- England lead series 2-0 with two ODIs to play
- Pakistan v Australia: Abbas takes five to leave hosts lagging
Related: England beat Sri Lanka by seven wickets in third ODI and take 2-0 series lead
Here’s some reaction:
The man of the match was England’s Adil Rashid, with figures of 5-0-36-4:“The ball was a bit wet but I thought we bowled well as a team. It came out nicely. You have to practise with a wet ball at the nets and I had to find a way to be successful and I did. [The England captain] Morgan, one of his strengths is that he backs each bowler. My aim is to get wickets and create chances. He saved me for a couple of overs and today I was needed. The gameplan came out well today.”
Sri Lanka will be pretty irked that they didn’t build on that great start, but in fairness there was some pretty special bowling, from Rashid, Stokes and Curran in particular. England lead 2-0 in the series with two games to play, the next of which will be at the same venue on Saturday. That will start at 5.15am BST. See you then.
Morgan finishes on 58, Stokes 35. Broadly frill-free, ruthlessly efficient batting from England, and the result wasn’t really in any doubt from the very early stages of Jason Roy’s fine innings. In the end, we got a pretty good game, considering it looked at one stage like we’d get no cricket at all.
Last throw of the dice: Aponso comes on, and gives Morgan a meatball full-toss to slash to the cover ropes, which he duly does. Then Stokes closes the game in style, taking a step down the pitch and battering a six over the bowler’s head.
18th over (of 21): England 142-3 (Morgan 53, Stokes 29) - target 151 Perera gets a bowl for the first time. Morgan, with a quick two then a slashed boundary over gully, goes to 50, his second in the series. He’s in terrific form. Nine from the over, could be all done in the next one.
17th over (of 21): England 133-3 (Morgan 46, Stokes 28) - target 151 Here’s Malinga again, and the round the wicket angle is working quite nicely for him. Apart from an extremely ropey wide to Stokes. And a very wide half-volley that he’s lucky Morgan only got two for. Still, after the first half of his spell went 2-0-29-0, the 2-0-10-0 for the second represents...an improvement, I guess.
16th over (of 21): England 127-3 (Morgan 43, Stokes 27) - target 151 Four singles then a nicely-run two from the over. England should have this wrapped up shortly.
15th over (of 21): England 121-3 (Morgan 41 Stokes 23) - target 151 Pradeep replaces Malinga, and starts by nailing Stokes in the elbow with a short ball. That’ll sting. He gets the credit for the run though, oddly. Another single, then Stokes plays an extraordinary ramp shot, skipping around the crease before flicking the ball high over his head, high over the keeper and high over the boundary for six. What a shot!
14th over (of 21): England 111-3 (Morgan 39 Stokes 15) - target 151 Stokes absolutely nails one straight back at De Silva, he gets his hands up to just deflect it onto his shoulder. That looked like it bloody hurt, and the bowler needs some treatment. He gets that, and is good to carry on. Stokes flicks a couple to mid-wicket then hammers one to the fielder on the boundary. Quieter over but England still need less than a run a ball.
13th over (of 21): England 107-3 (Morgan 38 Stokes 12) - target 151 In a move of hope over evidence, Malinga is back on. Morgan flashes him just over point, flying to the boundary before most people could react. But the rest of the over is actually pretty solid from Malinga, now coming around the wicket, keeping Morgan in reasonable check.
12th over (of 21): England 102-3 (Morgan 34 Stokes 11) - target 151 More of the same: a couple harder hit, saved from boundaries on the fence, but it’s low-risk cricket from England, which will do nicely for them.
11th over (of 21): England 96-3 (Morgan 31 Stokes 8) - target 151 No risks required for England at this stage. Safe shots and good running get them five from the over, which is fine from here: they know they can give a few some hammer if they need, but for the moment they’re cruising.
10th over (of 21): England 91-3 (Morgan 29 Stokes 5) - target 151 More pace, as Nuwan Pradeep gets a bowl. Morgan grits his teeth as he plays a lovely cut shot, zipping past a couple of fielders for four. A well-called quick single, then Stokes gets off the mark with a perfect on-drive, barely any follow-through, the sort of shot that a man on 85 in a Test match would play. They’ll have to watch the wickets, but England are scooting along nicely.
9th over (of 21): England 80-3 (Morgan 23 Stokes 0) - target 151 That wicket was from the last ball of the over, but before that it was a cracker for England. Roy entirely murdered a tossed up effort from Dananjaya, sending it some way over long-off. He didn’t even watch it all the way: he knew that was long gone right off the bat. Morgan got himself a boundary with a beautiful wristy, inside-out shot in the air, but perfectly-placed between the fielders on the cover boundary. And then the wicket. The score from that over: 14-1.
...but it isn’t! Brilliant review, the ball just flicking the front pad before going down leg. Roy was looking in top touch, but he’s gone.
DRS gets an outing, Sri Lanka asking about lbw that looked quite leg-sidey on Roy...
8th over (of 21): England 66-2 (Roy 34, Morgan 17) - target 151 Malinga is back, and Roy licks his lips. He perfectly slaps one off his thigh for a one-bounce four just wide of fine-leg, but is then nearly run-out taking a risky single to mid-wicket. Morgan dabs a couple then a single, before Roy flays one over the covers and to the boundary. 12 runs from that over which...I guess is an improvement from Malinga’s first. His figures currently read 2-0-29-0. Rough.
7th over (of 21): England 54-2 (Roy 25, Morgan 14) - target 151 Morgan goes for one of his best reverses, and in the end is quite lucky not to edge it. After a single, Roy tries a couple of his own, and misses both of those too, reverting to a simple dabbed single. Morgan closes out the over with an exceptional shot, no real hammer behind it but perfectly timed to the mid-off boundary.
6th over (of 21): England 48-2 (Roy 24, Morgan 9) - target 151 De Silva now has a bowl, and Morgan uses those ham forearms to muscle a brilliant drive just past mid-off and to the boundary. Singles from the rest of the over, three of them to be precise, and England are ticking along nicely.
5th over (of 21): England 41-2 (Roy 23, Morgan 3) - target 151 Smart running from England picks up a few runs, but they struggle to do much of any real substance with Dananjaya’s slightly curious mix of finger and wrist spin. A wide helps them get six runs from the over.
4th over (of 21): England 35-2 (Roy 20, Morgan 1) - target 151 Morgan the new man, and he takes a single with a push down the ground. Meanwhile, I credited Chandimal with the smart captaining, but he’s off the field, possibly with that foot injury at the end of his innings. Not sure who’s captaining. Maybe nobody. Maybe they’re leading themselves with some sort of hivemind. It’s the future.
Brilliant fielding by Shanaka robs Roy of two runs, diving down at long-on to prevent a boundary. But nothing any of the fielders could do about the next shot, a lovely controlled off drive just wide of mid-off. But then Root misjudges the line, playing for Aponso spin that doesn’t appear, and the ball flicks off his pad then onto the stumps.
3rd over (of 21): England 27-1 (Roy 13, Root 8) - target 151 Malinga gets the hook, Dananjaya doubling the spin attack. Root uses his feet nicely and flicks a couple just past mid-wicket, then spoons a similar shot just in front of mid-on. Then Dananjaya tries a sort of top-spinner thing that he drags down too short and wide, which Root plays a great back-foot drive to, collecting another four runs.
2nd over (of 21): England 19-1 (Roy 12, Root 1) - target 151 Joe Root is the new man in. As bad as the first over was for Sri Lanka, the second is good: just two singles from it, and that wicket. Smart skippering from Chandimal.
Left-arm spinner Aponso starts from the other end, which seems like a smart move against these two. And works straightaway: Bairstow tries to take him over mid-off, but gets nothing like enough of it and just lobs it to Perera.
1st over (of 21): England 17-0 (Roy 11, Bairstow 4) - target 151 Ooof, rough start from Malinga: two of his first three balls are wides, the first very, very wide which also has the added ‘bonus’ of whacking Dickwella on the end of his finger, then the second legitimate ball is casually flicked over mid-wicket for six by Roy. Better luck next up though: he gives Roy a slower ball that gets a leading edge, and drops down between two fielders. Two from that, then two from a nice tuck off the hips, a single and Bairstow completes a cracking first over for England with a beautifully timed flick just behind mid-wicket for a boundary.
A quick turnaround, and the players are back out on the field. As predicted, it’s the predicted pair of Roy and Bairstow opening the batting for England, and the now reassuringly paunchy Lasith Malinga with the ball.
And for a bit of back story on what else Geoff and Adam Collins have been up to out in Abu Dhabi, here’s this week’s Spin, written by the latter.
Related: From living-room commentary to buying radio rights for Australian Tests | Adam Collins
A quick note from elsewhere: here’s Geoff Lemon’s report from day two of the second Test in Abu Dhabi: Pakistan have Australia reeling.
Related: Pakistan’s Mohammad Abbas takes five to leave Australia lagging in second Test
Sri Lanka scored nearly a third of their runs in the first four overs, and the rest of the innings collapsed slowly. Chandimal basically wasted an end, his 34 runs scored far too slowly, and Shanaka was the only batsman to provide any sort of threat, after the openers. England will fancy they can knock these off, and it’ll be interesting to see if Jos Buttler is shoved up the order. I suspect not: Bairstow and Roy can both obviously give it some welly.
Two more balls for Sri Lanka to extract some runs from: Aponso misses the first, then misses the second. They try for a run, Buttler’s first throw misses but Curran mops up and throws down the stumps at the bowler’s end.
Curran the man entrusted with the final over. A single for Malinga, then Curran sends down a full toss which is lucky not to be called too high, and Chandimal is lucky that his spliced effort lands safely. Not so lucky next though: he tries a scoop/lap sweep thing, doesn’t get hold of it, falls over and looks up just in time to see Rashid take a simple catch at short fine-leg. Pretty wretched knock all-round.
20th over (of 21): Sri Lanka 147-7 (Chandimal 32, Malinga 1) It’s Lasith Malinga to the crease, and he jabs the last ball of the over for a single. You’d think they would want Chandimal on strike for the final over, but he’s on 32 from a glacial 39 balls: he really hasn’t been hitting the ball well, so maybe Malinga is the man to give it some tap...
Woakes is on for the penultimate over, and knocks Chandimal to the ground with a superb toe-crushing yorker. The skipper limps around the crease, but should be fine. Probably. Then a brilliant shot by Dananjaya, basically just putting his bat in the way of a shortish one from Woakes, angling it just so, the ball flicking off the face, over the keeper and to the boundary. Then a wide full toss is slapped out to deep point, Bairstow runs in and bullets the throw to Buttler, running Dananjaya out as he tried to dive back in for a second run.
19th over (of 21): Sri Lanka 138-6 (Chandimal 32, Dananjaya 0) Despite the wicket a good over for Sri Lanka and a good over for the game: if they get beyond 150 then we’ll have a good contest. Rashid finishes with figures of 5-0-36-4. Terrific stuff, slightly smudged by that last over.
It’s Rashid again, who will be the man to bowl five. But the fifth doesn’t start well for him, as Shanaka gets down and plays a perfect slog-sweep that goes flat, over the fine leg boundary for six. They’re connecting with a few now: the next two balls are nailed, but straight to fielders in the deep, the second of which (Curran) makes a brilliant stop to keep them to two. Another slips out of Rashid’s hand, this time very short and wide: Shanaka waits and has to reach, reach, reach but manages to muscle it to the straight boundary. And then Shanaka goes for a big shot too many, misses a tossed up googly and is bowled.
18th over (of 21): Sri Lanka 124-5 (Chandimal 29, Shanaka 10) Stokes starts his fourth over, initially sticking to short stuff which the batsmen can only flap away for singles. Then out of basically nowhere Shanaka finally gets hold of one and mullers a slower short one over mid-wicket for SIX! The first of the Sri Lankan innings.
17th over (of 21): Sri Lanka 114-5 (Chandimal 27, Shanaka 2) Curran has a face like a bulldog licking a nettle, but it’s not because of his bowling, which is terrific: he’s not happy with his foothole, which skipper Morgan helps out with by serving up some sawdust. Four runs from that over, all of ‘em singles.
Simple one: Curran bowls a slower one to De Silva, who waits for it but cuffs an attempted swat straight to Roy at mid-on. After their flying start, Sri Lanka will be lucky to make 140 from here.
16th over (of 21): Sri Lanka 110-4 (Chandimal 25, De Silva 3) Stokes bowling now, and he very nearly runs De Silva out: after a jab down the pitch the batsman set off for a suicidal single, De Silva hammers on the breaks and tries to run back but Stokes aims, throws...and just misses. He probably had a bit more time than he thought there: De Silva would’ve been out by a street. Stokes tries slower balls, bouncers, slower bouncers, and gets most of them right: cracking bowling. Three runs from the over, and one was a buzzer.
15th over (of 21): Sri Lanka 107-4 (Chandimal 24, De Silva 1) Woakes replaces Rashid, which is slightly odd. Maybe Morgan is saving the remaining over the leggie is allowed for the very end. Brilliant piece of fielding by Stokes in the deep, Chandimal robbed of two runs from a decent pull that the all-rounder chases down and then has the presence of mind to get rid of as he slid towards the boundary. Then a few balls later he tries the same but doesn’t quiet succeed, this one slipping through his fingers, bouncing off his body and into the ropes. That’s Sri Lanka’s first four in 27 balls: basically an eon in T20 (which this basically is) terms.
14th over (of 21): Sri Lanka 99-4 (Chandimal 17, De Silva 0) Stone gets another over, and keeps it pretty tight, save for a wide bouncer first up. He clefts De Silva in twain with one that doesn’t bounce as much as anticipated, fooling Buttler in addition to the batsman and they take two byes.
13th over (of 21): Sri Lanka 95-4 (Chandimal 16, De Silva 0) Buttler defines optimism by claiming lbw from Rashid’s hat-trick ball, aside from the trifling detail that it hit Chandimal’s bat. Rashid then rips a perfect leg-spinner past De Silva’s edge. That’s the end of Rashid’s fourth over, but remember one bowler gets five: surely it’ll be him.
Rashid on a hat-trick! He tosses one up and Perera can’t resist trying to give it everything, but hammers it high, high, high in the air. A few years ago that would have been a 50:50 catch for the man running around from long-on, but Roy takes it diving, and you never really thought he’d drop it. Smashing take.
Oh no. Oh no no no. Rashid bowls one that flamboyantly slips out of his hand, so full a full toss that it took a late flight dip not to be a no ball. Samarawickrama’s eyes light up and he tries to batter a sweep, but top-edges it and floats a delicate catch to Woakes at short fine-leg. Mercy.
12th over (of 21): Sri Lanka 92-2 (Samarawickrama 33, Chandimal 15) Stokes using the slower ball liberally (aside from the wild bouncer that is called a wide) to keep these two relatively quiet. Chandimal cuffs a pull from a short one and is then nearly run out from mid-wicket by Rashid, but Stokes frustrates them from the rest of the over.
11th over (of 21): Sri Lanka 87-2 (Samarawickrama 31, Chandimal 13) The sage old advice says you should hit yourself back into form when you’re out of it: Chandimal, who’s looked increasingly irked at his struggles to get any sort of clean hit, decides to mishit-a-reverse-sweep-for-four-off-Rashid back into form. Then a rather more convincing shot from Samarawickrama, stepping down the track and launching one over wide mid-on that Stokes makes a noble effort to stop, but can’t quite. Good over for Sri Lanka though: 11 runs from it.
10th over (of 21): Sri Lanka 76-2 (Samarawickrama 26, Chandimal 7) Look who it is: Ben Stokes! He starts his spell with the loosener’s loosener, short and so wide it’s a wide. Next two balls are much tighter, bang on Samarawickrama’s off stump, then a slower ball baffles the batsmen and they collect two leg-byes, a flick off his thigh not collected by Buttler. Samarawickrama does well to dodge a cracking bumper, then there are two singles and that’s a very decent first over from Stokes.
9th over (of 21): Sri Lanka 71-2 (Samarawickrama 25, Chandimal 6) Rashid continues, and is greeted with a glorious shot by Samarawickrama, opening out his body and lofting a drive almost lazily over the covers, and to the boundary. Chandimal still struggling to get any purchase on any of his shots, and even looks a bit frustrated when he gets the strike. Six runs from the over.
8th over (of 21): Sri Lanka 65-2 (Samarawickrama 20, Chandimal 5) Full T20 captaincy from Morgan. After two overs from Curran, Olly Stone gets the ball back, and his second over goes much better than his first: there were 17 runs from that one, but this time just five, all from drives out to fielders in the deep.
“Seen some strange things at cricket over the years,” writes Austin Baird, “but nothing to match Adil Rashid towelling off his arms whilst wearing full-length sleeves.”
A reminder, for anyone just tuning in, that this is a 21 over per side match after rain wiped out the meat of the day.
7th over: Sri Lanka 60-2 (Samarawickrama 19, Chandimal 1) Smashing bowling from Rashid, mixing up his pace but not allowing new bat Chandimal to get anything away. One wicket, two runs from the over.
Mo goes, and Dilly Rashid gets a bowl. And straight away he gets success, the ol’ googly finding a gap between Mendis’s bat and pad that you could drive a heavy roller through. It flicks off stump, and slightly weirdly the umpires check upstairs to see if it had actually bowled him. It had. A primary for Mendis.
6th over: Sri Lanka 58-1 (Samarawickrama 18, Mendis 0) Kusal Mendis is your new man. Curran keeps Samarawickrama quiet with a series of variations and slower balls and one that he was fortunate not to be called wide for. Just the three runs from the over.
Fun fact from Ali Martin: “They filmed Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom not far from here ... cover your heart territory.”
CurranT continues, and gets the breakthrough. Dickwella goes walkabout again, backing away and trying to launch one over mid-off, but gets nowhere near all of it and only manages to spoon it up in the air. Woakes, running backwards, just about pouches it.
5th over: Sri Lanka 55-0 (Dickwella 35, Samarawickrama 16) Here’s Mo, to bring some sanity to the game, to the sport, to life. He stems the bleeding in that he prevents any boundaries off the bat, but these two batsmen are extremely...busy, nurdling and hustling themselves to six runs from five balls, and then from the last another boundary, off Samarwickrama’s thigh pad and down to a very fine leg.
4th over: Sri Lanka 45-0 (Dickwella 33, Samarawickrama 12) Stone is hooked after just one over, replaced by Tom Curran. He gives Dickwella a slower ball, which the batsman waits for and goes for a lap sweep: he doesn’t get all of it, looping towards Rashid at short fine-leg but he drops a trickyish chance, diving forwards. CurranT looks unimpressed as the ball skips through Rashid’s grasp and to the boundary. Still, seven runs from the over is a good result for England, considering the alternatives. That’s the first powerplay done, anyway.
3rd over: Sri Lanka 38-0 (Dickwella 28, Samarawickrama 10) Despite the gallons of water that must have fallen on the ground, the outfield doesn’t seem particularly slow. As you will have worked out from six boundaries in the first two overs, obviously. Dickwella has ants in his pants: he’s fidgeting all over the crease, stepping away to leg twice for a couple of cuts. The first is nailed, but straight to point, but the second is more considered and is guided for four just past third man. Then another four, this time to the exact opposite point of the ground, clearing his leg and slapping one over wide mid-on. Then another, this one perhaps the best shot of the lot, through the covers. It’s been worth the wait, this.
2nd over: Sri Lanka 25-0 (Dickwella 16, Samarawickrama 9) Olly Stone gets the other new ball. Sadeera Samarawickrama gets two boundaries from the first two balls with either edge of his bat. The first extremely lucky, an inside edge attempting a cut that damn near wipes out his stumps, the second slightly less so but still not exactly where he intended, a big off drive flying high above the slips and to the third man ropes. A single, then Dickwella picks up his own pair of boundaries with a short-arm jab pull in front of mid-wicket, then a marvellously inventive flap over the keeper from a decent enough bouncer. Quite a start - 17 runs from the over.
1st over: Sri Lanka 8-0 (Dickwella 8, Samarawickrama 0) Woakes on the button straight away, cutting Dickwella in half with the first ball of the game. Impressive stuff, but the third ball is nothing of the sort: could have been an attempted slower ball, but it just turns into a floaty half-volley that Dickwella leathered to the cover fence. The opener then creates another boundary, taking a step or two to leg, opening himself up and driving through point. Brilliant shot, that.
Anyway, less importantly we now have some cricket. Lovely Woakes will open the bowling, initially to Dickwella. Patience, rewarded.
Chris Woakes was just interviewed on Sky (with Olly Stone), which leads to the inevitable question: is he the cricketer who your mum would be happiest if you brought them home for Sunday dinner? Clean cut, nice smile, polite, would almost certainly help with the dishes, would probably flirt with Ma just enough to make her laugh but not enough to create a weird vibe.
Vikram Solanki, in his thoughtful, handsome way pointed out earlier that despite this basically being a T20 game, ODI rules still apply - which means new balls from each end. Spicy.
Admin: 21 overs per side, initial powerplay is the first four overs. Four bowlers can bowl four overs, one can take five.
Mendis, Dickwella, Chandimal, Samarawickrama, De Silva, Perera, Shanaka, Dananjaya, Pradeep, Aponso, Malinga.
Tom Curran replaces Liam Dawson for England, but Alex Hales won’t come in, as speculated. Eoin Morgan suggested they could mix up the order though: surely Jos Buttler will be bumped up a few spots. Dinesh Chandimal says Sri Lanka wanted to bat anyway...
...and will bowl
It is official now. Toss very shortly, game due to start in about half an hour. Assuming it doesn’t rain again...
WELL WELL WELL. We could be on. Word from Ali Martin at the stadium, who reports that there will be a toss at 7.45pm local time, which is 3.15pm BST, with a view to a 21 over game starting at 8.15/3.45pm. This is from a local announcer, rather than anything official just yet...
Umpire Dar has just spoken to Sky. His main concern is that, while the covers are in the process of being removed, it’s still drizzling out there. “It’s not good for cricket. The rain has to completely stop before we can start playing,” he says. “We have to think about the players’ safety.”
Jason Roy is giving the groundstaff a hand removing the covers. In fact some of the England players are on the field (some scamp threw a football at the back of Joe Root’s head), at least two of whom - Ben Stokes and Jonny Bairstow - were engaged in some rather animated discussions with Aleem Dar in which they seemed to be complaining about said covers.
Andy Tyacke has been boning up: “According to Triphobo, a trip planning company, October is the second highest month for rainfall in Sri Lanka. Just saying...”
But not the highest, though. So you can see why they chanced it...
Settle in and enjoy this lament/celebration, from Abhijato Sensarma. Quite an email, this:
“Cricket continues to be the only sport which goes on for five days yet yielding no substantial result, remaining a mostly elitist-dominated sport, and providing sub-par matches. The weather is infuriating - the amount of rain allowing the ongoing match to go on is not good enough to start a match in. As it happened in South Africa this year, a team can take only five minutes to finish the match off, but a half an hour break is taken because the rules cannot allow anything else. To prove my point, get this (even though you already did, I think) - Britain’s children know John Cena more than Cook, one of the greatest sportsmen of all time!
Hello...
Covers are coming off. (Officially in farce territory)
More covers are coming on. Most of the field is tarpaulin’d. The rain has got heavier, according to Nicholas Knight. “Do we get our money back if there’s no game?” asks Bob Warren. I for one will be applying to the ECB for the cost of the flapjack I bought earlier to help me through this.
Ali Martin at the ground reports that more covers are coming on. From the point it stops they will probably need about an hour to dry everything out, and even that’s on the assumption there will be no further rain. Wouldn’t be a surprise if they pulled this soon.
Still, could be worse. At least it’s only water on the field...
The massive gator known as ‘Chubbs’, famous for shocking golfers in Tampa, Florida was just spotted again
pic.twitter.com/sTM541uNrZ
All the covers were off, they’re now being replaced. A reminder that we have to start by 3.47pm BST to get a game. Cricket fans have to be natural optimists, so don’t let that waver...
It’s raining again.
Looks like we’ll be lucky to get half a full ODI in here, so Ali has a suggestion...
No toss in Kandy yet so England not committed to a team ... scope for Alex Hales to be parachuted in for what will be closer to a T20?
Anyone fancy a game?
The Barmy Army need your help!
We are looking to play against local teams during our time in Sri Lanka
Know a club in Galle, Kandy or Colombo who would be interested in a fixture? Let us know! pic.twitter.com/BCyFZXhaT9
Mike Daniels has been on, and he’s defending the ECB. An unusual position, but probably quite correct. “I believe these games are being played in Sri Lanka, aren’t they?” writes Mike. “Therefore any issues with the scheduling is primarily down to the home Board, not the ECB.
“What next, blame the ECB for Global Warming? I heard Mahela Jayawardene in the second game state that it was unusual for rain to be about in Dambulla at that time of year. I think I’ll take his word rather than anti-ECB keyboard warriors.”
Hello all. Good laugh this, iznit? Some news though: the umpires have inspected for long enough decide that they’re going to have another inspection. That will be at 2pm BST - so in about 15 minutes. Aleem Dar has just been on the field, wiped the surface and then shook his own hand off. So the grass is either sopping wet or there was a rogue bit of chewing gum he was trying to remove. Probably the former. He also had a quick word with both captains, pointing out into the middle, and while obviously we don’t entirely know what was said, we can assume it was something close to “Field’s bloody wet lads, give us a bit.”
Direct your emails henceforth to Nick.Miller.casual@theGuardian.com or your tweets to @NickMiller79.
And while we’re on the subject of time, mine is up. In the preamble, which feels like several years ago now, I described the first game of this series as the dampest of squibs. I may have spoken too soon.
Nick Miller will be with you in a minute to cover the covers and maybe even some cricket. Thanks for your company, your views on monsoon programming, and your entertaining emails about English-literature papers. Ian Ward has no idea what he’s started.
The cut-off time to start a T20 game, according to the unbeatable Benedict Bermange of Sky, is 3.47pm. Let’s hope he means 3.47 in Britain, not Sri Lanka, where it’s just gone 5.47.
Here’s a man with a plan.“I’m actually quite partial,” says Pete Salmon, “to this new idea of the ECB’s of programming cricket games when they can’t actually be played, such as in monsoon season. Why not organise England vs Bangladesh, for instance, during a meteor shower on Mars, or during a polar night on the Arctic circle. Or if they are being really creative, some time in the distant future when we are all gaseous blobs, or back in 1923 when there were lots of gaps in the schedule? We’d still get the pleasure of speculating about teams, there’d be an OBO to entertain us, and we’d also have a chance to be outraged at the ECB for another piece of programming madness. I can’t see any losers in this situation.”
“The rain appears to have stopped,” says Nick Knight on Sky. He reckons we could just about get a T20 game in, which will please John Butler (12:40). But those covers look awfully flimsy, which may mean more water ending up on the outfield as they come off. And there’s still rain about.
In Abu Dhabi, Pakistan are 112 for 2 against Australia, which gives them a lead of 250 already. Fakhar Zaman, who added 66 to his 94 in the first innings, has outscored the whole Aussie team.
“Hello again, Tim.” Hello again, hello, Simon McMahon. “Just flicking through my recently arrived copy of ‘WHAT Did You Say Stopped Play?’, in which editor Matthew Engel name-checks your good self in his introduction.” Ah, didn’t know that. Haven’t seen the book, though I’ve been admiring the title. “Rain is annoying,” Simon adds, “but, like middle-aged couples at a Tom Jones tribute night, it’s not unusual. No sign of elephants, ringed plovers, parachutists, drunken moped riders, angry mobs or naked women?” Something tells me there’s a reference here that I’m failing to get. And it’s not It’s Not Unusual.
The ECB’s statement has got John Butler going. “The fun of rain-affected one-day matches is that they perhaps become more like a Twenty20. For all the crap spoken about Test matches, it’s the 50-over matches I find tedious. With T20 established and legitimately exciting, I think it’s the other short form that we should consider retiring if the argument ‘there’s too much cricket’ continues to gain momentum. If we’re planning cricket games in the middle of monsoons, perhaps the decision is overdue.”
More English-literature papers (9:39, 10:30, etc). “Would the current thread,” wonders David Wall, “recognise graphic novels as a legitimate literature form?” It would. “Guardian(s) of the Galaxy.” In that case, we’ll be needing a superhero. It’s a toss-up between Rob Smyth and Marina Hyde.
The ECB are feeling defensive. They’ve put out a statement about the weather. “In respect of touring Sri Lanka at this time of year,” it begins, stiffly, “the Future Tours Programme is congested involving 13 Boards whose schedules all interconnect, so there are unfortunately a number of tours that have to take place outside prime match-staging periods.” You can say that again.
“After hosting England, Sri Lanka spend the rest of the 18-19 season touring New Zealand, Australia and South Africa. They play their first match in New Zealand on Dec 8, which left very little wriggle room given our final Test in Sri Lanka finishes on Nov 29.”
Brian Withington is back on at the English-literature end. “One or two opening lines to conjure with:
‘Call me Ish-Mail.’
“What happened....” asks Amila Nuwan. “This match.” Nothing, as yet. The covers stayed on, the coin remained untossed, the teams were not announced. Then the rain stopped, and a hundred young men began to take the covers off, but the rain gods spotted them and took mighty vengeance. It’s just cricket.
“You are doing Mr and Mrs Curran a disservice,” says Simon Thomas. Didn’t mean to do that – I love those Curran boys. “Aside from the fact that Dad Kevin Curran turned out with distinction for TMN and Zimbabwe and Grandad Kevin Curran played for Rhodesia, Ben Curran, the middle one, opened this year for Northants. Am hoping we get both Overtons, both Roots and all three Currans in a team soon.” Ideally, playing against an Ireland side packed with Joyces.
There’s something odd about dynasties: we seem to like them more in sport than other fields. At the risk of being starchy, I’m not sure it’s a good thing that cricket has so many sets of siblings, and sons of famous fathers, at the moment. It looks like a sign of a sport struggling to spread out from its existing strongholds.
The good thing about this rain is that at least it hasn’t come in mid-innings, so we could yet see both teams getting the same number of overs. Something like 20 to 25 apiece. Olly Stone is not so hot at T20, averaging 34 and going for nine an over. But you’d still pick him, wouldn’t you?
We still don’t have any cricket, but we do have an email from Brian Withington. “Whilst chuckling at the Wildean sentiment you expressed earlier [10:37], I am not inclined to gloat too much at Australia’s current misfortunes, especially as I admire Adam Collins so much for both his OBO work and now the inspired live radio coverage of the Pakistan series, financed via his personal credit cards. However, there is something wonderfully appropriate about the obligatory plugging of their commercial sponsor Coles Express (a sort of Antipodean Ocado?), with the strap-line ‘Get in, get out’. As a verdict on Australia’s first-innings batting, it could hardly be bettered.”
Quite agree about Adam’s audacious move. Even if it does make the rest of us look a bit lame. “What? You’ve been writing about cricket for years and never bought the radio rights to a series and sold them onto Wisden?”
The gauntlet thrown down by Andrew Benton (10:46) is picked up by Nick Cullen. “Wikipedia tells me that in 1938, a team made up entirely of Edriches beat Norfolk in a one-day game. Surely that makes them the ultimate sporting dynasty. Not even the Nevilles could put out a full XI.” History doesn’t relate who was on the OBO that day, but I trust they described it as an embarrassment of Edriches.
Still nothing happening in Kandy. In Abu Dhabi, the Aussies are all out for 145, with Mohammad Abbas completing another five-wicket haul. On Twitter, Lawrence Booth, of Wisden and early-OBO fame, points out that Abbas now has 54 Test wickets at an average of 15.94. Andrew Miller of Cricinfo adds: “Amo, Abbas, Abat.”
“Whilst there’s no play,” says Austin Baird, “can I ask a quick question please?” Such lovely manners. “Just watching Sky Sports’ build-up and seeing a replay of the Woakes wicket by Malinga. I noted that the OBO mentioned it and Ali Martin commented on it in his match report but nobody seemed to go into meltdown. I don’t do social media and wonder if anything else has been said about the fact that, upon review, the actual ball turned right on contact with the ground but ball tracking had it going straight on?” Yes, it looked weird, but Hawk-Eye reckoned that the ball had hit Woakes on the foot before it made that right turn. So, it may well have been going on to hit leg stump. But then it might have been an off-cutter...
More Eng-lit papers. “How about The Remains of the Daily Mail?” says Iain Gray. “And who can forget Empire of the Sun?”
“Do Scottish newspapers count too?” asks Simon McMahon. Of course – fine cricket nation. “If so, how about The Scotsman of La Mancha, or The Sunday Post-man Always Rings Twice?”
The question about which Curran to pick (9:47) is answered by Andrew Benton. “I’d have both Currans and rest my all-time fave Moeen today.” Interesting. It’s rumoured to be a dry pitch, which will make England reluctant to go from three spinners to one. “Why-oh-why,” Andrew continues, “didn’t Mr and Mrs Curran have lots more cricketing Currans? Are there any triplets of siblings who’ve played international or county level?” Well, not literally triplets, but there are the three Graces, the three Chappells, and, trumping the lot, the four Mohammads – Hanif, Mushtaq, Sadiq and Wazir.
Nooooo! The covers are going back on. “It hasn’t rained that hard since we’ve been here,” says Ian Ward. “This is a little bit ridiculous.” Nasser Hussain, casting around for something to compare it to, comes up with a Scarborough mizzle.
The Aussies, meanwhile, are 141 for 9, with Starc still swinging and Labuschagne run out backing up. It would take a heart of stone not to chuckle.
Two developments. The toss will be in about a quarter of an hour, at 3.15pm local time, or 10.45am in Britain. And the bait about Sri Lanka’s English-literature papers (9.39) has been taken by Peter Gibbs in Selsey. “Perhaps they’ve been reading Murder on The Daily Express,” he says. “Or The Curious Incident of The Dog in the Isle of Wight Times.”
The covers are coming off! Which is quite an undertaking, as the whole ground is draped in a patchwork of tarpaulins, dragged into place by about 100 groundstaff. If these guys were in Abu Dhabi, they might well outnumber the crowd.
We do have some action, in Abu Dhabi. Poor old Australia collapsed again today, to 91 for 7 – four more scalps for Mohammad Abbas, the Waqar and Wasim of the 21st century. The Aussies have recovered a bit, to 126 for 7, with Mitchell Starc having a go and Marnus Labuschagne threatening to make a name for himself.
The start is delayed, which at least makes a change from the mid-afternoon downpour.We will have to wait a little longer to hear which member of the Curran family is replacing the injured Liam Dawson. Would you pick Tom, with his death-overs brio and a one-day five-for in his back pocket, or Sam, still glowing from his Test-turning feats against India? The Young Cricketer of the Year from 2015, or 2018?
Ian Ward of Sky, discussing press coverage of the Jayasuriya case, has just mentioned Sri Lanka’s “English-literature papers”. There’s a thread in that.
The telly is on. “The good news,” says Nick Knight, “is that it’s not raining particularly hard.” Cricket at its finest.
Sorry about these technical problems. The way things are going, our account of the second innings may well appear before the first.
Tim will be here shortly. In the meantime you can enjoy the latest edition of The Spin …
Related: From living-room commentary to buying radio rights for Australian Tests | Adam Collins
There’s a reason why sporting fixtures are called matches: their job is to start a fire. And we can’t expect them to do it in a monsoon. The opening game of this series was the dampest of squibs, abandoned after 15 overs. The second was five times as long but only slightly more satisfying, as England batted fitfully and Sri Lanka’s top order succumbed to Chris Woakes’s opening spell. We’ve had less than one match for the price of two. So the main hope for today’s third game, up in the hills at Kandy, is just that it goes the distance. And guess what? While play should start on time (10am in the UK), the forecast is for thunder in mid-afternoon.
The next hope is that Sri Lanka find their mojo. They’ve lost 31 of their last 41 ODIs, not counting wash-outs. That’s the stuff England used to be made of. As if to prove it, one of the Sri Lankan players has been heard saying they just need to get to 40 for none after 10 overs. I wonder what Sanath Jayasuriya is up to these days.
This is what Sanath Jayasuriya is up to, by the way.
Related: Sri Lanka ‘not distracted’ by Sanath Jayasuriya case for ODI series
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