs today.
Sri Lanka won a one-sided match by six wickets, and the series with it, but only after controversially dismissing Jos Buttler.
Well that was rubbish. Sri Lanka never needed to get out of first gear with the bat, but they might still have tried, once Jayawardene and Thirimanne had more or less assured them of victory. Still, they have every right to prioritise victory over my entertainment, and that was a very assured and finely paced reply.
Cook ends the match by having a little dig at Mathews, and this Buttler business does seem to have added a little spice to the Test series. Though he really needs to get over it, I suppose it's good to see a little bit of spark from him. Perhaps one day he'll display some in his field positions.
Cometh the hour, cometh Chris Jordan, cometh five singles and a four, pretty much all of them to or indeed past third man. Sri Lanka need six runs and have two overs to score them.
Anderson bowls, Thirimanne scoops the first ball over midwicket, and it trundles away for four. That's the end of the run-scoring, and a few moments later the same batsman offers a fairly simple caught-and-bowled chance, but Anderson's one-handed catch isn't held. It was a little bit like the one Flintoff caught recently, except easier. That's the end of Anderson, whose 10 overs have gone for 33 runs.
Gurney bowls, and after a couple of singles Mathews takes a step back and heaves the ball over long off for four, and then slaps the fifth delivery through the covers for another. Sri Lanka now require 4.75 runs an over.
Jordan bowls, and Gurney gets a second chance to take a catch at third man and he totally misjudges it, doesn't even touch the ball, and it bounces away for four. Add four singles and a two and you've got yourself a 10-run over, Sri Lanka reaching double figures for the second time since over six (England never got 10 or more runs from a single over in their innings). Sri Lanka now require 5.8 runs an over.
Gurney bowls, and Thirimanne completes his half-century (89 balls one six, one four, a whole load o'singles) with another single off the first delivery. "You don't need a degree in Sports Psychology to know that Buttler's petulant sledging of Matthews is tantamount to admitting his guilt," writes Marcus Moore. There was never any doubt about his guilt he was standing a mile outside his crease. This wasn't about black or white, but a particular cricketing shade of gray, the space in which "the spirit of the game" resides. Sri Lanka need 6.5 runs an over, on average, etc and so forth.
Really, this run chase could scarcely have been less dramatic. There was a moment, at 62-3 back in over 11, when some excitement was possible, but Thirimanne and Jayawardene skilfully and very, very slowly squashed it. Sri Lanka need precisely six runs, on average, from each of the remaining seven overs.
Jordan continues, as indeed do the boos, raining down from the stands upon Mathews. His first ball is again not a wide. But the fourth is. Really, these extras won't do. Five actual proper runs are also scored, in ones and a two.
Angelo Mathews is getting some stick from English players and fans about the Jos Buttler run-out fandango. There'll be no aggressive up-backing from him, I'd wager. Tredwell returns, and a couple of singles are taken. Ten overs remain, and Sri Lanka require 5.6 runs off each of them (on average).
Jordan's back, and his first ball isn't a wide. So that's a thing. Never mind, the fifth ball is. But along the way, there's also a wicket a few more of those and this might get interesting.
Jayawardene very deliberately guides the ball straight up into the air, and Anderson catches it. Jordan punches the air with some violence. Could there be a late twist here?
There's extra excitement in the drinks break as I check my pigeon-hole and find a promisingly large package, and bonus disappointment during over 38 as I open it to find four books about cycling. They may be very good books about cycling. I'm looking on the bright side. Jayawardene reaches his half-century, having faced 87 balls.
In the time it takes me to get a drink of my own from the Guardian's in-house cafe, not only do the players take their refreshments but they also get five-sevenths (there's a wide) of the way through over 37. Anderson bowls it, and Thirimanne, I deduce cunningly from nothing but the number of runs he's scored, gets a boundary at some point.
England need those wickets fast, with rain still falling and Sri Lanka narrowly ahead on the old Duckworth/Lewis. And they nearly get one, as the ball hits the edge of Jayawardene's bat and bounces not too far away from the stumps. The players will now take some drinks.
Anderson returns, with England desperately needing a wicket. And then another wicket. And really, another one after that. There are no wickets, but just one run.
Jayawardene pulls the ball through square leg for four, beautifully placed, and then tickles one very fine for another. In between Thirimanne tries to work the ball to fine leg, where it lands about a yard in front of Gurney. Eleven count 'em runs off Bopara's over.
The crowd will literally go "oooh" at anything. Jayawardene trots forward and the ball hits his pad in a not remotely threatening way. "Oooooh!" says the crowd. Jayawardene paddles the ball to fine leg for a couple. "Ooooh!" says the crowd.
Root gets his length wrong, and Jayawardene hoiks the ball over midwicket for four. And a smattering of singles, and what you've got there is an eight-run over. On Sky, the commentators are talking quite a lot about clouds. Apparently they're grey, and hovering threateningly.
Root keeps bowling and Jayawardene, backing up enthusiastically, finds himself halfway down the pitch and needing to get back really quickly or he might get out. He gets back really quickly.
Ravi Bopara bowls! I'm not sure why I've gone all exclamationmarkey on that, but you've got to get excited about something, and this after all is the first we've seen of him this innings so perhaps he'll do. Jayawardene tries to nurdle the ball fine to third man and misses it intirely had the shot been only slightly less hopeless he'd probably have got out. The run rate rises to 4.91 an over. It'll be five soon, at this rate, you mark my words.
@Simon_Burnton There are blokes in the crowd who would be a more threatening proposition than Joe Root. Not a 6th bowler: barely a 9th.
Jordan's over begins yes with a wide. Sri Lanka scored their first 50 runs off 38 balls. There have been 112 deliveries since plus several wides and they're only now on the brink of 100. Here, what do you make of this? I like it, me.
Really, nothing is happening. Sri Lanka could sleepwalk to this target, and apparently intend to do so. And if they're not asleep now, they're doing their damnedest to make sure plenty of other people are. Anyway, over 24. Tredwell bowled it. Jayawardene scored a single.
Just as when he bowled his first over, Jordan's first delivery is a wide. Unlike when he bowled his first over, his subsequent deliveries don't go for another 13.
Thirimanne, with a single heave over long on, near-enough doubles his personal total. Tredwell's over goes for seven in all, more than any over since the sixth, bowled by Jordan. Talking of whom
If only England had scored some runs of their own, this would be getting seriously interesting. But Sri Lanka don't need to panic, and indeed they aren't at the start of their innings they needed 4.4 runs an over, and now it's risen to 4.72.
Gurney's second spell continues to be significantly more impressive than his first. This is all lovely, but England do need wickets, and they could have got one when the ball found the edge of Jayawardene's bat. It flies to the right of Buttler, who doesn't move for it, and to the left of Jordan, who doesn't move for it either, and runs away for four.
Sri Lanka don't hit a boundary from the next delivery, or indeed from the five after that. They do take a few singles, not all of them very comfortable.
Sri Lanka remain becalmed, and Gurney's last delivery prompts a loose shot from Jayawardene, looping the ball back in the direction of the bowler, if much too high for him to catch it. But let's not get overexcited Sri Lanka still need an eminently achievable 4.48 runs an over. What's certain, though, is that if Sri Lanka don't hit a boundary off the next delivery bowled, they'll have gone a full 10 overs without one.
Gurney returns, at the other end, as Anderson's replacement, and every ball struck zips straight to a fielder to be fair, Bell had to dive on one occasion and it's a maiden.
Anderson's seventh over is concluded, with the concession of two runs. At this stage in their innings, England were on 65-0. "Evening Simon," writes Simon McMahon. Evening to you too sir. "I've always thought that Harry Gurney sounds as though he's from the 1930s, whereas Tredwell just looks as though he was born in the 30s." Don't know about born in the 30s, Tredwell looks like he was born in his 30s. Can you imagine a baby Tredwell?
Tredwell fair rips through his over, keeping the pressure on. No runs are scored, and Sri Lanka, who scored 20 runs more than England in their first six overs, have scored 15 fewer off their next six.
Just five runs off Tredwell's over, and a wicket, which all seemed pretty unlikely when the first delivery was bashed through the covers by Dilshan.
Tredwell comes on, and Dilshan looks to bash him about sharpish. The first ball flies to the boundary, the second to Joe Root at cover. A fine catch, diving to his right. That ball was really travelling.
Gurney is unsurprisingly hooked after conceded 14 runs off his latest over, and Jordan concedes 14 runs off his first. He starts with a wide, and there follows a smart caught-and-bowled chance, the ball travelling fast from Perera's bat at calf height but flying through the bowler's hands, and Dilshan spearing successive deliveries through point for four.
Anderson's radar slips, and the fingertips of a diving Buttler divert a wide delivery that would otherwise have rolled merrily to the boundary to a fielder at fine leg. Still, Sri Lanka run three and a couple of deliveries later Dilshan misses the ball, which flicks off his thighpad and rolls merrily to the very same spot on the boundary that the previous one may have reached. The second half of the over, though, is splendid, and Dilshan should be pretty chuffed just to reach the end of it.
Perera chops the ball through the covers for a rather fine four, and then Dilshan thwacks a couple through square leg for more. That's 14 fourteen runs from the over, and the early wickets England surely needed as they defend an unimpressive total have yet to come.
Perera nurdles the ball to the fine leg boundary for the first four of the innings. There's also a wildly optimistic lbw shout against Perera, quite properly ignored by the umpire.
Gurney's first delivery is wide, with a bit of bonus extra super width for good measure. His second delivery is less wide, but still pretty damn wide in the scheme of things. A few singles round off the scoring. "It's not like England haven't been here before," writes Diego Black of this whole Mankad business. "This is also the most acceptable way of warning (and dancing but I couldn't possibly comment on that)."
Anderson bowls, and Dilshan edges the first ball along the ground to third man. So, I'm monitoring photos posted to Instagram from Edgbaston, and the only one that's popped up recently is this. Eh?
and the players are on their way on. Gird your loins, people.
"I'm going to go all Betjeman on you," warns Marie Meyer. And then she does.
Come, friendly rain, fall on Edgbaston. Spare us from more England "action".
The covers are back on! It's hardly raining, but obviously that isn't the same as not raining at all.
The covers are coming off, and play is due to restart in 12 minutes!
It's still raining, still lightly, and nobody's about to play any cricket at Edgbaston. More as I get it
Very light rain falling. We have an extra 30 minutes to take before we lose any overs #EngvSL
I don't think we should spend the next few hours rattling on about the Buttler dismissal, but there's perhaps room for a couple more opinions. Me, I don't think Buttler was really seeking to gain much by strolling very slowly out of his crease, and he wasn't very far out of his crease when the stumps were taken off he kept strolling for a bit after that and really only the most egregious offenders should be mankaded. But he was most definitely out of his crease, and he should either have been in it, or trying to get proper advantage from being outside it.
I know Buttler was being dozy, had been warned, and it was in the laws and it was his fault. But Is that really how we want the game played
Hello! Simon Burnton here, taking the baton from Dan Lucas and running with it (as far as my desk, where I'm now sitting down with it and don't plan to move for about five hours). It's currently raining in Edgbaston, but not very hard. Still, it might delay the start of Sri Lanka's reply, and England's attempts to revenge-mankad the lot of them.
That was rubbish, quite frankly. England started serenely but continued to try and force runs that were never there. The innings didn't so much end with a damp squib as much as it was a damp squib all along.
Simon Burnton will be with you for the chase/rain delay, so please be kind and don't pester him with email talking about "the spirit of cricket" like that's a thing.
SPLAT go the stumps.
48th over England 219-9 (Gurney 0 Anderson 5) Oh well.
Dashing for a single that was never there, the throw comes into the bowler's end.
47th over England 218-8 (Jordan 30 Anderson 4) I'd describe this innings as petering out, except it's been petering out since about the fifth over. Jordan slams an excellent shot through extra cover for four when Malinga goes full and wide. Jordan is key to England hopes of getting 230-240 here. No more boundaries for the over, just scrambled singles. Jordan gets a single from the final ball to get back on strike.
When high speed cameras give batsmen in or out by millimeters, the idea that a batsman can leave his crease free of Mankadding is absurd.
46th over England 209-8 (Jordan 24 Anderson 2) Jordan swivels and pulls for four through fine leg, with Kulasekara running around and diving over the ball, much to the delight of a still angry crowd. On the final ball, Senanayake pulls out of his delivery stride and Jordan grounds his bat in his crease in a flash. It was the umpire calling dead ball that effected that little sequence though.
The booing and the chants of "cheat" are really quite unedifying. Go away from cricket, all of you. Morons.
45th over England 201-8 (Jordan 18 Anderson 0) Well this is all a bit of a mess for England, isn't it? Unsurprisingly, the tailenders can't get Lasith Malinga away. A wicket from the final ball and Anderson comes to the crease looking a bit glum.
Full and straight. Far too good for the wafting Tredwell, who can't get bat on it.
44th over England 199-7 (Jordan 17 Tredwell 0) Well boos are ringing around Edgbaston now as Senanayake Mankads Buttler. The batsman had been warned before by the bowler but the crowd don't seem a bit bothered by that. Personally I don't think there's any problem with Mankading; why should Buttler be allowed to start a run from halfway down the track? He's lucky he got a warning.
Mankad!
43rd over England 197-6 (Jordan 15 Buttler 21) Malinga is going with the short stuff now. Buttler muscles a single out to midwicket but then Jordan gets a top edge. It drops short of the man at fine leg and then spins mercilessly away from him, forcing a readjustment of running line. "That spun more than Ajantha Mendis has been getting it to," chuckles Michael Holding. Six from the over, a run rate that would get them close to 240.
42nd over England 191-6 (Jordan 11 Buttler 19) Senanayake pulls out of his delivery stride on the third ball. There's no urgency from either side here and you have to say the onus is really on England to provide that. The big problem is that they only have four wickets left. Go for it now and they risk having the tailenders in for the last five overs, leave it too long and they'll run out of time. I think we can all agree that two an over isn't enough here. And that there is no need for the Edgbaston PA to be playing Toploader's version of 'Dancing in the Moonlight'. Ever.
41st over England 189-6 (Jordan 10 Buttler 18) Buttler is out here if the throw hits as they go for a quick single. The ball does not hit. Instead the ball continues to find fielders. England will do well to make 240 from here. Oh and then a rare boundary, just the ninth of the innings, as Jordan hooks through mid wicket for four.
"What Oliver Smiddy fails miserably to note is whether Alex Hales is the sort of boy mothers would take to and who does the washing up when tea is over. That's what brand Team Waitrose is after," notes Ian Copestake.
40th over England 182-6 (Jordan 4 Buttler 17)
Kevin Pietersen parachutes into Edgbaston and kicks Paul Downton in your face while yelling Arnold Schwarzenegger quotes at him. He then wrenches a cricket bat from the holster on his back and strides out into the middle. "Watch and learn, son" he says to Jos Buttler before reigning hell fire down on Ajantha Mendis. He spots Giles Clarke in the stands and knocks his pint glass out of his hand with a perfectly placed six. 36 from the over and Sri Lanka are crying.
England work four singles.
39th over England 178-6 (Jordan 2 Buttler 15) A dreadful leg-side wide from Mathews is just about parried by Sangakkara, keeping them to two runs (plus the wide) rather than four. Those, plus another wide are all that England can get from the over.
Oliver Smiddy hits the nail on the head:"Alex Hales is currently 142 not out off 112 balls, with 18 fours and 4 sixes. Hes gone loco. The fact we have to endure a top four of Cook, Bell, Root and Ballance while one of our finest and most aggressive limited overs batsmen struggles to get a game in the 4-day format beggars belief. Imagine a Team Waitrose top 4 of Bell, Hales, Pietersen and Buttler. That would genuinely give the likes of Australia pause for thought."
38th over England 174-6 (Jordan 2 Buttler 15) This is like a parody of ODI cricket. Mendis has now overstepped to give Buttler a free hit, which is slaps down to long off for a single. Actually it looks like the ball that got Bopara was a bit slower, but that's no excuse for Ravi's useless swipe.
Mendis bowls a rank long hop that lands about halfway down the pitch. Ravi takes a big ugly, uncontrolled swing at it, with his legs askew. The ball nutmegs him and takes the stumps. That was hilariously awful all-round.
37th over England 169-5 (Bopara 17 Buttler 13) This really is a woeful pitch, offering nothing to anyone. The bowlers aren't earning their wickets, they're getting them when England's batsmen get frustrated and play a rubbish shot. The batsmen can't play shots, they're just left slugging at a ball that's dying in the pitch. A downpour would be more entertaining to watch. Two from the 37th over. Seriously.
36th over England 167-5 (Bopara 15 Buttler 13) Ravi swivels around and plays the scoop shot and Sangakkara misjudges it completely, the ball running away for a couple of runs. Other than that there are just three singles from the over. This isn't good cricket, folks.
35th over England 162-5 (Bopara 11 Buttler 12) Malinga now. With the powerplay gone, I reckon these two have to hang around and try to score around 5/over for the next five overs, then look to hit out after the 40-over mark.
34th over England 158-5 (Bopara 9 Buttler 10) Mendis is back on. England may now regret taking the powerplay earlier and not making the most of it as Buttler hits one nicely through square leg for three, Jayawardene stopping the boundary well. That will be drinks. I'll take a tea, if anyone's offering.
Meanwhile Gary Naylor has a neat stat here:
England top four: at Lord's 4 boundaries off 151 deliveries; at Edgbaston 7 boundaries off 153 deliveries. 20th century batting @DanLucas86
33rd over England 152-5 (Bopara 7 Buttler 6) Malinga is back on and very nearly has Buttler, slicing it hard and in the air just to the left of the diving Dilshan at backward point. Buttler's method of keeping out Malinga's yorkers is quite absurd. He's clearing his front leg as if preparing to slog before chopping an angled bat down on the ball to block it out. It's excellent bowling that's not allowing Buttler to hit a thing. The final ball is a fraction outside off stump though and Buttler, having backed away, crunches it through extra cover for four. There wasn't really much difference in line and length there but Buttler played it magnificently well.
32nd over England 145-5 (Bopara 6 Buttler 1) It's Senanayake to continue. Sri Lanka's slow bowlers have really done a number on England here. 260 would be a qualified success for England now.
31st over England 143-5 (Bopara 5 Buttler 0) So Ravi survives again. That was a rubbish review, it was always going miles over the stumps. Bopara's running here is ridiculous, first up he only just makes his ground going for a risky second, then on the next ball he's spared only by a poor throw wide of the stumps. Oh and now he's called Morgan through for a run that was never on and Morgan's stumps are thrown down. It's reviewed but he's safely home. Oh but then Morgan throws all those lives away with a poor shot that's easily pouched.
It's also been pointed out that I'm a very tired/stupid man, and that Root's dismissal was fine because he'd touched it.
Oh dear. Morgan tries to play a ridiculous front-foot paddle pull from a crouching position outside off stump and UNBELIEVABLY that turns out to be an unholy mess of a shot. The top edge is taken in the deep and England are in the malodorous stuff.
Shout for LBW against Bopara. This is too high. Given not out originally... and it's not out. That's Sri Lanka's review gone as the stumping was referred by the umpire.
30th over England 139-4 (Bopara 1 Morgan 17) Senanayake, with five overs for 18 runs behind him today, comes back and strikes early to get rid of England's set batsman. Ravi Bopara comes in and is very lucky to get away with the stumping; it looked to me as though the boot was on the line.
"Can you clear [the Root wicket] up for me please?" asks Kerry Davies. "I always believed that a WK taking in front of the stumps was a no-ball? Did it happen like this? Was Root behind his stumps? Is it allowed if a batsman hits it?"
Ooh that's close. I couldn't see anything behind the line but the third umpire clearly could.
Ravi could have been stumped first ball here
"Alastair Cook tries the scoop shot" is not a sentence I ever expected to write. Although if I did, I know I'd expect to write "But gets a top edge that loops sadly into the gloves of the 'keeper" immediately afterwards.
29th over England 135-3 (Cook 56 Morgan 14) It's getting very dark in Birmingham now. Just the single from the over.
28th over England 134-3 (Cook 56 Morgan 13) Morgan brings out the big guns and drags a slog sweep from outside off stump and over mid-wicket for the first six of the match. Eight runs come from the first two balls but thereafter England have to settle for just a leg-by.
"Hi Dan," writes Mike Jakeman as if on cue. "I read a stat the other day which said that Morgan had played more England games in the past year or so than anyone else. That's quite something, given that he has been anywhere near the Test team in that time. But should he? I fear he hasn't made enough Championship runs so far this season, but as I discuss here, I reckon there is an Eoin-sized hole in the middle order, post-KP." Oh I agree, certainly. England need to look for new ideas and that means players with IPL and Big Bash experience I reckon.
27th over England 125-3 (Cook 56 Morgan 5) Morgan is looking to give Dilshan the charge here. He's in a bit of trouble on ball three as he checks his shot and loops it up in the air, the ball dropping into no-man's land. Dilshan has a shot for LBW next ball but Morgan had just got outside the line of off-stump. I reckon that may have been turning back away from the stumps anyway. Hawkeye reckons just clipping. The fashion for four-run overs has become a fashion for three-run overs.
26th over England 122-3 (Cook 55 Morgan 3) Three singles. Elsewhere, Alex Hales has scored his first Championship century since 2012 for Notts.
25th over England 119-3 (Cook 54 Morgan 1) Bad news folks: there looks to be a great big patch of rain headed Birmingham-way. Mathews continues and, no matter what the bowling, England's batsmen still struggling. Cook's battling well, but you question the ability of the rest of the lineup to stick with him and build a score. I miss Jonathan Trott.
24th over England 117-3 (Cook 53 Morgan 0) So Mathews has had enough of himself and gets the off-spinner Priyanjan back into the attack. There's a big appeal here for both LBW and a catch, as the ball loops up off what appears to be Root's pad as he reverse swept, before Sangakkara took the catch right on top of the batsman's helmet. We'll have a review and oh it's out! It turns out it was his glove, rather than his pad, off of which the ball looped up and although the original appeal was for LBW, he's been caught behind. So Morgan, who could use a score just for his own confidence, is the new man.
Gloved up in the air and caught right on top of his head.
23rd over England 114-2 (Cook 53 Root 8) Huzzah! A boundary! It comes as Malinga loses his length and arrows a full toss towards the leg side, with Root flicking it down to fine leg for four. Malinga's targeting Root's pads and bowling full, presumably looking to prey on Root's weakness at playing off the front foot.
22nd over England 106-2 (Cook 50 Root 3) Captain Mathews the Sri Lankan cricketer rather than the minor character in the TV show Dexter brings himself into the attack, becoming the seventh bowler used today. There's no swing or seam movement, no pace and the seam position doesn't seem to be making much difference at all given the above and the even bounce. Cook works one into the leg side and brings up his 50.
Disappointingly crusty track at edgbaston favouring slow bowlers. Sri Lanka have four and Malinga already bowling cutters.
21st over England 102-2 (Cook 48 Root 2) Angelo Mathews is bored, by the looks of things, and switches to pace in the form of Lasith Malinga. And it works! That was as nothing a shot as nothing shots get from Ballance, he'd lost his grip on the bat entirely and another new batsman has to start his innings. I've no idea what nonsense WASP has spat out, but I'd guess 260 or so will be par here. Cook gets a single to bring the 100 up at a shade under 5/over. Another four runs from this over. It feels as though there have been so many of those I'm actually surprised at the run rate.
I've no idea what this shot is. It's a wide ball and the bat just dangled out towards it, wriggling in the batsman's hands, and it loops back up in the air, gently back to the bowler.
20th over England 98-1 (Cook 46 Ballance 10) Nick Knight's analysis of why the wicket-taking delivery to Bell got stuck in the pitch is that it was a lot slower after pitching than most other deliveries, i.e. it got stuck in the pitch. Even Gower is making fun of him for that one. Ballance is starting to hit them well but the field is packed on the off-side. Meanwhile Cook has doubled his run tally for the series.
19th over England 92-1 (Cook 44 Ballance 6) We're back and, with England struggling for fluency against the spinners, it's spinner number four to bowl, Priyanjan. The good news for the teams trying to beat the rain/bad news for Simon Burnton OBOing the second innings is that we're relatively racing through the overs here. Also they're all going for four singles.
18th over England 88-1 (Cook 42 Ballance 4) You get the feeling you could nip out for a smoke in the time it takes from Dilshan releasing the ball and it reaching the batsman. Despite the dearth of boundaries, England are still scoring at around five an over and, given the unfortunate nature of Bell's wicket, they're not really taking risks either. That's drinks.
Quite.
Curious tactics to say the least, taking power play from 11th over. 5 overs: 20/1. One four
17th over England 84-1 (Cook 39 Ballance 3) Mendis continues, England work four singles and the world keeps turning. In fairness to England, the pitch is so slow and sticky that it's impossible to get it off the square.
16th over England 79-1 (Cook 36 Ballance 1) Dilshan is on now and beats Cook with a slow one that had the captain cutting at it far too early. The wicket in that previous over was a precious one for Sri Lanka as England's batsmen are going to find it difficult to bat fluently from the get-go here. Darker clouds moving in now.
15th over England 76-1 (Cook 34 Ballance 0) Four runs as Cook plucks a straight one (gasp!) from Mendis from outside off stump and through mid-wicket. Bell looks to do something a bit similar a couple of balls later and again gets a thick inside edge, the ball flying just wide of mid-wicket. Then he looks to slog-sweep, falls off balance and miscues it, the ball dropping short of mid-wicket. Suddenly Bell is looking less than relaxed and indeed gets out to the final ball of the over.
Andrew MacInally sends a weather report: "On uk.weather.com the chance of precipation has dropped in 1 hour from 60% to 20%. Looks like the gods are with us today. By the way chance of snowfall is 0%!"
Oh dear. The ball stops in the pitch, as dead as a Westerosi wedding guest, and Bell can only push it straight back to Mendis.
14th over England 66-0 (Cook 29 Bell 33) Senanayake is right on the money here and Sri Lanka plugged Cook's favourite scoring region of third man. He drops and runs a single from the final ball and is relieved to see the throw fly well over the stumps.
13th over England 65-0 (Cook 28 Bell 33) Appeal for a run out as England run a bye from a wide and Sangakkara throws the stumps down. It's not close though and we don't bother referring it. Or rather the umpires don't. Another misfield then allows Cook another single. This really is as comfortable as you like for the batsmen. There's another appeal for a stumping as Cap'n Cook has an airy waft at a ball outside his off-stump, but there's no real panic there still.
12th over England 58-0 (Cook 27 Bell 29) Big Sam Alladryce Senanayake continues. Three singles I've forgotten already. This may not be in the least bit exciting batting, but it's a very good start for England.
11th over England 55-0 (Cook 25 Bell 28) Mendis is coming on to bowl and England take the batting powerplay. After the flurry of boundaries that came in that last one. Atherton makes the point that of Mendis's six variations, very few seem to actually turn and England might fancy their chances of racking up a few boundaries against him. He starts with a filthy leg-side wide and follows that with a filthy full toss that Cook tucks through mid-wicket for four. Then a filthy short one on leg stump that Cook helps around the corner for a couple. Remember when Mendis was threatening? Feels like a long time ago, doesn't it?
Meanwhile, our very own Emma John on the major issues facing cricket:
Oh god @DanLucas86, Senanayake really needs to stop chewing that gum with his mouth open
10th over England 46-0 (Cook 18 Bell 27) Cook is looking to push and cut everything into the off-side, playing with the spin. A two and a pair of singles. I won't lie to you, I don't blame the crowd for being small.
On the best ODI innings for England, here's Matt Emerson: "Pietersens second and third one day centuries would stand up to Buttlers in my view. Both were on his first tour in South Africa in front of extremely hostile crowds to be expected given his change of allegiance. In the first, he came in at 117-3 after 26 overs. England were chasing 312 and he scored 100 not out in 69 balls to get us to 304. In the second, England were 68-6 after 25 overs; Pietersen got 116 off 100 balls to get us to 240. South Africa got the runs with an over to spare but God knows what target we would have set without him."
9th over England 42-0 (Cook 15 Bell 26) Good yorker from Kulasekara almost catches Bell out but he just about manages to jam his bat down and inside edge it onto his pads. Another escape a couple of balls later as Bell slips a slower ball straight to Jayawardene at mid on, but he drops the simplest of catches above his head. That's very poor he'd timed his jump right but just palmed it to the grass. Bell responds with a glorious cut through backward point as the bowler goes too short and wide. The very next ball is even better, slammed with perfect timing through mid-off for four more. Poor Kulasekara.
8th over England 34-0 (Cook 15 Bell 18) The spinner Senanayake continues these sides' quest to expand The Boring Middle Overs to The Boring All The Overs. Cook pushes the final ball into the covers for the only two runs of the over.
7th over England 32-0 (Cook 13 Bell 18) Cook, with no room at all to work with, tucks himself up and does very well to guide a late cut down to third man for a single. For a moment there he actually looked like a one day batsman, which he isn't. Bell then survives a scare as he lofts the ball on the drive, back over the bowler's head and only just clears the man at long on. Again it plugs in the outfield and it's another two.
6th over England 29-0 (Cook 12 Bell 16) Senanayake is going to have a bowl during the powerplay, which is risky
against England top-order power hitters . Cook gets his first boundary with a late cut that beats the fielder at backward point. He repeats the shot a couple of balls later and, though it's cut off by the fielder before the boundary, he goes toppling over the advertising hoardings. Hilarious.
"Is the S.Patel mentioned in John Starbuck's e-mail any relation to the Notts batsman/gastronomist Samit Patel," asks Gareth Fitzgerald, "whose spin bowling is not, never has been and never will be good enough?"
5th over England 22-0 (Cook 5 Bell 16) Bell misses out on a short, wide one and bottom edges it down into Sangakkara's pads with the 'keeper standing up to the stumps; Kulasekara is only bowling around 74-78mph here. There's a bad misfield at extra cover that gives Bell a single and so Cook, for the first time in ages, has the strike. He gets runs from his very first ball, placing it nicely through the mid-on region but it's pulled back well by the fielder. From the final ball nothing seems to happen except Kumar Sangakkara is, alone, screaming an appeal. Ah it's for a stumping. It's not even close and not even referred.
@DanLucas86 Greatest ODI innings? Tish. Robin Smith: 167* Brutal, beautiful, brilliant - and again a losing cause. http://t.co/hL1umgdqS1
4th over England 18-0 (Cook 2 Bell 15) Malinga continues and is harshly wided for a bouncer that flew inches over Bell's head. Ian Bell is 5'10" and England have been getting away with worse than that through the series. First four of the innings follows as Bell pushes a wider delivery through the covers and times it away for four. Lovely stuff. Another bouncer from Malinga has Bell stretching but he turns it easily around the corner for a single to fine leg; this is far too slow a pitch to be sending down bumpers.
Meanwhile John Starbuck, whose name appears in all caps in my inbox, has suggestions for the Test side: "I'd drop Root and Ballance and get Hales and a bowling all-rounder (Stokes?) instead. If both Jordan and Broad played alongside Anderson we could hire, if not Treadwell, a guy whose spin bowling was good enough: S. Patel springs to mind."
3rd over England 10-0 (Cook 2 Bell 8) Bell keeps the strike and drives the first ball even with a couple of slips in place. No run for it though. Two runs from the next ball though, pushed out to cover off the back foot. He clips the next ball over the top towards cow corner, where it plugs in the outfield. That's an uncharacteristically aggressive shot this early and he hasn't got it anywhere near the middle of the bat. Two more. It absolutely poured it down in Birmingham overnight, I believe, so don't expect to see too many shots timed to the fence today.
2nd over England 5-0 (Cook 2 Bell 3) Malinga it will be from the other end, bowling to Ian Bell. There looks to be a little bit of movement away from the right-hander, off the pitch for Malinga. A surprise that, actually, not only because of Malinga's action but also because it's such a flat-looking pitch. Anyhow, Bell gets his first runs with a lovely push down the ground for two runs. One more single and that's yer lot for the over.
"Surely Andrew Strauss' knock against India in the last World Cup deserves a nod," says Giles Page, not unreasonably, on the subject of England's best ODI innings. "He went stroke for stroke with tendulkar... Bloody marvellous innings from someone people forget as an odi player." That's a great shout actually, it was a marvellous innings from an underrated ODI batsman.
1st over England 2-0 (Cook 2 Bell 0) Right, England have elected to bat for the first time this series. It's quite cloudy now, which is good news for the opening bowler Kulasekara, and there's a chance that Duckworth Lewis will come into play later. There appears to be a bit of movement there for Kulasekara and Cook offers no shot to the first two deliveries as the ball moves away from his bat. He looks to drive, with the bat dangerously away from the body, to the third ball and a good stop at short extra cover prevents the run. Cook finally gets off the mark by tucking a good length ball off his pads for a couple. Just before the final ball the camera cuts to a shot of Ravi Bopara getting a pedicure. No need for that.
Here come the teams. We'll be starting in a couple of minutes.
Weather update: as expected, it's clouding over.
On Jos:
@DanLucas86"arguably the greatest ODI innings ever by an Eng batsman" I think Morgan & KP might have a say in that. He didn't see it thru!
@DanLucas86 Is Eion Morgan untouchable? How many times does he have to fail..?
A few more yet, I'd say. In England's last series he had a great run of 50, 106 and 54 against a rampant Australia and his record of putting together match-winning innings is better than anyone else's in the team. At a time when England are renovating their squad, you don't want to get rid of your most talented, senior bats- oh.
So Senanayake plays. That's unsurprising, I guess. Sri Lanka are making a statement that they have nothing to hide and won't drop their most successful spinner in this series.
Both teams are unchanged.
Toss news: Alastair Cook has won it in and in bright sunshine! He's going to have a bat.
It looks as though Lord Selve is with me on the Buttler/Tests issue. Why not have a read of this?
He had made 36 when he wound up to play a pull shot through midwicket and instead sent a catch from his top edge spiralling towards the fielder posted at third man, a position once common in cricket but now apparently defunct along with flannels and trilby hats for umpires.
The fielder set himself to take the catch but fumbled it and it went to grass. Thus, for a while anyway, did Angus Fraser play his part in protecting the bowlers of the world from the blistering blade of Adam Gilchrist. The batsman at the Gabba that day in late November 1998 was Ian Healy, already an Australia veteran playing his 107th Test but under pressure for his place. A groundswell had suggested that the Ashes series was the time for the new order to be established and Gilchrists name was top of the list to come in.
Forget what I said about the weather, we look set to start on time.
Great effort from Edgbaston groundsman @barnstonworth and his @CricketingBears team. Up all night mopping up after torrential rain.
"So far through the series, we haven't quite put the complete game together."
So says Peter Moores, who was clearly asleep at Old Trafford.
Afternoon folks. Dan it is.
Welcome to the deciding match of England's first series under Peter Moores, where it will be decided that it's going to end in a 2-2 draw. The weather forecast is pretty grim and if we get a completed match in then we can be pleasantly surprised. There's almost zero chance of a 50-over game, happening, but we'll keep you updated nonetheless.
Kumar Sangakkara's 147 was the highlight of another day of occasionally-broken run-accumulation on a flat Lord's pitch
The day ends, a good one for Sri Lanka even if the possibility of them winning is extremely remote, and the possibility of England winning slightly less remote. Gamblers might be interested to note than you can get no more than 5-2 on the draw, 3-1 on England to win and 20-1 on Sri Lanka. The likelihood is that this match will be cherished only for occasional flashes of excitement, chief among them today Kumar Sangakkara's first Lord's century. Dan Lucas will be here in the morning for day four. Bye!
124th over: Sri Lanka 415-7 (Mathews 79, Herath 0)
Again Mathews takes a fifth-ball single and leaves Herath to face the last. Herath survives, and that's yer lot.
123rd over: Sri Lanka 414-7 (Mathews 78, Herath 0)
Plunkett bowls, and Mathews refuses the chance of an early run in order to protect Herath. He eventually allows the new batsman to face a single delivery, which he survives. Time for one more over.
122nd over: Sri Lanka 413-7 (Mathews 77, Herath 0)
The wicket came with the final delivery of the over, the penultimate one having been tickled fine down the leg side by Kulasekara for four.
An excellent delivery takes Kulasekara's edge about halfway up the bat and Prior dives to his right to collect the catch.
121st over: Sri Lanka 408-6 (Mathews 76, Kulasekara 5)
Plunkett slams the ball in short, Kulasekara goes after it and gets a thick top edge. Anderson at midwicket has to sprint round beyond square leg, and then makes a last-minute decision to go for the catch with one hand rather than two, dives, flies a bit too far and the ball bounces off his wrist and onto the ground. He could probably just have caught it with two hands
120th over: Sri Lanka 406-6 (Mathews 75, Kulasekara 4)
The 80th over of the day. We should still be looking forward to another 10, but instead we've only got to endure another three or four. Broad's latest is another maiden.
119th over: Sri Lanka 406-6 (Mathews 75, Kulasekara 4)
Plunkett goes over the wicket to Mathews for a few balls, and then round the wicket to pepper Kulasekara with shortish balls into the body. Eventually the batsman tires of it, leans back and hoiks the ball over midwicket for four.
118th over: Sri Lanka 401-6 (Mathews 74, Kulasekara 0)
There's a massive delay before Broad's final ball while the field is jigged, rejigged, unjigged and jigged again. And with that, we go into our bonus half-hour.
117th over: Sri Lanka 400-6 (Mathews 73, Kulasekara 0)
A wicket maiden. Credit where it's due, and it should be shared around a bit here Cook is trying to put his team into a match-winning position, and deserves credit for sticking someone at leg slip in the first place; Plunkett bowled well to bring their plan to fruition; and Bell took an excellent reaction catch (though he'd have been most unhappy had he put it down, I think).
Plunkett gets the ball to rear into Jayawardene's hip, and he clips it down towards fine leg. But he hadn't gambled on Bell, at leg slip, collecting a fine catch.
116th over: Sri Lanka 400-5 (Mathews 73, Jayawardene 6)
Sri Lanka have 400 runs, a fact Mathews celebrates by inside-edging the ball into his ankle. Had his ankle not been there a) it would have been a wicket, and b) he'd probably be in hospital or something.
115th over: Sri Lanka 396-5 (Mathews 70, Jayawardene 5)
Plunkett bowls, and Jayawardene rather fluffs his shot, the ball looping off the wrist, over first slip and away for four. "If you were to trim the top half-centimetre off that picture of Sangakkara's bat in over 109, it would look like he has been struck by lightning," notices Robin Hazlehurst. It would be a really tiny lightning bolt, but do go on. "Which would be dramatic, if rather nonsensical. Sorry, bit of a non-observation that really, wasn't it." Oh.
114th over: Sri Lanka 392-5 (Mathews 70, Jayawardene 1)
Stuart Broad does himself some bowling, and a very good, aggressive over it is too, with the ball fractions away from the edge of Matthews' bat twice in as many deliveries, one a perfectly-directed bouncer, the other fuller. A maiden.
113th over: Sri Lanka 392-5 (Mathews 70, Jayawardene 1)
Plunkett's first delivery is glanced to fine leg for four. Prior makes a game but always futile effort to catch it, and the crowd dutifully "ooooooh" when he fails.
112th over: Sri Lanka 387-5 (Mathews 65, Jayawardene 1)
Ali gets the ball to spin into Jayawardene's pad and England scent blood, but Billy Bowden is unimpressed. After a brief discussion England opt not to review it, a decision HawkEye promptly endorses.
Have we just seen the unveiling of Moeen's doosra?
111th over: Sri Lanka 387-5 (Mathews 65, Jayawardene 1)
If England are to win this match, remote as that prospect seems, they need to take more wickets before the day's out. Plunkett's over doesn't threaten any.
110th over: Sri Lanka 385-5 (Mathews 64, Jayawardene 0)
The 70th over of the day and it's a memorable one, featuring as it does Ali's first wicket in Test cricket, with the last ball. Here's Barney Ronay's response, referencing (I assume) Michael Henderson's piece in today's Telegraph.
Muslim have got a wicket!
He's gone! And Lord's rises to acclaim an excellent innings from a great batsman, ended when Ali got the ball to spin and the ball got the thinnest of edges on its way through to Prior.
109th over: Sri Lanka 379-4 (Sangakkara 146, Mathews 59)
Plunkett continues, after some drinks, and Mathews pops the ball to square leg and runs a couple. Here's an excellent picture of Sangakkara's bat, before its 103rd-over repairs.
108th over: Sri Lanka 377-4 (Sangakkara 146, Mathews 57)
So now we know there can be no follow-on. Previously we knew there would be no follow-on. The difference is largely semantic, but still worth mentioning.
107th over: Sri Lanka 374-4 (Sangakkara 144, Mathews 56)
Sangakkara faces only one delivery, which he drives through the covers delightfully.
106th over: Sri Lanka 369-4 (Sangakkara 140, Mathews 55)
Ali bowls, and Mathews gets a single. It's true. I also forgot to say, when he got his half-century, that he'd got a half-century. But he has.
105th over: Sri Lanka 368-4 (Sangakkara 140, Mathews 54)
Jordan opens the over with a replay of the final delivery of his last. That one was uncomfortably fended by Sangakkara, this one is smashed to the square leg boundary, the start of the most expensive over of the innings so far (I haven't checked this, but I'm fairly confident. I mean, 12 runs). Then, with an intervening single, Mathews works the fifth ball off his hip to fine leg, and the sixth through midwicket for three.
104th over: Sri Lanka 356-4 (Sangakkara 135, Mathews 47)
There's consternation as Moeen Ali gets the ball to actually spin, quite a lot, but Mathews uncomfortably pushes the ball away.
103rd over: Sri Lanka 354-4 (Sangakkara 134, Mathews 46)
There's a bit of a break, mid-over, as Sangakkara's bat, which has bits of plasticky stringy stuff coming off it, is repaired and re-taped. Two balls later he pushes a short ball into the air uncomfortably, and had there been anyone around short leg it would have looped into his sweaty palms. But there wasn't.
102nd over: Sri Lanka 351-4 (Sangakkara 133, Mathews 44)
Plunkett continues, and Mathews plunders a two, and then a one. The clouds have had enough of watching this nonsense and have moved on to see if there's better entertainment elsewhere, leading to bright late-afternoon sunshine.
101st over: Sri Lanka 348-4 (Sangakkara 133, Mathews 41)
The truth about the lunchtime Jedi invasion: they're the Christ's Hospital Marching Band. And by the looks of things you don't actually have to be dead to join: "As a Christs Hospital Old Blue, I was glad to see the band was performing at Lords today," writes Nicholas Varley. "They are rather good, actually. The current Bandmaster, Terry Whittingham, was the Grenadier Guards bandmaster. My younger brother, who was two years below me, was a drum major for his last couple of years at school. And, BTW, we all voted to keep the uniforms whenever the subject was raised!" Quite right too perfect not just for all walking/playing engagements, but also for fancy dress parties and Halloween.
100th over: Sri Lanka 345-4 (Sangakkara 133, Mathews 38)
The 60th over of the day is bowled by Liam Plunkett and particularly enjoyed by Sangakkara, who goes down on one knee to send the ball skipping away though the covers, a lovely shot.
99th over: Sri Lanka 340-4 (Sangakkara 129, Mathews 37)
Jordan's over is interrupted by a bit of a chat about the amount of light there is or should be. It's decided there's approximately as much light as there should be. "Elevator gags? Try This!" suggests Estelle Drew. Go on then, people. Try it. I tried half of it and enjoyed it.
98th over: Sri Lanka 336-4 (Sangakkara 126, Mathews 36)
Sangakkara plays and misses, a great straight swish, like a nervy tail-ender desperate to get off the mark, rather than an all-time great well on his way to a daddy hundred. "Whilst I don't wish to take anything away from the likes of Root or Sangakkara, pitches like this are not the best advert for Test cricket," writes Simon McMahon. "Give me a low-scoring thriller anyday." This is the kind of cricket that only really makes sense when it's being played out in front of you, and you're surrounded by friends, drinks and perhaps a newspaper or two.
97th over: Sri Lanka 334-4 (Sangakkara 125, Mathews 35)
Jordan bowls one a bit wide and Mathews slashes it past point for four. "Good advice," writes Damian Clarke of that hotel lift sign. "Should have had a sign by this lift in South Korea."
96th over: Sri Lanka 329-4 (Sangakkara 125, Mathews 30)
Mathews hooks the ball off his hip, with the very centre of his bat, and past backward square for four. "They shouldn't just give up and say it's a draw," says Shane Warne of this match. "There's still every chance of a result here." I've got to agree with him, except I'd change the word "every" for "an approximately 3%".
95th over: Sri Lanka 322-4 (Sangakkara 125, Mathews 23)
Five dot balls from Jordan, before Sangakkara flays the final delivery forward of point for four. I know it's a long time since lunch, but is there anyone at Lord's who can tell me who these people are, and whether they're actual jedi warriors or simply in jedi warrior costumes?
94th over: Sri Lanka 318-4 (Sangakkara 121, Mathews 23)
Anderson returns from the Nursery end and it's a maiden, enlivened by beating Mathews' bat with the penultimate delivery. I'm loving this warning notice, spotted by one of the Daily Mail's football writers in Brazil for the kickaball World Trophy:
93rd over: Sri Lanka 318-4 (Sangakkara 121, Mathews 23)
The first delivery of the session, from Chris Jordan, is creamed to the long-off boundary by Mathews. "Mention of Wilf Rhodes earlier made me go to Cricinfo, where they have his obituary, written by Neville Cardus," writes Nick Lezard. "Contains this great observation: 'While he was actively engaged in the game he was not a man given to affability. He was known as a natterer on the field; and to natter in the North of England means to talk naggingly, most to oneself, with the intention of being overheard.'" I know a couple of lifelong natterers, sadly.
Hello again world. So I missed that last session, but I understand it's not been a thriller. That seems to be the way of it at Lord's, but while I live in hope, if there is little for us to do at the moment but genuflect towards Kumar Sangakkara, there are worse ways of passing the time.
@Simon_Burnton Of all the players who have played 25 Tests or more, Sanga has the third best average. Over a 137 year period. He's that good
Right that's me done for the day. Simon Burnton is returning after the break and his email address is simon.burnton@theguardian.com, but you could have guessed that. Thanks for all your emails and such. See you in the morning!
92nd over: Sri Lanka 309-4 (Sangakkara 121, Mathews 14) As Plunkett warms up, guardians of the spirit of cricket England bring their fielding coach Chris Taylor on while Jordan gets treatment. Plunkett continues to aim short stuff a yard down the leg side and Mathews hooks him over fine leg for four. He takes a single then Plunkett bangs it in short to Sangakkara. Sangakkara has seen off better bowlers than Liam Plunkett over his career and pulls square for four. That's tea.
"There is a Combemere Abbey in Cheshire," explains Paul Ward. "From Wikipedia: 'acquired a reputation for poor discipline and violent disputes with both lay people and other abbeys.' So presumably they had a Brother KP." Ah. Bring on the London-centric media accusations, I guess.
91st over: Sri Lanka 300-4 (Sangakkara 117, Mathews 9) I won't lie, this is a lull. Anyone care to answer my colleague Kevin Mitchell's question? Actually I've answered it myself and you're absolutely spot on, Kevin.
@DanLucas86 Ok, what about biggest gap between first and last Test. Rhodes? The only man to bowl at both Grace and Bradman... I think
90th over: Sri Lanka 291-4 (Sangakkara 116, Mathews 1) On Sky, David Lloyd is doing a passable impression of Bob Willis, which gives me an excuse to pull this out again as Mathews gets off the mark with a single.
89th over: Sri Lanka 290-4 (Sangakkara 116, Mathews 0) A bowling change, perhaps earlier than we expected, as Jordan comes in. It's strange that they're using their quickest bowler as second change, rather than giving him the ball when it's still shiny. Still, Jordan's managing to get a bit of movement here albeit often after the ball has passed the stumps. In the absence of event in his over, here's a stat courtesy of the BBC.
Jimmy Anderson now has the equal second most test wickets @HomeOfCricket. 63 is level with Fred Trueman. Botham with 69 has the most
88th over: Sri Lanka 290-4 (Sangakkara 116, Mathews 0) So Thirimanne, who does have problems keeping his head straight, falls to Anderson cheaply yet again, with his head falling over to the off-side. Cap'n Mathews, the new man, has a far better record than I thought, with two hundreds and an average of 46, which shoots up to 80 in his short time as captain. He gets the strike as Sangakkara takes a single. "Great areas, Broady!" come the shouts from the England fielders. Christ they actually talk among themselves like that?
87th over: Sri Lanka 289-4 (Sangakkara 115, Mathews 0) Kinda lucky there was a wicket from the final ball, because I hadn't got the first clue what to say about that over otherwise.
Out of nowhere, Thirimanne looks to clip a full delivery from Anderson through mid-wicket but doesn't time it and lofts it to Robson, who takes it above his head.
86th over: Sri Lanka 289-3 (Sangakkara 115, Thirimanne 2) By my reckoning, by the end of this match the fans who have paid about £90 a ticket will have been shorn of around 20 overs' play. In the Ashes, that was essentially an England innings. Pain for Sangakkara as he wears a lifter from Broad on the knuckles, but other than that Lord's is deathly quiet. Maiden.
85th over: Sri Lanka 289-3 (Sangakkara 115, Thirimanne 2) A rather wild start to the over from Anderson as he sends a big wide out towards the slip cordon and is then very lucky not to be called for the same a ball later. Thirimanne did make 156 in the tour game at Northampton but I'm not sure how much you can read into that; we're crap this season.
84th over: Sri Lanka 288-3 (Sangakkara 115, Thirimanne 2) Broad gets one to nip back into Sangakkara and it clips his pads on the way through to the keeper but it's far too high. The batsman responds by driving a fuller ball up the hill to the cover boundary where it just beats Sam Robson into the rope. Sangakkara's Test average as a specialist batsman is now north of 70 from 75 applicable innings.
83rd over: Sri Lanka 284-3 (Sangakkara 111, Thirimanne 2) A long conference between bowler and captain, ignoring the fact that we've got 19 over left to get in this session... in 45 minutes. We were an over short on day one, six short yesterday and at this rate will be ten short come the scheduled close today. And that's with an extra hour having been allocated over the past two days. It's time for tickets to be refunded on a pro-rata basis.
Big "ooh"s as Anderson gets one to dip back into Thirimanne very late and the batsman just jams his bat down on to it and thuds the ball into his own pads.
82nd over: Sri Lanka 281-3 (Sangakkara 109, Thirimanne 1) Broad shares the new ball and gets a little bit of movement, although nothing dramatic. Still he won't care a jot, getting the wicket with the fourth ball of the over. Thirimanne, Anderson's bunny in the first four ODIs, is the new batsman. It's a great first ball to him from Broad and Thirimanne just manages to jam his bat down and squirt it to square leg off the inside edge. Sangakkara then drives to extra cover for three.
Broad's getting it through with real zip here and strikes him in front of off. I guess Jayawardene must have thought he'd got outside the line because the bat was nowhere near the ball. He didn't, it's crashing into middle halfway up and off he goes!
Given out, might have hit it.
Best. Photo. Ever. How happy does this make you?
81st over: Sri Lanka 276-2 (Sangakkara 105, Jayawardene 55) Jimmy Anderson is on and has taken the new ball straight away. You'd have to say that England need to take three or four wickets pretty sharpish with this if they're going to cling to the remote chance of grabbing a win. Sri Lanka, on the other hand, must be thinking Adelaide 2006. Immediately, Anderson whizzes one past Jayawardene's outside edge. The next ball, Jayawardene runs it down to third man for two, twice.
80th over: Sri Lanka 271-2 (Sangakkara 104, Jayawardene 51) Joe Root with the final over, presumably, before the new ball. It's a maiden and it's over in a flash.
79th over: Sri Lanka 271-2 (Sangakkara 104, Jayawardene 51) Jordan is back for a burst in place of Plunkett. Sangakkara's last six scores have been 52, 8, 75, 319, 105, 103*. He's now joint fourth on the all-time hundreds club list. 36 of them, which is incredible.
Speaking of landmarks, Jayawardene flicks Jordan off his pads to go to his own 50.
Priorities at Lord's: the scorecard loses power & can't register Sangakkara's 100, but at least the chandelier in the pavilion is still on
78th over: Sri Lanka 268-2 (Sangakkara 103, Jayawardene 49) Jayawardene steps outside off stump and works Root to short mid-on for one to bring Sangakkara on strike. Pushes to Cook at mid-off... no run. But then he lashes out at a wider half-volley, there's a scream of "catch it!"... but it races to the fence and Kumar Sangakkara gets his first Test hundred at Lord's! It was a pressured, uppish shot that wasn't too far from the diving Ian Bell, but he won't care a jot now.
77th over: Sri Lanka 263-2 (Sangakkara 99, Jayawardene 48) Plunkett. Pulled away for one by Jayawardene. Sangakkara then punches off the back foot, down the ground for an all-run four as Broad reels it in. Still Kumar is now within a shot of the honours' board here at Lord's. There are zero people on this planet who don't want him to get there, you would imagine. He then works a couple more off the back foot through mid-on for a couple to go to 99.
76th over: Sri Lanka 256-2 (Sangakkara 93, Jayawardene 47) So Joe Root is coming on for a bit of a bowl, for the first time this summer. No turn for him and he looks to be bowling a little bit quicker than Ali. Sangakkara cuts for a single then Mahela walks down the track and nudges it for another of the same. Power's gone again.
75th over: Sri Lanka 254-2 (Sangakkara 92, Jayawardene 46) Plunkett bangs it in from around the wicket again and Jayawardene goes after it, swivelling and swinging but it's very well stopped at square leg. He tries again next ball and bottom edges just wide of his off-stump. And then it clatters towards the stumps, just wide, off the elbow pad. Mahela is really struggling here so Plunkett consoles him with a no-ball. Isn't that nice?
74th over: Sri Lanka 253-2 (Sangakkara 92, Jayawardene 46) Down the track to Ali comes Sangakkara and he lofts Ali gloriously over long-on for a one-bounce four. England aren't going to win this, I just want to watch Kumar bat forever. Jayawardene dabs a couple down to third man and that's the 17th hundred partnership these two have put on, from 153 balls. There are some ominous clouds gathering over Lord's now.
73rd over: Sri Lanka 245-2 (Sangakkara 87, Jayawardene 43) Lovely little wristy dab to third man from Sangakkara brings Mahela back into the firing line against Liam "Curtly" Plunkett. He gets back off the mark as Plunkett bowls more dross down the leg-side and it bobbles through to prior and bounces off his fingertips down to fine leg. The power is back on at Lord's. Plunkett then offers up a juicy half volley that Sangakkara drives in that wonderful way that he has, but it's half stopped at short extra cover and thus the boundary is prevented.
72nd over: Sri Lanka 240-2 (Sangakkara 83, Jayawardene 43) Jayawardene pulls out the reverse sweep and works Ali from full outside off stump down to third man for four. A few balls later he backs away from a wide one and punches it nicely through cover for the same result.
71st over: Sri Lanka 232-2 (Sangakkara 83, Jayawardene 35) Plunkett bowls another short one miles down the leg side and very nearly gets a horrible wicket as Jaywardene swings wildly and it just goes over the glove. Sangakkara punches down into the vacant region down the ground for three, forcing Plunkett to field it off of his own bowling. Jayawardene isn't enjoying this short stuff from around the wicket; Plunkett hits him with one before forcing him into a panicked paddle around the corner for one.
70th over: Sri Lanka 226-2 (Sangakkara 80, Jayawardene 34) Ali uses the slope to get one to slide past Jayawardene's outside edge. Prior whips the bails off and we'll have an umpire's review but he's just about back in his crease. So not out. The decision has to be relayed verbally to the umpires in the middle because the big screen isn't working. Jayawardene drills the next one elegantly through extra cover but Plunkett does well to reel it in and just keep it to three runs. Sangakkara steps down the pitch to the final ball and looks to deposit it into the stands, but only gets it off the toe-end of the bat and Cook reels it in to keep them to two.
69th over: Sri Lanka 220-2 (Sangakkara 77, Jayawardene 31) Plunkett to bowl his 14th over of the day. I'm surprised they're not giving Anderson a burst here just to see if he can get some reverse swing. Sangakkara pulls a short ball to square leg for a single before Plunkett whangs a wide miles outside off-stump. He switches to around the wicket and gets one to rise sharply to Sangakkara but the batsman plays with soft hands and drops it safely, before pulling the next one around the corner for a single.
68th over: Sri Lanka 216-2 (Sangakkara 74, Jayawardene 31) Athers says that the new ball is around an hour away. It's due in 13 overs, which makes that a disappointingly accurate calculation from the Sky man. Moeen Ali will continue and opens up with a full toss that Mahela works away for a single into the leg-side. Apparently there's a power cut in the media centre at Lord's, which I'm pretty certain puts the OBO from Kings Cross at the forefront of the as-it-happens reportage. Three more singles makes the total number of singles from the over four.
"Afternoon Dan," writes Lennie Lenford. "Any chance a bit of rain will liven the pitch? Maybe not liven but at least change things so something will happen?" If anything I imagine that'll just soften the pitch up and sap even more pace out of it.
Right, play will resume very shortly. There are patches of rain around London, but the good news is that the precedent so far today has been to tough them out and play through.
68th over Sri Lanka 1045-2 dec (Sangakkara 712, Jayawardene 288) Sri Lanka have declared their innings closed at this score calculated by Alastair Cook and they've called it a draw. Simon and I are off to the pub.
Not sure what the band are playing, but from their austere garb and slightly fascistic marching, I don't think it's Pharrell @DanLucas86
Dunno, Sky are playing Crowded House. Sadly not this one though. Mark Hart's harmonies just after the two-minute mark are stunning, aren't they?
So England need another 18 wickets to win the match. In the first two and a half days, 11 have fallen in total. Any ideas what to do? I have no ideas. The good news is that the next Test is at Headingley, which is going to offer the bowlers a lot more, surely. So the question, already, is what do the sides need to change for the decider?
Email me, tweet me, pop round to Guardian Towers with industrial quantities of energy drinks and Monster Munch to engage in a long and considered discussion with me (actually don't do this), with your suggestions.
Thanks for that, Simon. I feel I've been given a hospital pass somewhat as that was marginally more interesting than the Australia 6-0 France rugby match I was watching simultaneously. This is a real chief executive's pitch, as Steve Harmison would have it: there's no turn, no bounce, no movement off the seam or through the air and no pace. I'd honestly be surprised if either of these two batsmen both easily miles better than any other on either side got out before the close of play. Perhaps this is Paul Downton's masterplan: give England the easiest runs they'll ever get so he can say "look, we don't need KP." Or perhaps it's just a rubbish deck.
Anyway, hello.
And that's the end of the session. Hopes that the overcast conditions might give the bowlers a bit of encouragement have come to nought. Perhaps a new ball, another hour or so away, will help. Perhaps an entire day of slothful run-accumulation is all that lies in store. Time will tell well, a combination of time and Dan Lucas, who'll be manning the keyboard for the afternoon session. Email him at dan.lucas@theguardian.com, if you will.
67th over: Sri Lanka 212-2 (Sangakkara 73, Jayawardene 29)
Ali is swapped for Plunkett for the last over of the morning, and the bowler gets one to thump into Jayawardene's chest. And here's a lunchtime teaser: "Not sure if youve mentioned this today but I am trying to work out the last time the England rugby, football and cricket teams all played on the same day," wonders Mark Whittington. "I am guessing maybe during Euro 2012. Does anyone know for definite?" Anyone?
66th over: Sri Lanka 211-2 (Sangakkara 73, Jayawardene 28)
Jordan bowls, Sangakkara pushes his bat forward and gets a thick outside edge that sends the ball along the ground, well wide of second slip and away to the third man boundary. Not a day for slip fielding, and for that matter not much of a day for fielding anywhere else, and certainly not one for bowling.
65th over: Sri Lanka 207-2 (Sangakkara 69, Jayawardene 28)
Ali bowls, and Sangakkara eventually skips down the pitch and flicks the ball to midwicket before running a single.
@Simon_Burnton I like Moeen Ali and I'm glad he's in team, but he could bowl here until Spain lose 5-1 again and not get these two out.
64th over: Sri Lanka 206-2 (Sangakkara 68, Jayawardene 28)
Jordan bowls. Four runs are scored. There is basically nothing happening or threatening to happen, except perhaps some rain.
63rd over: Sri Lanka 202-2 (Sangakkara 67, Jayawardene 25)
Ali's second ball is pulled over midwicket and away for four by Jayawardene for four, bringing Sri Lanka to 199 runs, and he then fiddles the ball towards fine leg for a single to take them to 200.
62nd over: Sri Lanka 195-2 (Sangakkara 66, Jayawardene 19)
Jordan trundles in and his first ball is shortish but doesn't really bounce, going below Sangakkara's swishing bat and thudding into his waist. It looks painful, but the pull through square leg for four off the next delivery probably helped him feel better. Apparently it's World Gin Day today, and also World Blood Donor Day. Two very worthy things, gin and blood donorship. Glad they've got their days.
61st over: Sri Lanka 191-2 (Sangakkara 62, Jayawardene 19)
Ali bowls, and Sangakkara deliberately pushes the final ball of the over past extra cover and runs a single. Yes he does.
60th over: Sri Lanka 190-2 (Sangakkara 61, Jayawardene 19)
Plunkett continues, while on TMS Jonathan Agnew, Boycott and our own Vic Marks have been talking about hip hop. They're not keen.
59th over: Sri Lanka 187-2 (Sangakkara 58, Jayawardene 19)
We get out first look of the day at Moeen Ali, and the batsmen seem to like what they see after Sangakkara has run a two and a one, Jayawardene hoiks the ball over long on and it bounces slowly away for four. Here's a celebrity-watch update. I'm afraid it's not very exciting.
58th over: Sri Lanka 180-2 (Sangakkara 55, Jayawardene 15)
Jayawardene cuts the ball towards third man, where it's fielded well before the rope, but sadly the fielder gives said rope a fine kick before releasing the ball, and a four it therefore is.
57th over: Sri Lanka 174-2 (Sangakkara 54, Jayawardene 10)
A fine delivery from Jordan befuddles Jayawardene, and really anything could have happened from that point. As it transpires, the ball just flies past the bat and nothing much happens at all, except the Lord's crowd grasping the opportunity to go "ooooooh". There's a bit of light rain happening now, but the umpires are unimpressed.
56th over: Sri Lanka 173-2 (Sangakkara 54, Jayawardene 9)
"Afternoon Simon," writes Lennie Lenford. Afternoon Lennie. "Is it wrong to want Sangakkara to get his century at Lords?" Not at all. It's looking increasingly like the kind of match that will be remembered for individual milestones rather than any terrific team achievement, and given their team's position I don't think many Englishmen wouldn't cheer his name onto the Lord's honours board.
55th over: Sri Lanka 171-2 (Sangakkara 53, Jayawardene 8)
After a drinks break, Chris Jordan does some bowling. Here's a stat from Dan Lucas, who'll be taking over the OBO for the afternoon session:
In his last match, Kumar Sangakkara scored 120 more runs than any England batsman managed in the entirety of their last series (319 & 105 v Bangladesh, England's top scorer in The Ashes KP with aggregate of 294 from 10 innings)
54th over: Sri Lanka 170-2 (Sangakkara 52, Jayawardene 8)
Plunkett bangs one in short and wide and Jayawardene, who is dealing only in boundaries, clips it over the slip cordon for four.
53rd over: Sri Lanka 165-2 (Sangakkara 51, Jayawardene 4)
Prior misjudges the flight of the ball, which clips his gloves, goes through his legs and allows Sri Lanka to claim a bye.
The other pairs to add 6000 runs or more Dravid /Tendulkar, Greenidge/Haynes and Hayden/Langer #bbccricket
52nd over: Sri Lanka 164-2 (Sangakkara 51, Jayawardene 4)
The first bowling change sees Plunkett introduced, and Sangakkara zips to his half-century with an outside edge that flew low and hard to backward point, and a drive through the covers for three.
51st over: Sri Lanka 157-2 (Sangakkara 44, Jayawardene 4)
Anderson has bowled excellently this morning, and he gets one to swing into Jayawardene, who bottom-edges into the ground. Could have gone anywhere; didn't hit the stumps. The next delivery is angled to the third man boundary.
50th over: Sri Lanka 153-2 (Sangakkara 44, Jayawardene 0)
Broad tries a short ball to Sangakkara, who pulls it away to midwicket and runs a couple. In the commentary box, Strauss and Hussain are asked to comment on the batsmen's little glove punch as Jayawardene came out to bat, and whether they knew when they were appearing in their own final Tests. "It's because of Andrew that it was my last time, to be honest," says Nasser. "There was certainly no glove-punching between us that day," adds Strauss. "There was very nearly some proper punching that evening," concludes Hussain.
49th over: Sri Lanka 151-2 (Sangakkara 42, Jayawardene 0)
Anderson welcomes Jayawardene with a beauty that moves slightly away from the batsman and misses the bat by a smidgeon. In other news, a while ago Sky showed a stat that revealed that Cook has dropped 35% of his catches at slip, prompting this response from the Sunday Times' Simon Wilde:
Cook drops 35 percent of his catches? That's nothing. He's dropped 60 percent of his team-mates since Sydney
Anderson slams one in short, Silva tries to lean out of the way of the ball but it flicks his bat on its way through, and Prior catches above his head!
48th over: Sri Lanka 150-1 (Silva 63, Sangakkara 41)
Sangakkara slams Broad's fifth delivery pretty much straight to cover, and runs a single. Yes he does.
47th over: Sri Lanka 149-1 (Silva 63, Sangakkara 40)
Anderson continues, and indeed does the search for runs. We have however had the day's first shot of John Major in the crowd, so that's something.
46th over: Sri Lanka 149-1 (Silva 63, Sangakkara 40)
Broad's three overs this morning have gone for a total of two runs. These batsmen have scored 95 runs since they came together yesterday, and at this rate they should reach the 100 partnership a little before tea.
45th over: Sri Lanka 149-1 (Silva 63, Sangakkara 40)
By the end of the over not only have the clouds stopped chucking down water, they've parted wide enough for the sun to peep through. Anderson celebrates by finding Silva's edge with his final delivery, but the ball lands a good yard short of Cook at first slip.
44th over: Sri Lanka 148-1 (Silva 63, Sangakkara 39)
The rain has stopped, and so has the run-scoring. Broad gets one to jag off the seam away from Silva and just past the bat, the ball of the day so far. Sure, we've not had many balls today, but still.
Light rain at Lord's. Eng do not need that if they are looking for reverse swing.
43rd over: Sri Lanka 148-1 (Silva 63, Sangakkara 39)
The umpires have a little chat about things after a couple of deliveries and decide to stay put and see the over out. By its end the rain seems already to be getting lighter.
42nd over: Sri Lanka 148-1 (Silva 63, Sangakkara 39)
Broad bowls the second over of the day, the batsmen snaffle a single each and it's raining.
41st over: Sri Lanka 146-1 (Silva 62, Sangakkara 38)
Anderson bowls, and Sangakkara inside-edges the ball past the stumps to fine leg for a couple, and then stylishly powers the next delivery through the covers.
The players trot out, and we're just one brief huddle-chat away from cricket.
@Simon_Burnton Though captaining by weather forecast is tricky, today's clouds are not unexpected. Curious decision at the toss by Mathews.
For reference, Michael, it is never selfie o'clock.
A lovely shot of the clouds gathering above Lord's this morning. This is all good on a pitch offering less excitement than a Songs of Prayer DVD box set, we probably needed the heavens to offer us something different.
Today might be a bit different. The sun that has been beating down on St John's Wood over the last couple of days is now hiding behind a thick blanket of grey cloud, with a hard rain falling overnight and further storms forecast for the early afternoon.
Gary Ballance scored his first Test century to dig England out of a difficult position as England closed on 267-8, 389 ahead
Day four proved a good deal more absorbing than most expected, then, with excellent Sri Lankan bowling in the periods immediately before and after tea bringing the result into play, before England calmly batted the possibility of a Sri Lanka win out of the equation again. Eranga and Herath bowled excellently, while Ballance's hundred bodes well for England, in the short- and long-term. We can expect a declaration overnight, though it remains doubtful whether England's attack, on this pitch, will have enough about them to skittle the tourists inside a day tomorrow. However, memories of Sri Lanka's fifth-day collapse in Cardiff three years ago might stir England and spook their opponents. Either way, this Test should be worth sticking with tomorrow.
Anyway, that's us done for the day. Thanks for all your emails. Bye.
69th over and stumps: England 267-8 (Ballance 104, Plunkett 2) And that's a hundred for Ballance, which he brings up with a magnificent, if slightly out of keeping, spank over the midwicket boundary for six, but he got hold of it cleanly and majestically. It was a fantastic shot to crown an innings of great composure and authority. One more single puts Plunkett on strike with two balls to go, and Herath himself in sight of a place on the honours board, with four well-deserved wickets. Plunkett duly drives the penultimate one down to long-on for one, and Ballance plays out the final ball. And that's that for the day. England lead by 389.
68th over: England 259-8 (Ballance 97, Plunkett 1) Ballance takes a single off Eranga's first ball, but Plunkett is allowed space by Sri Lanka's field placings to get off the mark also. Ballance tries to reach his hundred with a bit of a Hollywood shot, which ends up looking like a pretty ugly hoick on the legside. It brings him one. Eranga takes his time, pantomime villain-style, over the last delivery of the over as the clock nudges towards 6.30. Plunkett plays it out for a dot ball. One to come.
Looking ahead to the India series, it's looking unlikely that we'll be having any DRS-related talking points, as it appears India are unlikely to accept its use. Read more here.
67th over: England 256-8 (Ballance 95, Plunkett 0) The crowd are beginning to sense Ballance's century is due, and cheer as Broad gets himself off strike with a single from the first ball of Heranga's over. The volume increases as Ballance reverse sweeps confidently for four and punches a full toss down the ground for one. Before Broad is out a straightforward caught and bowled from a miscued drive. Plunkett sees the over out - Ballance has seven minutes to reach his century.
A simple caught and bowled for Herath brings a useful little stand to an end
66th over: England 250-7 (Ballance 90, Broad 23) The scoreboard continues to tick over, as will-they/won't-they-declare speculation continues: Ballance pushes Eranga to mid-off for a single, Broad turns one round the corner for another, and the Yorkshire batsman then ups the ante with two boundaries, a wonderful cover drive for four and another pull on the legside that he doesn't quite get hold of but which races down to the ropes at fine leg. Ballance is now only 10 short of his hundred.
65th over: England 240-7 (Ballance 81, Broad 22) Herathdeceives Broad with his slower flight but he still manages a top-edged sweep for three. After a Ballance single, Broad also essays an expansive slog-sweep across the line to the midwicket boundary which just creeps over the ropes for four. It was a confident, clean strike to be fair. Liam Plunkett has his pads on on the balcony, which suggests a declaration may not be so imminent. Ballance, after all, is moving closer to a maiden Test hundred, though on this one I'm with Warne. Going for the win for the team matters more.
64th over: England 231-7 (Ballance 79, Broad 15) Perhaps we will get a declaration tonight. Ballance is going for it now, and cracks Eranga through extra-cover for four. Another single keeps the strike rotating, enabling Broad to have indulge himself too, driving in the air past the bowler's head to the boundary and smacking another two high away on the off-side. England's lead is now 353.
62nd over: England 208-7 (Ballance 67, Broad 4) Eranga is brought back into the attack, and concedes a solitary single, though it might have been more if one delicious straight drive by Ballance hadn't crashed straight into the stumps at the bowler's end and another hadn't crashed straight into Pradeep's shin.
The scoreboard is saying 11 overs left, which, again, we're not going to get anywhere near completing. It's a pretty poor show really. And any notion that Sri Lanka might get to bat in the evening gloaming is surely gone.
61st over: England 208-7 (Ballance 67, Broad 3) Broad punches Pradeep square on the off-side for one, and Ballance, who's looking pretty unshiftable now, gets four more with a well-timed push to the long-off boundary. Pradeep can't quite get his length right, a couple are too wide and easy to leave on the off-side, and another wide one down the leg-side isn't gathered cleanly by Jayawardene P and a scrambled bye is taken.
60th over: England 202-7 (Ballance 62, Broad 3) Herath continues and induces Jordan's wicket an easy catch for Sangakkara, though that was a timely and confident innings from the No8. It's also Herath's third wicket his has been a vital contribution to the whole mood of the day's play. Broad is off the mark with a nudge down to fine leg that brings up the 200. Another sweep brings him a single, and England's lead is 324.
A slow tossed-up delivery from Herath is sent looping into the air by Jordan, and Sangakkara takes a simple catch at mid-off. That might shift things up a gear.
59th over: England 198-6 (Ballance 62, Jordan 35) Alastair Cook looks a lot more relaxed on the balcony now than he did in that spell before tea, when he looked like he was trying to chip away the paintwork on the railings. (Though I'm sure he wasn't, any officious stewards reading this). England's restored confidence is reflected in the running between the wickets now. Ballance adds another flicked single backward of square on the legside, Jordan dashes briskly through for another after a simple push to mid-off, and Ballance does likewise with a back-foot nudge in the same area.
58th over: England 195-6 (Ballance 60, Jordan 34) Herath continues, and Ballance is getting on top of him a little more now and goes forward to sweep him smartly to the square leg boundary for four. A pushed single to mid-on is a further statement of this quiet assertiveness.
57th over: England 189-6 (Ballance 54, Jordan 34) Ballance cuts Pradeep square that's been by far his most productive area, which is why most such shots have only brought one or two, Mathews keeping a man in the deep. A slower-ball bouncer is missed by everyone, including the keeper, and brings another bye. Pradeepthen tries another appeal for leg-before against Ballance but it's pitched well outside the left-hander's leg stump. Sri Lanka have no more reviews left in any case. Might I even indulge in some fate-tempting by suggesting that a wicket might pep this game up again, for both sides?
56th over: England 187-6 (Ballance 53, Jordan 34) A four, and a classy one too, Jordan coming forward to Herath making room and driving him emphatically through extra-cover to the boundary. A similar drive, slightly straighter on the off-side brings Jordan another single. Ballance scurries through for one too, before a sweep and a miss from Jordan prompts a rather optimistic lbw appeal from Herath, but the umpire's having none of it.
55th over: England 181-6 (Ballance 52, Jordan 29) Sri Lanka's highest chase to win a Test is 352, but that's not to say it can't be done here in fact this might be as good a chance as any for them to overhaul that record. In the meantime England are making batting look slightly easier again (though still not anything like as easy as on the first three days), and Ballance pulls Pradeep in front of the wicket away on the legside for one, though Jordan is then properly worked over by a short one dug into his chest by the paceman. The batsman knew little about that, and not much more about the subsequent delivery, which jagged away off his pads for a leg-bye.
54th over: England 179-6 (Ballance 51, Jordan 29) Herath returns from the Nursery End, Ballacks flicks away a sharp turner through square leg for one, in the unfussy way in which he has gone about most of his business this afternoon. Herath's over has characteristic variations, but it's well dealt with.
As discussed much earlier, confirmation of tomorrow's prices
53rd over: England 178-6 (Ballance 50, Jordan 29) That's 50 for Ballance, a back-foot push through extra-cover off Pradeep taking him to a dogged half-century. It's not been that pretty, but necessary in the circumstances. The home crowd's mood is lightened further they even make some noise when Jordan straight-drives for four. This has been a composed and quietly assertive knock from the Test debutant too.
England now lead by 300. Time to let rip a bit more? We'll find out after this drinks break.
52nd over: England 173-6 (Ballance 49, Jordan 25) Erangagoes around the wicket at Jordan and targets him with some shorter balls, the first of which he misses badly, the second he turns around the corner for one. Ballance moves to 49 with another trademark off-cut.
"That 1st innings lead of 126 is starting to look seriously useful," reckons Janet Keyte. "Since the wicket has suddenly started providing something for the bowlers, anything over 300 is going to take some getting against a decent England attack. Please don't print this in case it jinxes them."
51st over: England 171-6 (Ballance 48, Jordan 24) In the commentary box, Shane Warne's reprising his familiar exhortations to England to be bolder/barelty-disguised tirades against Cook's caution. And Pradeep's back in the attack, and a loose full-ish ball wide outside off stump is squeezed down to the third man boundary for a rare, and inelegant, four. These two have now added 50.
50th over: England 167-6 (Ballance 44, Jordan 24) Eranga tries a solo lbw appeal to one that pitched outside leg at Ballance, but it's two easy leg-byes instead. He drives well for three to the long boundary at the Nursery End too.
Sweeping up the debris of an earlier discussion, here's Pat on Kevin Costner:
Just catching up; Kevin Costner's higpoint was, of course, Field of Dreams. Features, Kevin, baseball, Darth Vader and someone from thirtysomething... Popular culture heaven!
Bull Durham second.
49th over: England 162-6 (Ballance 41, Jordan 24) The ones and twos are flowing freely enough, but there's no hitting out going on.Ballance dabs another single square on the offside off Herath, and stretches at a full toss to sweep it to square leg for one too. There's a single for Jordan as well. This is probably sensible batting from England at the moment anyway, given what had gone before.
Resuming, Prior Scapegoate-gate, Phil Sawyer tries to rustle up a lynch mob:
I'm not sure who's correct in The Great Pair Bagging debate. However, I think we can all agree that Leo Phillips jinxed Prior quite comprehensively there and now deserves to have small children pour derision on him in the street.
48th over: England 159-6 (Ballance 39, Jordan 23) Erath manages to dig one in short enough and quick enough to qualify as a genuine bouncer, but it's also a no-ball, one of two in this over. He's trying out some shorter stuff now on Jordan, which is not surprising given how confidently Jordan has been driving, before testing him with a skiddy low delivery that Jordan does well to work away before it hits his pads. It earns him a single. Ballance hacks two more singles square on the offside for one and Jordan scurries through for another too after a push to mid-off.
More tactics talk from Simon McMahon (and Steve Waugh, apparently)
Afternoon Tom. England should go for quick runs and then put Sri Lanka in for half an hour tonight. That's what I would do, and so would Steve Waugh I reckon. And we have 32 Test centuries between us.
47th over: England 153-6 (Ballance 37, Jordan 21) Herath deceives Jordan with the flight and slight turn, but the batsman's thick edge brings him a single nonetheless. The spinner is back over the wicket to Ballance, who swats him away to square leg for another one. Jordan, who continues to look confident, adds another single. The lead is now 275.
46th over: England 150-6 (Ballance 36, Jordan 19) Sri Lanka bring back Eranga, the man who started the collapse, from the Nursery End. Jordan is orthodox and correct against good-length bowling, and is able to send a well-timed push down the ground for three to bring up the 150. Then there's a REVIEW after Ballance slashes at a wide one outside off-stump. Jayawardene behind the stumps and the bowler seem pretty convinced he's nicked it - or make a show of such - but hot spot and snicko cannot detect anything decisive. The not-out decision stands. In other discussions, Michael Atherton in the commentary box is musing on whether - basically - Herath might be considered too fat to be selected were he English.
45th over: England 147-6 (Ballance 36, Jordan 16) Herath can't make up his mind whether to go over or around the wicket at Ballance he's back around it this time, mixing up his pace and flight but it's dealt with comfortably enough. An agreeable enough maiden.
44th over: England 147-6 (Ballance 36, Jordan 16) Ballance is looking to cut square on the off-side wherever possible, and gets one down to deep backward point but Sri Lanka have fielders in place to deal with that. Jordan gets one too, before Kulasekara induces an uncertain dab-and-miss outside off-stump from Ballance with a teasing outswinger. He works away another single through midwicket next ball though. Jordan looks a bit more comfortable though, and essays his second sweetly timed cover drive for four of his innings off the last ball of the over.
43rd over: England 140-6 (Ballance 34, Jordan 11) Obligatory references to England conceding 344-1 on fourth innings in 1984 to lose the Lord's Test against the peerless West Indies. Sri Lanka also mildly humiliated England at Lord's that year, of course, having the better of a high-scoring draw that petered out in a way that this one looked like doing until a couple of hours ago. Jordan takes two off Herath, and also mistimes a leading-edge drive that goes all the way for four, but it's another over full of variety and probing from the Sri Lanka spinner.
42nd over: England 134-6 (Ballance 34, Jordan 5) It'll be interesting to see what approach England will take now - the sort of carefree thwacking in which the lower order indulged on Friday is suddenly less of an option. Remarkably, Sri Lanka have got themselves into a position in which they can win after conceding 575-9 in the first innings. Kulasekara sends down a pretty innocuous, incident-free over, most of which is leave-able and outside off-stump, which Ballance duly leaves.
41st over: England 134-6 (Ballance 34, Jordan 5) Herath continues, and finds a leading edge off Balance, who squirts himself an unconvincing single. Jordan decides to go down the pitch a bit to the spinner and drives down the ground for one. Herath reverts to bowling from over the wicket at Ballance, but overpitches slightly and enables the batsman to drive down the pitch for another single.
40th over: England 131-6 (Ballance 32, Jordan 4) Ballance cuts Kulasekara authoritatively for four through backward point for a timely boundary, and adds another flicked single. "So, the most boring Test match in years is turning into a bit of a contest. Don't get that often in your short-form biff," Tweets my esteemed colleague Kevin Mitchell.
39th over: England 126-6 (Ballance 27, Jordan 4) Herath tosses it up a little more as he comes round the wicket to Ballance, and slants a beauty across the left-hander, beating him all ends up as it drifts down the slope. The batsman smothers the next one more effectively though, flicking it away to midwicket for a single.
38th over: England 125-6 (Ballance 26, Jordan 4) Kulasekara returns. It's not been his type of match, particularly, but he strikes with his second ball as Prior tries to drive off the back foot and cracks it straight to Thirminanne in the gully. Another big-hitting option disappears. In comes Jordan, who greets another fullish one outside off-stump with a sumptious cover drive to get off the mark for four. There's runs and wickets in the areas in which Kulasekara's bowling.
And now Prior's out. A straightforward catch to gully
37th over: England 121-5 (Prior 16, Ballance 26). Herath resumes. Ballance dabs one behind square on the offside for a single. There's plenty of variety, which includes in this over a slightly loose full-toss that Prior punches behind him on the legside for two. He also drives forcefully through the covers, but only for a single.
Clearing up - or prolonging, who knows? the debate about Matt Prior initiated by Dan, who's now left, here comes Leo Phillips:
Sorry, Tom, to rejoinder the rejoinder, especially as the last grauniad chap has now done a runner... but it is tremendously unfair to bring in the 'bagging a pair' expression when the batsman in question was totally and completely exonerated - by being given not out, and then managed to score a vital few, in the first innings.
Well now we've got a game. I was half-expecting covering this session to be a bit of a tough sell, with England batting aimlessly towards an aimlessly large lead and an aimless declaration, setting up Sri Lanka to sedately see the game out tomorrow to its seemingly pre-destined draw. I feared I might lose you all to Switzerland v Ecuador, but no, this match suddenly looks like it could have a winner. It may yet be England, despite the dominance of Sri Lanka's bowlers in the last session, if they can somehow belt their way to a lead of 350+, which is possible given the impressively lusty hitting of the tail-enders first time round. Bowling Sri Lanka out may be more of a problem, however. But this is intriguingly set up now.
That's tea then. A good session for the game's prospects of not being a draw. Before I hand you over to Tom Davies for the evening session, time for a quick rejoinder to Leo Phillips who asks "Have you lost the plot? 'Prior is incredibly lucky not to have bagged a pair'?" Erm, no Leo. He's survived the tightest of LBW decisions on a big fat zero in each innings, with both of them being "umpire's call" by a fraction of an inch. A different umpire and he could have been given both times, and DRS would have upheld it.
36th over: England 117-5 (Prior 13, Ballance 25) Just about time for one more over before tea and Eranga returns to bowl it and, after the success of the tactic in the first innings, he comes around the wicket to deploy the short stuff at Prior. There's a bit of variable bounce but Prior keeps well out of danger easily enough. Eranga tries coming over the wicket for the last two balls and the last ball before tea is too short, too wide, and pulled from outside off, over mid-on for four.
35th over: England 113-5 (Prior 9, Ballance 25) Herath to bowl what might be the last over before tea. Prior works the first ball for a single. If Herath can prise Ballance out here then Sri Lanka will fancy their chances. Oh runs! Actual runs for Gary Ballance as he goes forward to a fuller one and paddle sweeps it for a couple. Then a very bizarre shot as Ballance looks to block but turns his bat in doing so and the ball bobbles out into the on-side.
34th over: England 110-5 (Prior 8, Ballance 23) Prior lashes a good looking front foot cover drive, that's disappointingly very well stopped. They get a single from it though and Ballance is back on strike. No run. This is stodgier than muesli.
33rd over: England 109-5 (Prior 7, Ballance 23) The fact that Herath is getting something out of this pitch is potentially bad news for England, who may have to bowl Sri Lanka out to save the match unless they can build a partnership here; it could be that they come to rue not having a specialist spinner in the side. A single to Prior and that's the over.
32nd over: England 108-5 (Prior 6, Ballance 23) Prior is looking busy here. He's trying to work the ball around and run singles, just to make sure England don't get bogged down. Ballance is looking stodgy though; he's now not scored a run for four overs and the pressure tells as he looks to cut one that's far too close to his body, lucky to miss it. Make that five overs without scoring for the Yorkshireman.
31st over: England 107-5 (Prior 5, Ballance 23) Prior guides the first ball of the over calmly, expertly through mid-on for a couple to get off the mark, then sweeps from well outside off around to fine leg for three more. Ballance smothers the rest of the over.
30th over: England 102-5 (Prior 0, Ballance 23) That was quite magnificent bowling from the wily Herath; Prior is incredibly lucky not to have bagged a pair and Ali has egg on his face. Ballance is being pushed even deeper than usual back in his crease here, to the point that he's in danger of smacking his stumps with his backlift. He's also been rendered strokeless and it's another maiden.
29th over: England 102-5 (Prior 0, Ballance 23) Well. I imagine Moeen is going to feel a little bit silly after that show of defiance was brought to such an abrupt end. The gap between bat and pad there was absolutely immense as Ali reached for it. You have to give credit to Herath for the flight he got there. Oh and now a shout for lbw against Prior, given not out but we'll review. I reckon he's just outside the line of off-stump, or it'll at least be umpire's call. He hasn't hit this. Oh that's incredibly close! It's umpire's call but once again Prior survives the review by the tightest of margins and is not out. That's weird because on the HotSpot replay you could see off-stump.
Oh! Ali lofted his first ball back over the bowler's head for a lovely one-bounce four, beautifully arrogant. Herath responds by pitching it into the rough and turning it through a huge gap between bat and pad straight into middle and leg! This game is on!
28th over: England 98-4 (Ali 0, Ballance 23) England's lead is 220, by no means insurmountable, and Sri Lanka have their tails up. Pradeep got Ballance in the first innings, inducing a wafty drive, but he's still looking to cut and drive here. He can't get anything away though and it's a maiden.
27th over: England 98-4 (Ali 0, Ballance 23) Herath flights one outside Root's off stump and the batsman does well to use his feet and then push it to cover for one. Herath then overpitches to Ballance and gets driven to deep extra cover for three more. England haven't gone into their shells, but you get the sense they've just slowed their ambition from earlier. And now that wicket is going to slow it even more.
Ah. A full delivery, pitches on middle and off, straightens and Root is miles back in his crease when he should be playing forward. Who'd have thought? That was plumb.
26th over: England 94-3 (Root 14, Ballance 20) Nuwan Pradeep comes back into the attack for Eranga, who went for a few in his last over, and immediately gets it past Root's attempted drive. Root responds by working it to deep mid-on for a couple, then he misses out on a wild full toss as he swings it straight to the man at fine leg and is kept to one.
25th over: England 91-3 (Root 11, Ballance 20) Herath to Ballance and he's aiming into the rough from over the wicket. Ballance is reaching for them a bit, which is a dangerous ploy with short leg and leg slip in place. Herath drops a little short though and Ballance plunders four with a cut through cover.
24th over: England 87-3 (Root 11, Ballance 16) Eranga in for his tenth straight over and he gets one to keep low, that takes the bottom of Root's bat and bounces through to slip. Root gets off the mark with a four down to third man the next ball, guided nicely off the face of the bat between slip and gully. Three more are then pushed nicely into the gap at cover point. Ballance looks a little worried as Eranga then gets one to keep very low, the bounce becoming ever more variable as the day goes on. It's not the kind of pitch I'd like to bat on tomorrow. A lovely push through extra cover off the final ball brings Root four more runs. That was nicely timed, Bell-esque.
23rd over: England 75-3 (Root 0, Ballance 15) Kulasekara takes a break and England will face trial by spin as Herath comes on. Immediately the left-armer finds a bit of turn up the hill and hits Ballance on the pads. Oh and then for a moment it looks like Ballance has nicked one to Mahela Jayawardene at slip, but it's actually come off the hip. Hearts in mouths for England fans there that's a great over.
22nd over: England 75-3 (Root 0, Ballance 15) Almost a fourth for Eranga here as he finds the edge of Root's bat but, with the lack of pace in the pitch, it's through to the keeper on the bounce. That's drinks.
21st over: England 74-3 (Root 0, Ballance 14) Another good shot from Ballance, cutting a wide long hop from Kulasekara hard through point for four runs. It's good to see that he's not been cowed by Eranga's flurry of wickets and is looking to play shots still. England's lead is 196. A collapse for under 200 would actually set up a hell of a finish: Sri Lanka would go for it, England would be forced to go after wickets; we'd be almost guaranteed a result.
Familiar territory for Root, who came in at 74/3 in 1st inns. 69/3 now.
20th over: England 69-3 (Root 0, Ballance 9) The worst of this is that England have been losing wickets while looking to play watchfully. Root is the new man and England will be hoping that he can add another hundred runs or so to his double century from the first innings. Wicket maiden.
Great ball, angled in by Eranga and Bell plays on. Eranga has 3-11 and England are starting to stumble into It.
19th over: England 69-2 (Bell 9, Ballance 9) As Ballance works a single to square leg, I'm wondering whether or not it would be funny if England collapsed like a deck of cards in this session. I'm erring towards yes.
The camera's pan around the pavilion showing the members almost to a man asleep. One of them is actually asleep reading Andrew Strauss's book. This might rouse them though: a lovely cover drive from Bell that brings four of the prettiest runs going.
18th over: England 63-2 (Bell 5, Ballance 8) Some news from Jen Oram first up, as Gary Naylor heeds my call.
@DanLucas86 I've just spoken to the powers that be and they tell me that it's £20 for adults from 3.40pm today and free for under-16s.
17th over: England 63-2 (Bell 5, Ballance 8) Lovely from Ballance as he times it through point, up the hill, but it's reeled in absolutely superbly by the sweeper and they're restricted to three runs. Ballance does get four from the final ball though, which is too straight and flicked through square leg.
16th over: England 53-2 (Bell 2, Ballance 1) Ballance is off the mark with a flick off his pads to mid-wicket for a single before Robson loses his wicket. This is good stuff from Eranga, who's been much more accurate than he was in the first innings. Bell times a straight drive perfectly down the ground, but it hits the foothole and loses momentum, thus restricting him to two.
"Is it right you can get in half price today because tickets weren't sold? A friend's just texted from the Grace Gates," writes Jen Oram. I think I did read that somewhere, yes. Gary Naylor mentioned it the other day. Can you confirm Gary?
Eranga bowls full, gets one to nip back and Robson, moving across his stumps, gets an inside edge that knocks out middle and off.
15th over: England 50-1 (Robson 19, Ballance 0) Four minutes, is how long it's taken for the first "COOK RESIGN NOW" email arrived in my inbox. Which is inevitable. He's not going to do that though is he? He's in the middle of a Test match. I don't think you can blame him for getting out on the drive here, he'd hit six boundaries in his 28 and was looking to be as attacking as he could be in these conditions. Robson gets a boundary himself as a thick outside edge runs along the ground and away for four.
Incidentally Prasan Jayawardene's catch is his 151st Test dismissal, so congratulations to him on setting the Sri Lankan record.
14th over: England 46-1 (Robson 15, Ballance 0) So after another low score for Alastair Cook, Ballance comes out to the crease. The captain's record over the past 12 months is an average a shade over 25 and a top score of 72. It's an excellent wicket maiden from Eranga.
Cook proving he's the right type of person there by walking #EngvSL
Off he trudges again. Cook drives loosely at one that was just moving away, he looked to play it straight and just got a thin edge. Umpire Reiffel doesn't seem interested at first but the captain is already on his way and, belatedly, up goes the finger.
13th over: England 46-0 (Robson 15, Cook 28) Just two runs from the over, both of which come from the final ball, which Robson turns square on the on-side.
Robert Darby emails on Kevin Costner. "Re your comment in the third over. I admit that Joe Root trying to appear tough requires quite a stretch of the imagination. However, Kevin Costner is totally unconvincing in Three Days to Kill. He has been unconvincing all his career. It started with Dances with Wolves and it has been steadily downhill since. In the interests of humanity (well the part of humanity that still watches films), he really should throw in the towel." His career high remains Robin Hood Prince of Thieves.
12th over: England 44-0 (Robson 13, Cook 28) A sixth boundary for Cook as he goes back and flicks one off his pads and down the hill for four through square leg. Eranga responds with a big booming wide outside off. We've seen quite a few wides for a Test match so far. Prior to the boundary, Robson took a single and Cook emulated that after it. One more single to Robson makes eight from the over. England have started well after lunch.
11th over: England 36-0 (Robson 11, Cook 23) Evidently it was just one over of spin before lunch as Kulasekara returns. The camera finally cuts to KP in the crowd with his best bud Piers "Piers effing Morgan" Morgan. Ooh and then Cook gets a life as he gets a thick edge to a good, swinging delivery that flies low between keeper and slip. It's Prasana Jayawardene's catch really as it didn't carry to Sangakkara at slip. Cook punishes him when the bowler drops short and he pulls meatily through mid-wicket for four. Good over for England.
10th over: England 27-0 (Robson 10, Cook 15) Right, England have every chance of leading by 400 at the close if they choose to go for their shots. We're already five overs behind schedule for the day, by the way, which makes 16 overall allowing for the innings changeovers. Eranga is the bowler and Cook will be looking cautiously at the pitch after watching one shoot very low past his off stump, bobbling through to the keeper. There's a muted appeal for a strangle down the leg-side, but it was off the pad. Cook plays out a maiden.
We're back.
England lead by 149 having seen the session out sans incident. Lunch for them means lunch for me too. I'll see you in 40mins for the afternoon session.
9th over: England 27-0 (Robson 10, Cook 15) Sound the Obligatory Over Of Spin Before Lunch klaxon; here's Herath for what I would expect is the last over of the session. In fact it seems that Sri Lanka are insistent it will be as Mathews takes his time to set an attacking field with a slip and a gully in place. Cook takes them out of play by getting outside the line of off-stump, but as Mathews notices the ball turning out of the rough he brings a leg-slip in. No worries as Cook works three to deep mid-on from the antepenultimate ball and Robson sees out the last two.
8th over: England 24-0 (Robson 10, Cook 12) Eranga continues. Both sides are playing for lunch now as he keeps it wide outside off stump. The final ball is tighter, but it's well blocked and it means a second maiden on the bounce.
7th over: England 24-0 (Robson 10, Cook 12) An over so uneventful I forgot it was happening as it progressed.
On the scorecard: yes, we know that Joe Root and Jimmy Anderson's innings in England's first aren't showing. Unfortunately
I hate Joe Root and deleted his double hundred out of spite it's an external feed thing and I can't control it.
6th over: England 24-0 (Robson 10, Cook 12) Once again England are ticking along at more than four-an-over. The impressive thing about Robson is how well he watches the ball, which is why it was so surprising to see him out playing a wafty drive away from his body in the first innings. Eranga is on for Pradeep now, I wonder if Pradeep's shoulder is giving him some trouble after being hit by Jordan. It's a good over from Pradeep, with just a leg-bye from it.
5th over: England 23-0 (Robson 10, Cook 12) Could it be that England's openers are going to adopt contrasting roles here? Robson the accumulator, Cook the dasher? That would be a hell of a turn up. Robson gets his first boundary in international cricket as Kulasekara's delivery falls down the slope and gets turned around to the fine leg boundary.
4th over: England 17-0 (Robson 4, Cook 12) The plan, I would imagine, is for these two to get through to lunch and then have a think about whether or not going for the win is a possibility. It is, obviously, but I'm not sure Alastair Cook will think that way. Robson pushes one off his pads to deep mid-wicket for three runs. Cook then goes for a drive that squirts away for four to backward point; it's not that convincing and the bat was miles from his body. Four more to Cook from the final ball, far more convincingly, as he leans into a nice drive through cover, timing it right out of the sweet spot of the bat. Cook dealing entirely in boundaries so far.
"I wish England would send Broad or Prior in to open with Cook," write the oh-so-optimistic Chris and Kate Evans. "Robson is understandably going to be worried about his average and won't try to go at 5 an over. This could be like Trott and Compton last year." I don't know, I think that demoting Robson now would be far, far worse for his confidence. Look at how far Simon Kerrigan has regressed after so little faith was shown in him last year.
3rd over: England 5-0 (Robson 1, Cook 4) Which of the following is less convincing: Kevin Costner as a total badass who hunts, shoots and blows up terrorists in a film that's called Three Days to Kill, or Alastair Cook, Ian Bell and Joe Root's tough guy, arms crossed poses for their video profile things? Back to the cricket, where it's fair to say England aren't going to have a thrash here, Cook is struggling a touch it seems with the ball pitched up and moving away from him down the slope. He gets four runs with a delicate dab though, between slip and gully, when Kulasekara drops a touch too short.
2nd over: England 1-0 (Robson 1, Cook 0) Nuwan Pradeep looks fine to bowl then, having taken a blow to the shoulder in getting out. In other news, Eoin Morgan has just hit a brilliant 191 for Middlesex at Trent Bridge, which isn't exactly the easiest place in the world to bat against a good attack containing Harry Gurney and Peter Siddle. Robson plays out a maiden here, with Pradeep bowling a good consistent line outside off-stump.
1st over: England 1-0 (Robson 1, Cook 0) England resume then with a lead of 122, Kulasekara to bowl to Robson. That's mildly interesting, the two openers have swapped around. There's a spot of rain in the air too. This match is by no means dead: remember Adelaide, remember Cardiff. Robson gets off the mark with a whip to square leg as Kulasekara strays on to his pads and thus doubles his Test average. Kulasekara, who looks to have found marginally more zip than he did in the first innings, gets a touch of movement away from the left-hander Cook.
@DanLucas86 England should declare at 5.30pm today with a lead of 320. England will declare at 12.00pm tomorrow with a lead of 350.
That last wicket was hilarious. Anyway, the Sri Lankan players are out in a Michael Vaughan-approved huddle.
Right, how will England approach this? Try to set a target and give us a thrilling finish? We'll find out in ten minutes or so.
Pradeep wears one on the shoulder, falls around and plants his bat directly on to his stumps.
138th over: Sri Lanka 449-9 (Eranga 5, Pradeep 0) Eranga is happy to just swing wildly at Plunkett now and when the Yorkshire bowler comes around the wicket they get four leg-byes off the pad. On Sky, Andrew Strauss reckons that high-scoring pitches like this are OK as long as it later deteriorates and makes life easier for the bowlers, "like at Adelaide." It's too late to be getting your excuses in for that one now, Andrew.
137th over: Sri Lanka 443-9 (Eranga 3, Pradeep 0) Anderson continues and now he's pitching it up, and indeed finding a hint of swing even with a 57-over-old ball. Well for two balls anyway, then a back-of-a-length one has Eranga swaying out the way, as does the ensuing bouncer. It's worth getting Jordan on for Jimmy I reckon; full and straight is the way to go as Plunkett showed. A single to square leg ends the over.
136th over: Sri Lanka 442-9 (Eranga 2, Pradeep 0) That is the 100th century scored against England at Lord's. Which, when you think about it, doesn't really mean a lot at all. Anywho, time for a change in the bowling for the first time this morning as Plunkett comes on for Broad and after Eranga takes a single, a good yorker reaps its rewards. Pradeep, average 5.83 and with a top score of 17, is the number 11. It's going to be one of those Tino Best/Ashton Agar innings, isn't it? Plunkett is bowling a good length, at off-stump at good pace, which is much more like it. Pradeep prods and misses at his first ball, then blocks the second.
Umpire's call and the captain goes for a fine, fine 102. A hundred in his first ever innings at Lord's.
He's not hit it, the ball hitting both pads. It might be going down leg side but given it was given out, it's a hugely optimistic review.
Yorker fired in and given out, but reviewed immediately.
135th over: Sri Lanka 441-8 (Eranga 1, Mathews 102) A short and wide delivery from Anderson is punched to point but Mathews turns down the run. Two balls then and will Mathews go for the big shot? You can understand why England are having these reshuffles on the fourth ball of every over, but it means that we're going at around 11 overs an hour. Mathews looks to cream one through the covers but it's a bump ball to short extra cover. The final ball though is a wide full toss and Mathews creams it through mid-off to complete a quite excellent hundred. Well played to him.
134th over: Sri Lanka 437-8 (Eranga 1, Mathews 98) Mathews average as captain is now up above 92, which is impressive albeit from only eight matches, compared to 39 as a member of the rank and file. That's the biggest difference of anyone in world cricket, apparently. Eranga gets off the mark with a nudge down to deep fine leg before Mathews pushes a single to cover to move on to 98. Eranga sees out the final two balls.
133rd over: Sri Lanka 435-8 (Eranga 0, Mathews 97) Shane Warne has suggested, looking at an old picture of Bob Willis, that he belongs in an 80s metal band... "like REO Speedwagon." Mathews pulls a short one towards the rope but doesn't take any runs. This is awful. It's a little surprising that Mathews doesn't have more faith in Eranga, who does have a first-class hundred to his name. Four runs here as Anderson goes full and Mathews, feet in concrete, whips him to cow corner for four. Anderson follows up with a very, very wide ball that Mathews swishes at, looking for the hundred, and misses.
132nd over: Sri Lanka 431-8 (Eranga 0, Mathews 93) Hello folks, sorry about that. After Herath had his middle stump eviscerated, Eranga walked to the crease as the new batsman. Alastair Cook is having a conference with his bowler before the fourth ball of each over in order to ascertain how to get the maximum number of deliveries at Eranga. Broad responds by sending down a big full toss that's hammered away for just a single. Eranga sees the over out.
Daniel Harris, sat next to me, has a TV feed that's still working and he tells me Herath has been bowled neck and crop.
131st over: Sri Lanka 429-7 (Mathews 91, Herath 2) Shane Warne and Nasser Hussain are into the commentary box on Sky; I guess that at least their analysis of England's tactics this morning should be fun. And now my feed has frozen.
Andy Flower thinks this field is a bit defensive.
130th over: Sri Lanka 429-7 (Mathews 91, Herath 2) Broad comes around the wicket and spears in a yorker that splays Herath's stumps. Or sends down a short one that's fended away. Guess which it was. Herath turns a single to square leg. He's batted perfectly well so far, Herath, but it's been so easy for him. Another short ball is hooked away for one by Mathews. There's half a chance as the final ball catches the shoulder of Herath's bat but it loops up into empty space on the off-side.
129th over: Sri Lanka 427-7 (Mathews 90, Herath 1) "What is with England's ludicrous bowling tactics against tailenders? Stop bowling short all the bloody time and pitch it up on off stump," writes Kevin Wilson. Kevin won't be impressed with this over from Anderson, which is persistently short to Mathews. Weirdly, there are now two slips in place in a more conventional set-up, but Anderson refuses to pitch it up until the final ball, which completes a maiden as it sails through to the keeper.
128th over: Sri Lanka 427-7 (Mathews 90, Herath 1) A short one down the leg side from Broad is hooked around the corner by Perera. Thereafter, Mathews enters stalemate mode and declines every single offered until the penultimate ball. Broad sends down a ninth straight short ball to Perera to end the over and your OBOer regrets praising England's inventiveness earlier. Over the first three days we lost 15 overs through slow over rates and it's no wonder the ground is half empty at the moment. The way the England spectators are being treated is truly pathetic.
127th over: Sri Lanka 425-7 (Mathews 89, Herath 0) So Mathews keeps the strike against Anderson. I guess that Sri Lanka are fearful of swing and feel that Herath is capable of keeping out Broad. Another short one from Anderson, wide outside off-stump, and Mathews goes for the pull but gets a bottom edge down to Prior on the bounce. Mathews then dances down the track and has a wild swipe; it finds a thick edge and goes straight to first slip, who sadly doesn't exist, so it's four runs. And then from the final ball the exact same thing happens! Sake.
"Hi Dan." Hi, Ravi Nair. "I like your exciting scenario but fear the day will end with SL about 200 to the good and England struggling to survive tomorrow. Otherwise what's the point of being English eh?" To be honest I'll take that. It'd be nice comeuppance if England carry on playing so negatively.
126th over: Sri Lanka 417-7 (Mathews 81, Herath 0) England's reticence to set an attacking field for Mathews seems a little bit negative to me, although not as negative as the fact that Broad has only the one slip for Herath. The bowler starts with a very well directed bouncer that Herath ducks rather than take on the two men out on the hook. The third ball loops up off the face of the bat as Herath goes back looking to fend, but it's wide of Robson at short leg. Herath then hooks another short one to fine leg; there's an easy single there but the batsmen decline to take it. Sigh. We finish with a sixth straight short ball and that's a maiden.
125th over: Sri Lanka 417-7 (Mathews 81, Herath 0) Right, here we go. Anderson will open the bowling from the Pavilion End, with Mathews on strike. Despite the cloud cover there's only one slip in place for the Sri Lanka captain, and that in a wide fourth slip kind of position, which impresses neither Bumble nor Holding. Jimmy sends down a slow bumper that gets a bit of tennis ball bounce and Mathews hooks for two to mid-wicket. That's your lot for the over and Herath will be on strike for the next one. In looking to throw down the stumps, Anderson hits Mathews in the bum.
"What's the facial hair situation this morning?" asks Robin Hazelhurst on the pressing issue of the day. "Not yours personally, I mean the players. Because I was watching the England rugby and football matches yesterday and there was hirsuteness everywhere. I mean I'm not wanting to come over all Hadley Freeman but who invited the 1970s back? Surely Andrea Pirlo, Hashim Amla and especially Gordon Darcy have got the beard thing so sewn up that noone else should even be trying. I hope that at Lords at least they are not, for the sake of decorum." As far as I can tell it's only Prior, Plunkett, Broad and Moeen who have beards out there and only three of those are any good (sorry, Stuart). As for myself, my beard's relatively pathetic.
Just time for this once again.
I don't know about you, but I cheered in the office when Sangakkara punched Joe Root through the covers to get to his hundred yesterday. What a player he is and what a likeable player at that. If you were compiling an XI of the players you like the most, he'd surely be the first name on the teamsheet and perhaps Mahela wouldn't be too far behind.
Happy Fathers' Day. No matter how your day goes, you could have it worse. Not safe for work.
Stuart Broad is the new Jeff Goldblum. Albeit with approximately 0.00001% of the swoon factor. "We found a way," he says when asked about the unresponsive pitch and that's fair enough. Despite having absolutely eff all in their favour yesterday, England's attack showed resilience, thought and inventiveness and were rewarded in the second half of the day with five tough, tough wickets. Resiliance, thought and inventiveness have been sorely lacking from English cricket of late, so credit is due to the bowlers and indeed to Cap'n Cook for that yesterday.
Music interlude
This is lovely, isn't it?
Oh hello...
Going to Lord's today. Want to see SL out 460 & ENG bat positively to a 380 lead then declare...entertain today pls, Cook's men! #lords
Weather watch: once again it looks set to be cloudy and dry all day. Which means (a) good news for the bowlers and (b) I may have made a mistake wearing shorts to work.
Preamble
Morning you. For all the personal feats of Joe Root, Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara, it looks like it will be down to the Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews to decide the fate of this match. He was unbeaten on 79 overnight and, after England's bowlers finally found some life in the pitch in yesterday's evening session, he appears to be all that stands between them and running through the tail to polish this innings off in short order.
Late Moeen Ali wickets put England marginally on top
So, what was looking like very much Sri Lanka's day was rescued for England by those two quick wickets for Moeen Ali. Sri Lanka are by no means out of this, and another 100 runs will make life very difficult for England, but then on the other hand the new ball is due in seven overs time and only Chandimal remains of the competent batsmen. Tomorrow will be fascinating, so be sure to come back then.
Thanks for reading and for all your tweets & emails. Sorry I couldn't publish everything. G'night!
73rd over: Sri Lanka 214-4 (Jayawardene 55, Mathews 24) New gloves are the order of the day for Mahela Jayawardene, so I imagine this order from Jordan will almost certainly be the last. He edges the first ball through the vacant slip cordon for four to take the lead to 100. The next ball brings a far more convincing shot, overpitched and slammed on the up through extra cover for four more. Jordan responds with a bumper and Mathews gets a top edge, looking to paddle it away but it lands safely and they run a single. Jayawardene, taking time to tie his shoe laces, sees the over out and takes a leg-bye from the final ball.
72nd over: Sri Lanka 204-4 (Jayawardene 55, Mathews 15) Plunkett comes back on in place of Ali. Plunkett's shorter spells suggest that he's taken up Stuart Broad's enforcer mantle, albeit arguably with more success. It's back around the wicket, it's short again and it's another hooked single, this time for Mathews. Jayawardene then runs one off the face of the bat down to backward point, where Root does very well to dive and keep the ball in the field of play, restricting Jayawardene to two runs. A couple more singles and a no ball, then it's a dot to finish. One more over?
71st over: Sri Lanka 198-4 (Jayawardene 52, Mathews 13) Jayawardene leaves one that swings back in whizzes low, past off-stump to Prior. England may well regret the heavy roller having been used on this pitch twice in the first hour today, as well as the long spells bowled by tired looking seamers. Another maiden to Jordan, his sixth in 18 overs.
70th over: Sri Lanka 198-4 (Jayawardene 52, Mathews 13) Moeen carries on and there's some very sharp turn there, which Mathews reads and turns to deep fine leg for a single. England would love to get another wicket, or even two, in the 15 minutes remaining today so that they can really have a go at the tail with the new ball in the morning. Jayawardene then takes a run, before Mathews hesitates on a forward defensive, suggesting the ball might have stuck in the pitch a touch.
69th over: Sri Lanka 196-4 (Jayawardene 51, Mathews 12) A little time for Where Are They Now?
Did you know? Former England seamer Amjad Khan is currently captaining Denmark in ICC World Cricket League Division Four.
68th over: Sri Lanka 193-4 (Jayawardene 50, Mathews 10) A single knocked to mid-on brings up a very tough fifty for Jayawardene. He's looked scratchy, especially early on against Plunkett, but if anyone was going to tough that out then Mahela is right up there on the list of candidates. If Sri Lanka now 85 ahead are going to win this, you'd say he probably needs a good-sized hundred.
67th over: Sri Lanka 191-4 (Jayawardene 49, Mathews 9) Broad, who had gone off for some treatment to his knee, comes back on to the field. He won't be bowling straight away, as Chris Jordan is the man replacing Plunkett. Incidentally Twitter is suggesting that Ali brought out the doosra in that last over, but I didn't pick it. This is good stuff from Jordan's, whose off-stump line is much tighter than the rest of England's seamers. As I write that, he strays ever so slightly wider and Mathews slams a drive straight to the man at mid-off. Mathews then looks to hammer a pull through mid-wicket from the final ball but bottom edges it down to his own feet. Maiden.
66th over: Sri Lanka 191-4 (Jayawardene 49, Mathews 9) I can exclusively reveal that Moeen Ali's ECB-approved nickname is "Mo", rather than "Ali-y" as you might expect. A single to Jayawardene moves him to within one of his 50. Or "on to 49," if you will.
65th over: Sri Lanka 189-4 (Jayawardene 48, Mathews 8) Mathews drives a beauty of a shot down the ground for four to end an otherwise uneventful over. That's easily his most confident shot so far.
"'...looking as comfortable as a man wrapped in a duvet with a mug of hot chocolate and a bacon sandwich, watching Saturday Kitchen and listening to Miles Davis.' As unsettling as anything I have ever read. Pretty much a complete description (Jacques Pepin instead of Saturday Kitchen) of me at that exact moment. Love the OBO!" writes Martin Whitman. Thinking about it, I'm not sure there's much overlap between people who watch Saturday Kitchen and people who listen to Miles Davis.
64th over: Sri Lanka 185-4 (Jayawardene 48, Mathews 4) A full bunger from Ali and he's lucky that Jayawardene had already decided he was going to sweep it, the ball going to deep mid-on for a single rather than getting spanked out the ground as the delivery warranted. Mathews then turns a shorter one to deep fine leg.
63rd over: Sri Lanka 183-4 (Jayawardene 47, Mathews 3) A muted cheer from the crowd as Mathews whips a reversing delivery from Plunkett to square leg, but it's all along the ground. The Sri Lankan captain is whipping these away in an aesthetically pleasing manner, but keeps on finding the fielders.
62nd over: Sri Lanka 182-4 (Jayawardene 46, Mathews 3) Jayawardene looks to sweep and gets it just past Robson at short leg for a single. This match has burst into life thanks to Moeen Ali.
It's umpire's call. That's ridiculous, 49% of the ball was smashing into leg-stump, according to HawkEye. My gut feeling is that Bowden gave it not out because he thought Jayawardene had hit it.
61st over: Sri Lanka 180-4 (Jayawardene 45, Mathews 2) Stuart Broad takes a rest and Plunkett comes on. With spin having suddenly looked so dangerous in those past two overs, would Root not be worth a go? That said, a sharply rising ball goes past Mathews' prod outside off-stump. There's a strangled appeal for LBW from a yorker but there was a lot of bat... in fact it's 100% bat, 0% pad, that one. Another yorker does clatter into the pads and there's a much bigger shout. Given not out, but Cook uses his final review... think there's bat on this. Oh no there's not! But it's a full toss and may well be going past leg.
60th over: Sri Lanka 179-4 (Jayawardene 45, Mathews 1) This is great stuff from Moeen Ali, shows what I know. And what Alastair Cook knows, given how long it's taken for him to bring him on. Mathews comes to the crease after an absolute peach of a ball cleaned up Thirimanne. The Sri Lankan captain pushes a single to mid-on and will be relieved to get off strike, especially as Ali gets one to spin out of the footholes into Jayawardene's pads. Not far away that but Cook decides not to review. We're going to check for a run-out now but Mahela is safely home by a distance.
Thirimanne blocks his first delivery to avoid the king pair, but the second turns from leg to middle and goes past his outside edge, castling him! The lead is just 68 and Sri Lanka's big tail is getting closer.
59th over: Sri Lanka 176-3 (Jayawardene 43, Thirimanne 0) Told you they needed to get the spinner on. It really was a surprise wicket, with the batsman looking as comfortable as a man wrapped in a duvet with a mug of hot chocolate and a bacon sandwich, watching Saturday Kitchen and listening to Miles Davis. Thirimanne is in on a king pair and so Broad will continue. He goes too wide to Jayawardene and the batsman cuts to the fence for four with ease. Broad desperately needs a rest.
58th over: Sri Lanka 172-3 (Jayawardene 39, Thirimanne 0) Ali finds the outside edge but it's all along the ground and two runs to third man for Jayawardene. Much better next up from the batsman as he sweeps firmly from outside off, again all along the ground, for four. That was lovely. Another single to mid-on and that's seven from the first three balls of the over. Oh and then a wicket from nowhere! Sangakkara simply playing down the wrong line.
That's huge. It's hit him inline, pad first and was hitting middle two thirds of the way up. He's plumb and England will be reinvigorated by that.
From nowhere, Ali gets one to go straight on and hit Sangakkara on the pad! He reviews but this will be out.
57th over: Sri Lanka 165-2 (Jayawardene 32, Sangakkara 55) Broad looks like the bowler most likely to get a wicket here, he's finding a little bit of movement but he looks quite fed up. Then again he always looks fed up, doesn't he? I can imagine England's bowlers aren't too happy with, er, themselves for getting out so quickly this morning. Sangakkara pushes at one outside off-stump but doesn't get near it. It's a little surprising Cook only has one slip in place for Broad.
56th over: Sri Lanka 164-2 (Jayawardene 31, Sangakkara 55) Holy moly we've actually got some spin now! It's Moeen Ali and a couple of his deliveries to Jayawardene do find a modicum of turn. Four singles from the over. This match is starting to resemble the boring middle overs of an ODI, what with the way the batsmen are milking singles.
55th over: Sri Lanka 160-2 (Jayawardene 29, Sangakkara 53) Time for some spin. No, I jest, Broad continues. He gets a full-ish delivery to get big on Jayawardene and it catches the bat's shoulder but lands safely. That went through the top ever so slightly, which will probably please Sri Lanka and Herath more than it will England. Anything over 200 in terms of a lead and they'll fancy their chances. Drinks time/
54th over: Sri Lanka 159-2 (Jayawardene 29, Sangakkara 52) For those of you wondering, Everton Weekes, Andy Flower and Shivnarine Chanderpaul are the other men with seven straight 50+ scores. This is gruelling stuff from England and it's quite bizarre that Cook went three hours without giving Anderson a bowl and has only given us one over of spin. Is his captaincy really worth the effect it's had on his batting? Because the former has been utter dross so far in this innings. Jayawardene drives gloriously through the covers for four when Anderson offers up a half volley.
53rd over: Sri Lanka 152-2 (Jayawardene 23, Sangakkara 51) The last ten overs have brought 40 runs and England are just starting to get a touch expensive. Jayawardene drives down to long-on for a couple and the lead has crept up to 44. Broad then beats Mahela's waft outside off with one that keeps a bit low, then gets one to shape past the batsman's prod. Better from Broad. Two play-and-misses and Broad follows that with a very nice delivery that again moves away from the batsman and zips through to Prior.
52nd over: Sri Lanka 150-2 (Jayawardene 21, Sangakkara 51) Anderson strays on to the pads and Sangakkara flicks him to mid-wicket for four runs, bringing up his half century. That's yet another slice of history for Kumar, who has equalled the world record of seven consecutive 50+ scores.
@DanLucas86 why all the Jimmy love? Poor record at Headingley and averages over 30 w/ball in Test cricket
His average is inflated by the poor start to his Test career. The Headingley record is a very weird one though and difficult to explain.
51st over: Sri Lanka 146-2 (Jayawardene 21, Sangakkara 47) Short and wide from Broad and Jayawardene runs him down, wide of the slip cordon, down to third man for two runs. Broad responds by going fuller and straighter, so Mahela turns him around the corner for one. A nice square drive from Sangakkara brings another single and a firm cut for four from a short long hop takes the partnership to 53 from 99 balls. That's the 44th time these two have put on a 50 partnership. It feels inevitable now.
50th over: Sri Lanka 138-2 (Jayawardene 14, Sangakkara 46) He lives! Jimmy Anderson is going to bowl for the first time in nearly three hours he's only bowled nine of the 49 overs in this innings. Sangakkara begins by knocking the ball square on the off-side and some good hard running brings two runs. Anderson is bowling around the wicket, short-ish and outside off, but isn't really finding any swing. He strays on to the pads and Sangakkara times a beaut of a straight drive past the stumps and the bowler for a perfect boundary. The danger is that the longer Sangakkara stays in, the more the OBO resembles the mushiest love letter going.
@DanLucas86 Joe Root has looked the most promising spinner, make him send down 20 overs a day & by next Ashes we ll have an allrounder
49th over: Sri Lanka 132-2 (Jayawardene 14, Sangakkara 40) On Sky, Strauss says more damningly than he perhaps intended that England have forgotten how to win. Broad goes up for a huge appeal against Jayawardene but there's a massive inside edge and Cook isn't even remotely interested in reviewing that one. A maiden and the lead remains 24.
48th over: Sri Lanka 132-2 (Jayawardene 14, Sangakkara 40) Jordan strays on to Sangakkara's pads and four leg byes are the result. That's 12 extras past Prior so far this innings. Then a no ball takes extras' total to 20. You can add a single for each of the batsmen to that lot to complete the overs' runs.
47th over: Sri Lanka 125-2 (Jayawardene 13, Sangakkara 39) Another one keeps low and Prior allows it through for a bye. It's not the easiest place in the world to keep wicket, but Prior hasn't exactly covered himself in glory here. If Prior was a young player coming through, would he have been picked for this series after that Ashes? I'd wager not. Jayawardene edges the final ball to slip, but does so with the softest of hands that ensure it goes there on the bounce.
46th over: Sri Lanka 122-2 (Jayawardene 13, Sangakkara 37) With England not looking all that inspired right now, our very own Emma John has just tweeted me wondering how great a sporting hero Bill Pullman from Independence Day would make. What a speech that is.
45th over: Sri Lanka 122-2 (Jayawardene 13, Sangakkara 37) I wonder if Anderson isn't fit, he certainly doesn't look to be enjoying fielding. Anyway, Broad is on for Plunkett. Again he bowls short to Jayawardene, again the batsman hooks for a single.
@DanLucas86 I agree re not playing a spinner for the sake of it. But maybe one of the quicks should be left-arm. Keith Barker? Harry Gurney?
44th over: Sri Lanka 120-2 (Jayawardene 12, Sangakkara 36) Andy Bradshaw suggests Rashid, Borthwick and Kerrigan as Test spin options for England. The first two are nowhere near good enough and the third was shabbily treated when England responded to his crisis of confidence by essentially pretending he didn't exist anymore. Furthermore, England have several fast bowlers who are much better at fast bowling than those three are at spin; as I said earlier, it'd be churlish to weaken the team just to include a token spinner.
Jordan bowls short and wide, and Jaywardane chops it up and over the slips for four runs to third man.
43rd over: Sri Lanka 114-2 (Jayawardene 7, Sangakkara 35) Liam Plunkett continues and the batsmen start by taking a single apiece. Time for Jimmy soon, perhaps? Broad, Jordan and Plunkett don't exactly offer a lot of variety and this is the kind of pitch where, once you're settled, a big score is readily available. Sangakkara has moved on to 25,530 international runs, taking him past Jacques Kallis as the highest scoring current international batsmen. Only Ponting and Tendulkar lie ahead of him now.
42nd over: Sri Lanka 110-2 (Jayawardene 5, Sangakkara 33) Right, how many can England realistically chase? I'd say anything more than 250 will be a very big ask, although that's still a long, long way off for Sri Lanka. Ideally, England will want to keep them to a lead of 150-180. Maiden from Jordan, with everything right on the top of off-stump.
Here's Andy Bradshaw. "'England are crying out for a spinner,' Cook said in his interview where he whined about Shane Warne, the media keep agreeing, but what England need is a captain that will actually trust his spinners to bowl, even if they get a bit of tap every so often. Moeen's bowled 2 overs this match, that's just moronic." I disagree, I'm afraid. Moeen isn't an international spinner. Even on a pitch where Herath has found a good bit of turn, everything from Ali has gone straight on and Sri Lanka have played him with ease. England don't have a good enough spinner anywhere.
41st over: Sri Lanka 110-2 (Jayawardene 5, Sangakkara 33) Another mistimed hook shot from Jayawardene is gloved wildly down to fine leg for a single. It's kind of sad to see the great batsman struggling like this. Sangakkara then plays and misses, looking to punch through cover off the back foot to a good, back-of-a-length ball. Better from a fuller one, that's timed past Ali's misfield, through extra cover and away for four. Sri Lanka into the lead. Sky report that Sri Lanka have only ever won seven Tests when trailing on the first innings, the last in 2009.
40th over: Sri Lanka 105-2 (Jayawardene 4, Sangakkara 29) Jordan continues and Sangakkara bottom edges a cut down to backward point. Another leg-bye follows and the deficit is just three now. Sri Lanka need a mammoth partnership, ideally lasting a couple of sessions, and they'll be in a wonderful position to win this match. England need a burst of wickets before Sri Lanka's lead reaches 50ish and they'll etc. etc.
39th over: Sri Lanka 103-2 (Jayawardene 4, Sangakkara 28) Plunkett, round the wicket to Jaywardene, off the pad and down to fine leg for a leg-bye. He nearly has Sangakkara shortly thereafter as the great batsman pulls out of a hook to one that dies on him. The batsman did well, actually, to roll his bat so that the face was down and take the bottom edge out of play. Kumar gets a single, then the two batsmen exchange singles scored via a hook along the ground into the on-side. The short stuff isn't looking that threatening right now.
"Hi Dan." Hi, Kieron Shaw. "Late to the party, I know, but I take issue with your description yesterday (1.27pm) of the new Headingley pavilion as "grotesque". It's magnificent, you blind heathen. It reminds me of an aluminium curry-takeaway carton, as seen the following morning on the kitchen sideboard looking a bit malformed and crumpled; showing all the bitter scars of some greedy, well-lubricated scoffing attack the night before. What could be a more fitting monument to Leeds? In this metaphor, by the way, the little players dotted around in white are the spilled straggles of rice on the green baize kitchen table that the wife will wipe away later."
Apparently on TMS Graeme Swann said "Matt Prior texted me the other day saying he misses me, because he hasn't had a laugh in the changing room since I left." Make of that what you will.
A teasing, tense session that. Low on stand-out moments of excellence, but this is why we love Test cricket, isn't it? I'll be back shortly, but here's a reason that Primavera > Glastonbury. Also, Glastonbury is camping, which is just the worst.
38th over: Sri Lanka 99-2 (Jayawardene 3, Sangakkara 26) Jordan to bowl the last over before tea. He's finding some sharp movement back into the right-hander off the seam and Mahela, who isn't having the best of series, doesn't look entirely comfortable as he defends off the back foot. Prior is hurt here as a ball gloved down the leg-side catches his fingertips on its way away for a single, which is oddly called a leg-bye. That certainly looked to come off of Jayawardene's hand but oh well. Like Alanis, he lives, he lears, and Sangakkara gets two to point from the final ball.
37th over: Sri Lanka 96-2 (Jayawardene 3, Sangakkara 24) Plunkett, from around the wicket, is going to look to rough the new batsman up with some short stuff here. There's the most half-hearted shout for caught behind you'll ever hear as the ball goes through off the sweater and bounces in front of Prior. Other than that etc. Jayawardene goes for the hook shot after that and gets a top edge, but Moeen Ali at deep square leg doesn't pick it and the ball drops safely into the outfield for a single.
36th over: Sri Lanka 95-2 (Jayawardene 2, Sangakkara 24) Jordan has an LBW appeal as he hits Jayawardene on the thigh pad with one that jags back in. It also smashed into the inside edge on its way through and your OBOer certainly didn't exclaim "ooh that's out." Because it wasn't. Not even close, actually. Jordan bangs in a short one and Mahela pulls it nicely along the ground, behind square for a single to deep backward square leg. Sri Lanka trail by 13; this could well be the match-deciding partnership.
35th over: Sri Lanka 94-2 (Jayawardene 1, Sangakkara 24) So once again, Karunaratne goes when well set. In comes Mahela Jayawardene to join his ol' mucker Sangakkara in the middle and we can settle down for some pure cricket porn. Like actual porn, this isn't pleasant though as he gets off the mark with an ugly inside edge to fine leg.
We're just checking that the glove was still on the handle as Michael Kasprowic fumes at home. The ball, dug into the ribs from around the wicket, just flicked the glove on the way through and out he is.
It sounds like he's nicked this down the leg side and Bowden gives it out. "See ya mate, on yer bike" says some charmer in the England side and it's being reviewed.
34th over: Sri Lanka 93-1 (Karunaratne 45, Sangakkara 24) Here's Moeen Ali, who has some nice juicy footholes to aim for. Ali's rotations are in the red zone, according to Sky, but as they all go straight on I imagine that says more for the value of Sky's technology than it does for Ali's bowling capabilites. Sangakkara knocks a single off his pads, then Karunaratne gets an inside edge past short leg for one more.
33rd over: Sri Lanka 91-1 (Karunaratne 44, Sangakkara 23) Crikey. Broad bowls full and wide and Kumar Sangakkara has actually mistimed a drive! Nowt came of that, mind. Speaking of spinners, here's Michael Vaughan's contribution to TMS's "Ask Swanny" feature they'll be running during the tea interval:
Any chance you can go on after tea and have a bowl ? @bbctms#Askswanny
32nd over: Sri Lanka 86-1 (Karunaratne 44, Sangakkara 18) Plunkett continues and Karunaratne is content to inch towards his first 50 of the tour, knocking another single away. On the spinner subject, England have enough strength in depth recent hundreds for Stokes, Root and Ballance, good bowling performances from Plunkett and Jordan, with Ali looking good and Morgan, Taylor and Vince waiting in the wings that it seems a bit of a waste to me to weaken the team by including a sub-standard spinner for the sake of it.
31st over: Sri Lanka 84-1 (Karunaratne 43, Sangakkara 17) Broad again and he's decided that full and wide of off is the way to go to Sangakkara. It was actually the short ball from Anderson that got him in the first innings, but such is his predilection for the off-drive that this makes perfect sense. Kumar is tempted by a slightly straighter one and drives it exquisitely to the man at mid-off. A maiden.
"Don't get me wrong," begins Tom van der Gucht, backtracking on Swann, "he was undoubtably my favourite cricketer of the past decade (if not possibly all time) and the swaggering, presence he brought to the field of play, not to mention his video diaries and bon mots in press conferenes, lit up the game and the England team is something of a shadow without him in terms of enteratinment factor.
30th over: Sri Lanka 84-1 (Karunaratne 43, Sangakkara 17) Plunkett sends down a short one from around the wicket that keeps low and deflects off of Prior's boot and away for four byes. Thereafter, the batsmen exchange singles into the on-side.
Meanwhile Sara Torvalds tweets regarding the return of the OBOcassionals:
29th over: Sri Lanka 78-1 (Karunaratne 42, Sangakkara 16) Sangakkara gets a single before Karunaratne runs another two down to third man, steered deliberately wide of the slips. And again a couple of balls later, although a miss by the diving gully fielder means he gets three for it. The field for Sangakkara is set to minimise the effectiveness of his beloved cover drive, with a short- and a deep extra cover and a mid-off. Broad slants it across him but Kumar is a wise, wise man. Broad's last two overs have gone for seven and six.
@DanLucas86 Sangakkara has decided that he's playing at Galle and not Headingley hasn't he? In the form he is enjoying, he might as well be.
Today's trivia: My girlfriend asked me last night what the average Test average is, which flummoxed me. I'd guess around 23, though that's completely arbitrary. On Twitter, Dave Tickner noted that the average score per wicket in Tests is 32.12, but that that counts extras. So any answers?
28th over: Sri Lanka 72-1 (Karunaratne 37, Sangakkara 15) Plunkett, who I'd say has been given a bit of a shoddy ride by Cook so far in this innings, is back on. His first ball is a wild bouncer, miles outside the batsman's off stump, and is called a wide. Karuanaratne drops the ball to the third man boundary, where it's fielded and kept to two. Daniel Harris notes that, according to TMS, Sangakkara is now the first Sri Lankan batsman ever to register 300 runs in a series in England, which is a surprise. I guess the reason is that Sri Lanka often get the short end of the stick when it comes to tour lengths and are only ever here for two or three Tests at a time.
27th over: Sri Lanka 69-1 (Karunaratne 35, Sangakkara 15) People of Yorkshire: it's a beautiful sunny Sunday, warm and pleasant, and there is a finely balanced Test match taking place. Go to the cricket; Headingley's stands are looking depressingly sparse right now.
Broad is bowling around the wicket to Karunaratne, but with men out on the hook the short stuff is an obvious ploy that the batsman is wise too. As such, he continues to eschew the shot and instead feels confident that driving the fuller stuff is the way to go. He flicks one of said fuller balls through mid-wicket for three runs. The final ball is overpitched and timed gloriously on the up, through extra cover by Sangakkara for four. Swoon.
26th over: Sri Lanka 62-1 (Karunaratne 32, Sangakkara 11) Chris Jordan is the bowler, Karunaratne the batsman and the first ball is a nice bumper that rises into the batsman's ribs, forcing him to fend. Michael Holding is surprised Plunkett was pulled after just three overs and so am I; despite him looking easily the most hostile, the most threatening, I guess that Alastair Cook is keen to ensure that Sri Lanka don't race into a lead here before losing a couple more wickets. It's mostly short stuff from Jordan, which doesn't induce the hook, but the fuller, wider one gets a drive, with four men in the slip cordon, that's stopped at short extra cover. A single is taken from the final ball.
"It could be that Swann's dressing-room reputation was built on language too ripe for radio," suggests JOHN STARBUCK, "so he could well be finding it awkward to start with on TMS. We shall probably not know until the after-dinner speech circuit reveal all. However, he did persuade the team to celebrate a series victory with the sprinkler dance so we can cut him some slack for now. Anyway, he makes a nice change from the increasingly irritating professional Yorkshiremen who are running rife on the airwaves."
By my reckoning we've had 39 overs today, plus the two for the change of innings, so we're four behind the requisite rate.
Hello folks. I, Dan Lucas, will be your glorious leader through the remainder of an intriguingly balanced day. Either we'll be watching Liam Plunkett rip through the batting lineup like a Northern Curtly Ambrose, or we'll be watching Kumar Sangakkara bat. Either way, we win.
25th over: Sri Lanka 61-1 (Karunaratne 31, Sangakkara 11)
Broad replaces Plunkett - I wonder if we'll see him back on in a moment, just at the other end. His second ball surprises Sangakkara - it's a little quicker off the pitch - and he presses into a nothing shot, that lands not that far shy of Broad's follow-through. Not much else, and drinks.
24th over: Sri Lanka 61-1 (Karunaratne 31, Sangakkara 11)
Quicker one from Jordan, snapping away from Karunaratne, squared and flat-footed. He's working himself up here, and grimace-smiles ruefully when Karunaratne slashes hard, between slip and gully for four. The ball went high, though, so doubtful anyone would have caught it, Roger Harper not being in attendance.
23rd over: Sri Lanka 57-1 (Karunaratne 27, Sangakkara 11)
Plunkett tempts Karunaratne into a drive, the ball ending up at mid-on. But Sangakkara makes amends next ball, again bending the knee and again lasering a drive through cover. He looks in the mood, right enough. A less interesting over.
22nd over: Sri Lanka 52-1 (Karunaratne 26, Sangakkara 7)
Another maiden - we're all just waiting for another Plunkett over, really - so a diatribe. Excllent. Here's Tom Van der/Van den Gucht:
21st over: Sri Lanka 52-1 (Karunaratne 26, Sangakkara 7)
It's hard to fathom why Plunkett wasn't on earlier, and his first delivery to Sangakkara is a further beauty - shorter, even sharper, threatening the hands - and Sangakkara does well to ride it down into the pitch, even running two. Then, one slips out, shoots wide of the popping crease and goes for four, then another wide one, Sangakkara down on one knee to pound it delightfully through cover. Interesting over.
Except it's not a lull because Plunkett is on, and this is a jazzer. Fourth stump line, bouncing sharply, moving away, kissing the outside edge. Very good indeed.
21st over: Sri Lanka 40-0 (Karunaratne 26, Silva 13)
You can tell this is a lull, because they're talking about DRS - except it's not a lull, because Sri Lanka are slowly clambering back into things.
20th over: Sri Lanka 39-0 (Karunaratne 25, Silva 13)
Given what's to come, this is a very useful stand - Silva batted very well in the second innings at Lord's too, especially not being an opener. He edges one off Jordan, but with soft hands, so's it drops just short of Bell at second slip. And the final delivery is a goodun, holding its line and too sharp for Silva, passing the outside edge.
19th over: Sri Lanka 36-0 (Karunaratne 23, Silva 12)
Here's Ged Travers: "Many thanks to your lunchtime Nairobi correspondent who jolted me into the realisation that I'm in a designated non-cricketing nation, Greece, so I can watch the action via the ECB feed on youtube. Talking of over/underrated cities and, incidentally TVs (later), I'm currently residing in Thessaloniki which I find a most charming place to live. True, the post-Junta (bit of politics, sorry) architecture is an abomination but the presence of ancient Greek, Roman ruins and some wonderful Byzantine churches and towers compensate the eye a treat. The people are very warm and friendly, the tea (black tea here) is dirt cheap and they've even got me loving their frappe (iced frothy coffee) which originated here. Yesterday there was a colourful and vibrant Pride carnival which, in addition to the annual film festival, the diverse range of museums and the general sense of wellbeing anyone from Coventry gets when beside the sea, all adds up to a great place to live."
It's missing leg-stump by nuff and bare.
19th over: Sri Lanka 36-0 (Karunaratne 23, Silva 12)
Balls are passed through hoops or not passed through hoops, and Liam Plunkett is given a different one. And immediately, he finds some lift, sending one straight down the middle and back of a length as Silva presses forwards then hops and sways back as it morphs into a bouncer. That's beautiful. And then a full-bunger that we'll call a yorker - there's an excited appeal - not out says Billy Bowden. Prior insists on a review...
18th over: Sri Lanka 36-0 (Karunaratne 23, Silva 12)
Not entirely sure I grasp Alastair Cook's tardiness in introducing Plunkett, because there's not a whole lot coming to pass here. And on schedule, England complain about the ball, which isn't taking wickets in the way that they've commanded it. Naughty ball!
17th over: Sri Lanka 35-0 (Karunaratne 23, Silva 12)
Sun's out now, which won't especially please the bowlers - though it might help Stuart Broad's highlights and lowlights. At what age does caring about your appearance cease to be even marginally acceptable?
16th over: Sri Lanka 34-0 (Karunaratne 22, Silva 12)
Jordan, now bowling to three slips and a gully, cedes two from his first delivery, but finds a better line and length thereafter, forcing Silva to play. It's a funny Test/track/ground this - lots of sedate stuff punctuated by intense buzz, for which we must be close to due. And then Jordan tempts Silva into a drive outside off, avoiding the outside-edge by very little, and then from the last ball, a swish that becomes a leave - sensible. That's Jordan's best over so far this innings.
15th over: Sri Lanka 32-0 (Karunaratne 22, Silva 10)
Anderson slants one across Karunaratne from around the wicket, and it brushes his thighpad on its way down leg-side. There's an appeal. There's a maiden.
14th over: Sri Lanka 32-0 (Karunaratne 22, Silva 10)
Jordan from the other end, to four slips and no gully. Cook and Anderson are still chuntering, about what who knows, but demonstrative gesticulation and body movement is involved. Silva turns four away to fine leg when Jordan's last ball strays.
13th over: Sri Lanka 27-0 (Karunaratne 21, Silva 6)
Anderson begins, and shapes one away from Karunaratne, who ignores it, but with some trepidation. He then goes at the next, carving four well away from his body, but doesn't pick the inswinger, staying leg-side and just about bunting it into the ground. Next, an outswinger, deceives him - he plays - and sneaks a single from the final ball.
Out come your batsmen.
"It may indeed be 4.30am here on the 'edge'," says Ian Copestake. "But some things are worth lingering for. Especially if it is all to be over by the time the sun rises."
Fair while til it's settled in a final location, but. It's a great video, that - here's another, an older favourite.
Alan Mullaly's Twitter avatar is exceptional.
Lunchtime correspondence:
"Why are the Sky commentators the only people with access to what the stump microphones pick up on the field? Why is Joe Public excluded from this little club? It's irritating to hear the Sky team allude to what fielders are saying. 'I can tell you they are all having a real go out there,' was one such comment this morning. Wouldn't public access to the stump mike do away with the worst of the sledging (at least until it was a long way from the microphone)?
Lunchtime correspondence:
"London might be the most under-rated city. 33 years after I first lived here, I can't quite believe how fantastic it is", enthuses Gary Naylor, in clear breach of OBO etiquette.
Well, that's a handy morning for Sri Lanka. They harried England out for as few as possible, and have knocked 22 off the lead, as well as some shine off the new ball, with only one alarm. England will need to address their lengths this afternoon, and I'll be back shortly (spicy beef stew, with plantain).
12th over: Sri Lanka 22-0 (Karunaratne 16, Silva 6)
On comes Jordan, for what England will hope is the penultimate over before lunch. He asks for five men behind the wicket and gets them - four slips and a gully. "Alright there, CJ", inspires Bell, invoking memories of Baywatch. But he can't induce shots with his first four ball, before going wider of the crease and finding a better line, into the bat - Silva handles it without demure, but it's better - and he's beaten next up, past his outside edge. Lunch.
11th over: Sri Lanka 22-0 (Karunaratne 16, Silva 6)
Anderson drops short and wide, Silva getting through the shot too quickly - so can only force three through midwicket. But Anderson's fifth ball is delicious, bouncing and seaming away as Karunaratne pretends he knows where it's going.
10th over: Sri Lanka 19-0 (Karunaratne 16, Silva 3)
England are banging them in, so Nasser points out that Broad's only bowled two full deliveries so far - "and look what happened with one of them. Forward, drive, nick gap". It does seem that most wickets are coming with fuller balls, caught behind the stumps, and as such, this mini-session has been mainly wasted. Maiden.
9th over: Sri Lanka 19-0 (Karunaratne 16, Silva 3)
Headingley is pretty empty today - you can follow the conversations of the players. Ballance has just asked Bell what he thinks of the policy process in the modern capitalist state, to which Bell responded "come on boys!"
8th over: Sri Lanka 18-0 (Karunaratne 15, Silva 3)
This is now a good start for Sri Lanka, and Ian Terence is not happy, leading to the following exchange with Michael-Mikey.
7th over: Sri Lanka 14-0 (Karunaratne 12, Silva 2)
Couple moving away from Anderson, and then an in-ducker, which Silva plays well, defending on the back foot with a dead bat. Otherwise, another quiet over.
6th over: Sri Lanka 13-0 (Karunaratne 12, Silva 1)
A fuller one from Broad induces Karunaratne to drive, and he edges - but between third slip and gully, just wide of Ballance. Still, that's much better bowling; England might be thinking about an over or two from Plunkett before lunch.
5th over: Sri Lanka 7-0 (Karunaratne 6, Silva 1)
Commentary box discussion about short-leg - Anderson doesn't want when coming around to the left-handed Karunaratne, but Cook's overruled him. He's been out there in this series, but Anderson's bowling for drives and edges. Maiden.
4th over: Sri Lanka 7-0 (Karunaratne 6, Silva 1)
Broad hasn't quite got his range yet, though circumstances are set for one of his bousts. In the meantime, he gifts Karunaratne runs with a short, wide one - but he shows his state of mind by reaching and lifting it gingerly over cover.
3rd over: Sri Lanka 4-0 (Karunaratne 4, Silva 0)
Anderson gives Karunaratne some width, and he slashes, getting four behind point without ever being in control. Ian Bell is prattling away in the gully, meanwhile, and Anderson whips in to confuse his man, slanting the ball across him and his edge. It flies down the hill to Chris Jordan, crouched at second slip, and chest high, he spills it! He's fallible!
2nd over: Sri Lanka 0-0 (Karunaratne 0, Silva 0)
Broad's finding some pace and bounce here, but unfortunately Mikey-Michael isn't in commentary. Anyway, another relatively easy maiden - but with the sky cloudier than before, things might soon intensify.
1st over: Sri Lanka 0-0 (Karunaratne 0, Silva 0)
Anderson in, and you can see England are excited by the conditions, lots of chatter and patter. It's swinging for him, though Anderson isn't quite grooved yet - a maiden, though one that's menacing more than its dangerous.
Talking of autographs, a mate had a bat upon which his elder brother had signed "Ian Botham". This was a sobering moment; you want the name of a famous person on something, you can indeed write it yourself.
Out come the batsmen. When I were a lad, I'd windmill my bat like Botham (even though he once offered to trample my head into the floor when I was part of a gaggle of kids seeking his autograph). Now, I think I'd do that walk-trot-run into a forward-defensive.
"If a spinner isn't among the best 5 bowlers available, don't pick one", tweets Gary Naylor. "A spinner isn't among the best 10 bowlers available now".
I'm not sure about this - the best sides, in any sport, tend to be balanced. And if we have a dry summer, not sure Monty wouldn't be one of the most useful.
The heavy roller is on.
So, good and bad for both sides. An excellent morning for Sri Lanka - the lead isn't unmanageable, and there was plenty in the pitch. On the other hand, they have to bat on the thing now, against an attack superior to their own - a couple early, and this game could be over today. Other hand, Kumar and Mahela - any reading screenwriters, there's your next buddy movie right there, you're welcome - are good enough to make runs in any conditions. If they, or their pals, can get a lead of anything beyond two hundred, the Lankans are in the game. Meantime, they're 108 runs behind.
Perfect ball to tailender, a straight bouncer that's aimed at getting bat, not head. Anderson has no idea how to cope, so deflects it into the air, and Eranga collects from under the nostrils.
116th over: England 365-9 (Prior 27, Anderson 0)
What a strike from Prior, twinkling down the track towards leg, and then when the ball follows him, punishing it for six over midwicket. "Great hands, lovely hands," rhapsodises David Ivon. Then, he tries hooking a bouncer which is bigger and quicker than he thought, miscue dropping just short of the scurrying Karunaratne at square leg, while the batsmen scurry two runs.
115th over: England 356-9 (Prior 18, Anderson 0)
Prior's had enough, and steps down the track to a back-of-a-length delivery from Mathews, zetzing one high past the bowler down to long-on for four. Then, a single off ball four, leaving Anderson two to defend, so he plays an extravagant swish - which misses, obviously - and then shoulders arms.
114th over: England 351-9 (Prior 13, Anderson 0)
Prior can't find the four-balls he's seeking, so takes a single from the fourth. Anderson plays and misses, then gets everything behind a forward-defensive.
113th over: England 350- (Prior 12, Anderson 0)
Russell Arnold in with a "last evening" - imagine the wonder of a world in which it was contagious.
Who doesn't love lower-order runs? This is great ball from Mathews, illustrating exactly why he invited himself into the attack. The ball starts well outside off and nips back a mile, Plunkett nowhere near the shot by the time his middle stump is rapped to the horizontal. Batting on this will be fun over the next couple of days.
112th over: England 349-8 (Prior11, Plunkett 2)
Prior, who's faced hardly at all this morning, slices a pair through the covers, then ads a single and another two through midwicket.
111th over: England 344-8 (Prior 8, Plunkett 0)
Here's Harry Tuttle on England's spin options:
What an important wicket this is. Mathews offers Broad the chance to drive, but he's uncharacteristically tentative and pushes, guiding the ball directly to a cleverly stationed wide gully.
110th over: England 343-7 (Prior 7, Broad 4)
Who can't love watching Stuart Broad bat? Eranga serves him a wide one, so he leathers it to the fence behind square on the off-side, and presumably he'll continue hustling things along. This is could be a deeply enjoyable period of the game, because Matt Prior isn't the sort to let someone else get on with it. Ah! The second "last evening" of the day - things are looking up already.
Good ball this, tempting Jordan forward, but by the time it arrives he's not sure what to do, edging a tentative drive. And this time, both men proximate move, Jayawardene at two diving in front of Sangakkara at one, to claim a handy snaffle.
109th over: England 337-6 (Prior 6, Jordan 17)
Another quiet one - this can't be the start Mathews envisaged, but he doesn't seem minded to improve matters.
108th over: England 334-6 (Prior 4, Jordan 16)
Prior gets his first run of the day when Eranga strays down leg - he doesn't clobber it as anticipated, though, hoiking round to long leg. And then, just as Michael Holding is talking about a gripping seam, Eranga persuades the seam to grip - this is an excellent delivery - and the delivery moves across Jordan, who edges. But Sri Lanka have only two slips, neither of whom dive, the ball passes between keeper and first, for four.
107th over: England 327-6 (Prior 3, Jordan 11)
Prior faces his first balls of the morning - and, indeed, they're from Mathews. He trundles through a maiden as unthreatening as the term suggests, while his pals Prasad and Pradeep chill in the field.
106th over: England 327-6 (Prior 3, Jordan 11)
Apparently, Martyn Moxon made it clear to England that the heavy roller should not be used, as it'll take all the pace out of the wicket. But it turns out that they know better, and stuck it on this morning - and the pitch will get another going-over before Sri Lanka bat. Eranga is on from the Kirkstall Lane End, and snakes one past the bat first up - it's almost a leg-break. Then one the other way that brushes Jordan's pad - there's a muted appeal -and another in that direction, turned away for two.
105th over: England 325-6 (Prior 3, Jordan 9)
Mathews invites himself to open - perhaps he's just allowing the bowlers to swap ends - and presents Jordan with a full Lankan equivalent, slow and wide. So Jordan reclines and tucks in, cutting it away for four through bac
on kward point. The remainder of the over is better, just a quick single from the final ball and four dots.
Point to ponder: with Stokes likely to be available for India, and a spinner, if not essential, certainly idea, who, if anyone, drops out?
Jerusalem, players, huddle. Here comes the batsmen.
It's sunny at Headingley. So, the outfield should be even quicker, but it's unclear how England will approaching things. The general Headingley method is to go easy in the morning, but with Jordan and Prior in, then Broad and Plunkett to come, it's hard to see that, especially as even another hundred, and Sri Lanka are in serious trouble.
Uvver fings vat are magnificent every time: and followed it up with that swallowed giggle, suggesting to Mahela that this might be his last Test in England. He says "I need to keep doing the right things and get those big runs you're used to."
Wonderful.
Uvver fings vat are magnificent every time: Athers has already given it a "last evening".
Uvver fings vat are magnificent every time:
Uvver fings vat are magnificent every time:
Preamble At the height of any pleasure begs a question: why don't I feel, think, and do this all the time? Why isn't life like this all the time?
There are practical reasons - expense, arsèdness, not wanting to injure yourself, or die. But elementally, when wonderful things become routine, the wonder departs and only the full remains.
India's 111-run 10th-wicket partnership between Mohammed Shami and Bhuvneshwar Kumar frustrated England, before Alastair Cook got out cheaply again
That's the end of the day's play, and an intriguing if not especially action-packed day it's been. England are 9.4% of the way to equalling India's first-innings total join Daniel and me again tomorrow for the quest for the other 90.6%. Bye!
17th over: England 43-1 (Robson 20, Ballance 15)
Sharma bowls the day's final over, and Robson brings up his 20 (we might as well celebrate these things) with a single. Later in the over Ballance brings up his 15, so it's a good over for England. That leaves one final delivery, for which Ballance strolls towards the on side and the ball clips the very edge of his pad on its way through, which is probably all that stops it hitting off stump. Dhoni collects it and claims a catch, just end-of-day exuberance, but it's not shared by the umpire.
16th over: England 40-1 (Robson 19, Ballance 13)
Stuart Binny comes on for his first ever over in Test cricket, and it is marked by one Robson run and also by a very lengthy delay at the behest of Ballance, which turns out to be about a pair of curtains which had been left distractingly open somewhere in Nottingham.
15th over: England 39-1 (Robson 18, Ballance 13)
Ballance pushes the ball square off his pads and runs a couple. Then another edge! This time Sharma angles the ball across Ballance, gets the edge and this time the ball lands a yard short of second slip, just for variety.
14th over: England 37-1 (Robson 18, Ballance 11)
That's a maiden from Jadeja, England intent on ensuring the end of the day has as little drama as most of the rest of it (even if the absence of drama did for a while itself become dramatic).
13th over: England 37-1 (Robson 18, Ballance 11)
Sharma bowls, and there's an edge! The ball flies off the corner of Ballance's bat, but bounces a yard and a half in front of first slip and the batsman promptly sends the very next ball through the covers for four.
12th over: England 31-1 (Robson 18, Ballance 5)
Ravindra Jadeja slows things down a bit, but can't worry the batsmen, who continue their gentle run accumulation. The over ends with the groundsman running out to give one of crease a very energetic rub-down.
11th over: England 28-1 (Robson 16, Ballance 4)
Ishant Sharma bowls a maiden to Robson. It's 6pm but we are, by my calculations, eight short of our over allocation for the day so we'll push on through.
10th over: England 28-1 (Robson 16, Ballance 4)
Robson goes to midwicket again, this time with just a single resulting. Ballance gets a bit excited and leans back, giving himself plenty of room to swish his bat inexplicably and thankfully imprecisely, getting no contact.
9th over: England 25-1 (Robson 15, Ballance 2)
Ishant Sharma bowls for the first time, with three slips and a gully awaiting an edge. There is no edge. There is a no ball.
8th over: England 24-1 (Robson 15, Ballance 2)
Finally Robson gets his boundary, though only after a hopeless misfield. He leaves the next, which passes a whisker away from his off stump. That was an, erm, brave decision there can't have been as much as a centimetre in it.
7th over: England 20-1 (Robson 11, Ballance 2)
Kumar bowls this time, and Robson lets a few deliveries go before he snaffles three, pushing through midwicket, the ball running out of steam before it could reach the boundary. Uncanny, really.
6th over: England 17-1 (Robson 8, Ballance 2)
Hello again, folks. Shadows are lengthening now, as indeed are the odds against an England victory. Shami continues, and Robson snaffles three, off a no ball, pushing through midwicket, the ball running out of steam before it could reach the boundary.
5th over: England 13-1 (Robson 4, Ballance 0)
It's remarkable how Cook was able to mosey far enough his stumps to be bowled like that, give how far outside leg he was when Shami was in his delivery stride. Poor blighter. Robson nicks a single, and then Ballance adds two, turned down to fine leg - both ought to do well on this pitch, Root and Moeen too, being relatively unlikely to get themselves out.
4th over: England 9-1 (Robson 4, Ballance 0)
Garrance Ballance comes in at three and successfully negotiates his throuser. Played, that man.
Oh oh oh oh. This is simply excellent everything'sgoingwrongness. Cook wanders across his stumps, and Shami's delivery becomes tucked up in his throuser, then drops onto the stumps. It's a demon, this pitch.
3rd over: England 9-0 (Cook 5, Robson 4)
Not so sure about opening the batting for England, but I'd pay cashmoney to watch Sam Robson play Alastair Cook at Patience. Robson watches this over very carefully indeed, then cuts the last, wide ball to the point boundary.
2nd over: England 5-0 (Cook 5, Robson 0)
Shami's second ball is perfect - for Cook. On his pads, swinging in and standing up, he waits and sends it spinning to the square-leg fence with a slurp. He then misses out when a fuller one arrives similarly, picking out the fielder at midwicket,
1. David Gower just said "diss".
2. A man is on pounding the pitch. What do they say about bad workmen?
1st over: England 1-0 (Cook 1, Robson 0)
So, whaddaya know, the ball swings for Kumar, and Cook only just brings his bat down on the first ball, inside edging a single down to square-leg. There're three slips, they're standing pretty close, and a lovely outswinger beats Robson, before the final delivery ducks in, Anderson-style; he musters a lateral edge. Excellent start.
And here comes Alastair Cook and England's other opener.
India huddle. Come on MS, you're better than that, lad.
"WWSWD"* emails Robert Sadleir. *What would Shane Warne do now? And Josh Nall is annoyed by "er, Cook inevitably getting out for 17 nibbling at a ball outside off stump? Cook relentlessly setting fields to stop runs rather than take wickets? Cook repeatedly failing to declare with enough time to take 10 wickets, despite having more than enough runs to secure a draw? Cook standing in the slips staring into the middle distance whilst his bowlers chuck down junk? Er, just Cook?"
He needs the runs more than the ten constipated men in the bible put together.
So, Alastair. Can you manage outside off-stump as remorselessly as you manage deer?
Well, yesterday morning, this looked like being a lot worse. Today afternoon, it looked like being a lot better. Broadly speaking, England bowled well and Cook captained well, so we can gripe only at life, which is an improvement.
Kumar goes again, but this time skies to mid on, where Root grabs it. Poor Alastair Cook.