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12th over: England 44-2 (Pope 6, Root 6) Sri Lanka have been excellent so far – disciplined with the ball and full of intensity in the field. In fact they were too good a moment ago when a throw from the outfield hit the stumps and ricocheted for an overthrow.
Root stays on strike as a result and is pretty fortunate when an edge off Kumara flies bisects gully and slip before racing to the boundary.
11th over: England 38-2 (Pope 4, Root 2) I was just about to say that Madushka had given the wicketkeeping gloves back to Chandimal, which is why he was in the gully.
That will frustrate Duckett, who has had a few nothing scores since that mighty hundred in Rajkot: 4, 11, 15, 27, 2, 3, 71, 76, 3, 25*, 18, 11, 40, 24.
WICKET! England 36-2 (Duckett c Mathews b Rathnayake 24)Gone! Duckett edges a flashing drive towards gully, where the diving Madushka fumbles a tough chance to his right. Happily for Sri Lanka the ball flies straight towards second slip, where Big Ange takes a smart reaction catch.
Milan Rathnayake celebrates after dismissing Ben Duckett. Photograph: Gareth Copley/Getty Images10th over: England 36-1 (Duckett 24, Pope 4) Duckett steals a second to fine leg, a good piece of running, and then forces Kumara square on the off side for three. Everything he does is so positive. Pope then plays his first good shot of the morning, a flashing cut for two runs. Would’ve been four but for a fine stop by Karunaratne.
“Watching Kumala trundle in from a Michael Holding length run-up,” begins Jon Salisbury, “I wonder which bowlers had the longest run up for the least return (John Price with his long curving approach?) and conversely shortest runup with lightning speed ( Bumrah, Wasim Akram etc).”
Has to be Bumrah for the latter, doesn’t it? I forget who it was but somebody said he’s the only cricketer who could bowl fast from almost a standing start. Any suggestions for bowlers who were all run-up and no trousers?
9th over: England 29-1 (Duckett 19, Pope 2) Milan Rathnayake is preferred to Avisha Fernando, a bit of a surprise given Avisha’s performance in this series to date. A wide ball is dabbed efficiently for two by Duckett, who keeps strike with a single off the last ball.
8th over: England 26-1 (Duckett 16, Pope 2) Pope survives a huge appeal for caught behind in the first over of the day. It was very similar to Dan Lawrence’s dismissal last night, with one key difference: Pope didn’t inside edge the ball onto the pad and through to the keeper.
I thought it was out in real time; so did the bowler Kumara, who celebrated first and appealed second. But Dhananjaya de Silva decided against a review and the replays showed it was a good decision.
TMS overseas link
Thanks to Wayne Trotman for doing the necessary.
Play is about to begin at Lord’s. It’s an overcast morning so this could be a decent time to bowl.
“Good morning,” writes John Starbuck. “Here’s hoping the match can be concluded by tomorrow, said he selfishly, as I have a hospital procedure on Monday afternoon. We all have different desires.”
We all wish you well John. (Well, I assume we all do.)
Simon Burnton on Gus Atkinson
It was impossible not to imagine a fretful evening, a night of interrupted, restless sleep, a tight fist of tension settling in his gut through the morning, swelling and clenching and twisting sadistically, and, after all that, it being something of a triumph simply to haul his body to the crease, prospects ruined by the moment’s ripe potential and by being forced to spend so long pondering it.
Clearly these are thought processes that are not conducive to sporting success, and evidently Atkinson did not endure them.
Read Ali Martin’s day two report
PreambleGood morning. I said good morning. Now, what comes next in this list: 1959, 1967, 1978, 2004, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2017, 2018, 2022? England will hope the answer is 2024, because those are the summers in which they have won at least five Tests.
If all goes to plan, the team nobody is calling the Class of 24 will join the list sometime tomorrow. England are in total control at Lord’s after their most dominant day of the series, the highlight of which was Gus Atkinson’s stupendous maiden Test century.
They resume on 25 for 1, a lead of 256, with an unspoken remit to blast Sri Lanka completely out of contention by tea. The greater good comes first, but a few players could do with some runs. Ben Duckett has had a relatively lean spell since his astonishing 153 at Rajkot in February, Ollie Pope has loudly had a poor series and Harry Brook has temporarily forgotten how to convert starts: five of his last seven scores have been between 32 and 56.
There are some emerging demons in the pitch so this won’t necessarily be a day at the buffet for England. But it’s hard to see how they don’t win this game and therefore the series. Sri Lanka were admirably competitive for the first five days of this series; yesterday felt like another demonstration of Mike Atherton’s favourite analogy.
A lengthy Test series can be likened to an arm wrestle; you have a struggle for a short while but it often ends with one team completely flattened. Well played India
— Mike atherton (@Athersmike) March 6, 2021