England vs Sri Lanka 3rd Test (Lords) June 9-13

England expected to be unchanged, SL may tweak their lineup but likely to be close to the team that competed better in the second half of the second Test

Despite the all-formats points system, I think this match can be viewed as a dead rubber, but England will want to close out a 3-0 series win as they look to move up the Test rankings

Should be another comfortable England win - expecting a Root hundred

Yes - Root has been talking a lot about his conversion rate and I expect someone will be on the receiving end sooner rather than later

Some key points of interest for England are whether Compton and Finn can return to form, with the former likely being on his last chance to secure an international future - no pressure then!

England will also be hoping that James Vince starts to look a bit more settled and if he can get in goes on to at least make a 50

Really don't get why you wouldn't throw Ball in for this test.

A few interesting aspects to this Test - dead rubber notwithstanding. Firstly , this is the type of situation in which England have , quite often in recent years , rather "gone to sleep" instead of continuing to press on ruthlessly in the manner that won them the previous matches. Yeah , I know , Sri Lanka have been very poor : but they showed a bit of fight after following on in the last match , and might well give a better account of themselves this time - in perhaps slightly less alien conditions at Lord's . I'd really hope to see England play at full intensity rather than just turning up...

Then as flagged above by VTR , there are the individual issues. You'd certainly think Compton is running out of chances ; Hales will want to press on with his good form ; Finn needs to show the last match was an aberration ...and of course Root will want a big score. So might the skipper , who has looked good and got out so far , except for the second innings at the Riverside.
James hasn't really con-vinced me yet ; so I'd agree he needs a solid effort . Not that I expect him to be discarded straight away ; but he would be on rocky ground for the Pakistan series if he failed again here.
And Woakes will want to build on a decent effort last time up to ensure he isn't just seen as seat-warming for Stokes ; though I guess the reality is he largely is - unless he can stake a claim to a bowling spot over Finn. It is just as much about the future for him.
Lastly I hope Jonny B can manage to get through a match without shelling a catchable chance . I think he is improving (and his batting of course is excellent) ; but even though his general keeping has been sound and he's taken a lot of neat catches , as long as he keeps missing the odd one or two so regularly he is going to attract adverse attention.

Hope the weather clears ... I heard there was a lot of water around yesterday ?

GSC wrote:Really don't get why you wouldn't throw Ball in for this test.

They haven't though.

Stats and trivia

->Stuart Broad needs seven more wickets to become the 22nd bowler, and third from England, to reach 350 in Tests. Only Ian Botham (383) and James Anderson (451) lie ahead of him among Englishmen.

->With 16 catches in two Tests so far, Jonny Bairstow needs another four dismissals at Lord's to set a new record for a wicketkeeper in a three-Test series. The record of 19 is held by Ian Healy (Aus v SL, 1995-96).

->Kumar Sangakkara will ring the bell to signal five minutes before the start of play on the first day of the match. He will become the seventh Sri Lankan to be given the honour, following in the footsteps of his team-mates Sanath Jayasuriya, Marvan Attapattu and Chaminda Vaas who rung the bell in 2014.

Hi Alfie - torrential rain yesterday afternoon in a few parts of the South. It was very isolated though. The Corporal and I were under most of it for a few hours at the Oval whilst my wife 20 odd miles away never saw a drop! Think it should be better today around Lord's.

Agree with you about England's need to still show intensity for a dead match and the individual issues. Even if James cannot con-vince (and that was truly dreadful on your part, Alfie! ), he probably doesn't have too many rivals banging on the door atm as we've largely switched here to white ball cricket for now.

Btw, I engaged a highly paid team of researchers for Today's Quiz question on the other thread. Trust you, Stella and the usual suspects will be taking part.

GSC wrote:Really don't get why you wouldn't throw Ball in for this test.

Maybe they're worried he'd lose his shine and get out of shape after 20-30 overs?

GSC wrote:Really don't get why you wouldn't throw Ball in for this test.

Probably a few reasons:

They want Finn to get back in rhythm as on form he's the better bowler
The likes of Broad and Anderson want to play every Test rather than have a rest
He might not have impressed that much in training

James con-Vinces with Big Hundred
Jonny drops the Ball (dropped catch off a chance that would have given Ball his first Test wicket)
Broad-side has Sri Lanka reeling
Joe takes Root (bats most of the day for a big hundred)

This team is a tabloid headline writers dream!

England win toss and choose to bat. Looks like a wicket with runs in it.

England
1 Alastair Cook (capt), 2 Alex Hales, 3 Nick Compton, 4 Joe Root, 5 James Vince, 6 Jonny Bairstow (wk), 7 Moeen Ali, 8 Chris Woakes, 9 Stuart Broad, 10 Steven Finn, 11 James Anderson

Sri Lanka
1 Dimuth Karunaratne, 2 Kaushal Silva, 3 Kusal Mendis, 4 Dinesh Chandimal (wk), 5 Angelo Mathews (capt), 6 Lahiru Thirimanne, 7 Kusal Perera, 8 Rangana Herath, 9 Suranga Lakmal, 10 Shaminda Eranga, 11 Nuwan Pradeep

Slightly surprised that Chandimal keeps wicket if Perera is in. Eranga plays despite the umpires reporting his action in the last game. Can they call him during the game now, or was that removed after the Hair/Murali shenanigans?

VTR wrote:James con-Vinces with Big Hundred
Jonny drops the Ball (dropped catch off a chance that would have given Ball his first Test wicket)
Broad-side has Sri Lanka reeling
Joe takes Root (bats most of the day for a big hundred)

This team is a tabloid headline writers dream!

Meh. It was much better when we had Trott, Bell, Prior, Swann involved

On the Ball vs Finn question, I'm not a huge fan of throwing players in for single Tests TBH. Sure, you could say "let's have a look at him", but if he doesn't do great, what then? Keep him in for the next series, or drop him equally quickly. Players need a bit of a run.

Also, it somewhat annoys me that people are so quick to call for bowlers to be dropped, whereas batsmen get a much longer rope. Finn was our best bowler in SA (with Broad), he's not been at his best in the first two tests here for sure, though he did get a few wickets in the first test. But he always strikes me as someone who needs overs under his belt to get his rhythm back, and having only recently comeback from (yet another) injury, it would feel counter-productive to drop him now IMO.

Placid sort of start , but nothing wrong with the run rate . Bowling tidy enough but no alarms. Looks like a good toss to win.

Someone should get a big one today.

50 up for England, with few alarms. Pitch looks flat, outfield fast as it always is here. Could be a long day for SL this...

Mad for Chelsea wrote:50 up for England, with few alarms. Pitch looks flat, outfield fast as it always is here. Could be a long day for SL this...

I think that is the first opening partnership of 50 by either side so far in the series.

Hales gifts his wicket, while Compton blows what may be his last chance to save his test career.

Not sure even a decent score in the 2nd dig will save Compton - eerily similar to his first stint with england

LondonTiger wrote:Hales gifts his wicket, while Compton blows what may be his last chance to save his test career.

I think that is the end for Compton. A bit of a shame for him as he might feel a bit aggrieved that after scoring a couple of hundreds as opener he was dropped for a few years whilst a whole cast of other openers who didn't do any better were tried out

Hmm...leave the room for three minutes and return to find Compton has gone again...pretty ordinary dismissal.

Think he might be done now. Will probably get a second innings here , but not sure he'll be able to change opinions . The likes of Robson and Borthwick are surely entitled to expect a chance ahead of another reprieve for Compton

And Root goes ! England have blown a comfortable start...

England doing their usual, "better not get to a hundred without 3 down" start to the innings!

Great second hour for Sri Lanka ...some handy bowling from Lakmal

England need someone to get stuck in - think this is a pitch on which you'd want a sizeable total batting first. Be a good time for Vince to stand up...

Surely, that has to signal the end for Compton. Tame dismissal on a great batting strip. Other options have to be looked at now.

Fair play to SL, they squeezed the scoring rate in the second hour, and England rather threw three wickets away. Compton looks on his last legs as a Test cricketer TBH, the footwork for his dismissal was so poor, his legs looked like they had cement blocks stuck to them, rather like this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_NsFh-Z4aE

Ha! - excellent comparison

Blimey - watched the first hour and it all seemed so comfortable for England. Real shock when I just checked the lunchtime score. Sri Lanka are currently ahead, can they keep it that way? Probably not for the match but we shouldn't be in a hurry to assume that.

Need a big hundred from Captain Cook

Not to mention a big score from Bairstow...with a bit of support from the tail.

Looks like England are already on holiday mentally. In Vince's defence it looked a really good ball that got him.

James Vince must be pretty glad that Compton is taking all the headlines...he has been very ordinary with the bat in his short career so far.

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:James Vince must be pretty glad that Compton is taking all the headlines...he has been very ordinary with the bat in his short career so far.

In Vince's defence, he got an absolute peach that any bowler would have been delighted to bowl. Maybe he should have gone forward, but maybe then he'd have just nicked off instead of being bowled.

Agree re Vince - has looked very nervous at the crease. I wouldn't be confident if he is chosen at 3 instead of Compton, I would keep him at 5 and look for another number 3

Either way, Pakistan will fancy bowling at Englands line up as they are much stronger than Sri Lanka and will be more able to capitalise on top order wickets by making inroads into the middle order (as SL may still do here, but didn't when the series was alive)

Assuming Compton doesn't make a century in this match, he looks certain to be dropped. Who comes in though?

Westley, Borthwick, Robson & Bell-Drummond are the names being most touted. I'd go with Borthwick or Robson.

Its hard to say, I think you have the list of possibles spot on

What a turnaround that would be for Borthwick if it happened - originally picked (and dropped) as the lead spinner but recalled to bat number three

Didn't some other bloke in world cricket start as more of a legspinner but has ended up doing alright as a frontline batsman?

I agree Vince needs to be kept at 5 for the summer - unless he falls off the cliff completely

Of the contenders for the 3 spot id go with Robson - but wouldn't be surprised to see them go with Westley. You could make a case for borthwick with an eye to being an extra spin option (if needed)

I agree Robson has a case ; but I'd be inclined to go with Borthwick on the grounds that he is in splendid form from all the evidence , hasn't previously been tried as a top order bat at international level - so now might be a good time to see if he can transfer his county form to the bigger stage ; and as Olly says , he would provide a potential bit of variety to the spin roster...might be handy in India ?

Need to do something before the Pakistan Tests ; they have a couple of handy bowlers.

Meanwhile , Cook and Bairstow are doing a good repair job. Sri Lanka may regret missing that chance off Jonny early on ; generally not a good idea to gift an extra life to the man in form...

alfie wrote:I agree Robson has a case ; but I'd be inclined to go with Borthwick on the grounds that he is in splendid form from all the evidence , hasn't previously been tried as a top order bat at international level - so now might be a good time to see if he can transfer his county form to the bigger stage ; and as Olly says , he would provide a potential bit of variety to the spin roster...might be handy in India ?

Need to do something before the Pakistan Tests ; they have a couple of handy bowlers.

Meanwhile , Cook and Bairstow are doing a good repair job.  Sri Lanka may regret missing that chance off Jonny early on ; generally not a good idea to gift an extra life to the man in form...

Just seen a recording of that drop - not good at all.

On Robson - this may be unfair and also may be incorrect - but I think of him as an opener and nothing else.

Bairstow's had a bit of luck in this knock. The dropped catch of course, when he had 11, and which was really awful. Then that LBW he survived on review, being umpire's call by the tiniest of tiny margins. Couple of streaky edges too. He's played nicely though, and fluently as usual. Still think SL could be a bit more attacking at times, they're still just about on top, but field too deep for my liking.

As if to emphasize the point, Bairstow nicks one at catchable height right between the solitary slip and the finer of the two gullies for four.

Folks, hope you don't mind me pressing the rewind button. I've just seen the dismissal of Root. I've watched it twice in real time but not in slow motion. My reaction was to be surprised the not out decision was overturned on review - I was with the on field umpire who, like me, presumably thought it looked leg side. Am I just simply wrong there?

Well, definitely SL's day. Mostly strangled England and forced some errors, combined with a couple of excellent deliveries.

This may be a dead rubber, but a few England players haven't helped make a case for inclusion in the Pakistan series.

guildfordbat wrote:Folks, hope you don't mind me pressing the rewind button. I've just seen the dismissal of Root. I've watched it twice in real time but not in slow motion. My reaction was to be surprised the not out decision was overturned on review - I was with the on field umpire who, like me, presumably thought it looked leg side. Am I just simply wrong there?

Although it may not have looked like it the ball was going on to hit the stumps as was shown during DRS.

Very valuable century from Bairstow. He held the innings together again and although he rode his luck he roughed it out and England had recovered somewhat at close though perhaps list a wicket or two more than they would have liked.

guildfordbat wrote:Folks, hope you don't mind me pressing the rewind button. I've just seen the dismissal of Root. I've watched it twice in real time but not in slow motion. My reaction was to be surprised the not out decision was overturned on review - I was with the on field umpire who, like me, presumably thought it looked leg side. Am I just simply wrong there?

I thought it looked very close, and fancied the ball was hitting the stumps. However, I also expected it to be umpire's call on review. I think part of the explanation may be that on replay you can see the ball just holding up down the slope, or maybe with Lakmal's natural shape (which is away from the right-handers). This pushed it from just clipping leg to clattering it.

Don't think it was that bad a decision, since very hard to pick up in real time mind.

All in all, a decent day for SL, but one that could/should have been better having had England 80-odd for 4 and 160-odd for 5. Felt they let England off the hook a bit with some overly cautious field positions. Oh and of course that dreadful drop off Bairstow, when he had just 11.

Very important knock again from Bairstow, not at his best and had some luck, but remarkable how you always seem to get the rub of the green when you're in form. For the rest, Cook looked in little trouble until he missed one, both he and Root you suspect victims of the old "head falling down the slope" thing. Hales started well, but got stuck against Matthews (who bowled well at him to be fair) and that led to a rather rash swipe at Herath. Needs to figure out a way of keeping the score ticking over against the spinners IMO. Compton looks completely out of nick, and unless he scores big second time around will be gone by the Pakistan series you suspect. Vince is another who could do with a score: there's a lot to like about him, but...

Woakes has done well in support of Bairstow, and will be hoping to kick on to a significant contribution tomorrow. SL should be looking to get England out for under 350, while England will look to push up to 400 and maybe beyond.

Considering the first day is usually as good as any to bowl on at Lords, neither side will be too dissatisfied with today's procedings I don't think.

Mad for Chelsea wrote:

guildfordbat wrote:Folks, hope you don't mind me pressing the rewind button. I've just seen the dismissal of Root. I've watched it twice in real time but not in slow motion. My reaction was to be surprised the not out decision was overturned on review - I was with the on field umpire who, like me, presumably thought it looked leg side. Am I just simply wrong there?

I thought it looked very close, and fancied the ball was hitting the stumps. However, I also expected it to be umpire's call on review. I think part of the explanation may be that on replay you can see the ball just holding up down the slope, or maybe with Lakmal's natural shape (which is away from the right-handers). This pushed it from just clipping leg to clattering it.

Don't think it was that bad a decision, since very hard to pick up in real time mind.

Thanks for the apparent rationale, MfC, and to you Craig for your post as well.

Like you initially, MfC, from my first real time viewing I would have expected the third umpire to uphold the on field umpire's decision but can now appreciate why he didn't.

Mad for Chelsea wrote:All in all, a decent day for SL, but one that could/should have been better having had England 80-odd for 4 and 160-odd for 5. Felt they let England off the hook a bit with some overly cautious field positions. Oh and of course that dreadful drop off Bairstow, when he had just 11.

Very important knock again from Bairstow, not at his best and had some luck, but remarkable how you always seem to get the rub of the green when you're in form. For the rest, Cook looked in little trouble until he missed one, both he and Root you suspect victims of the old "head falling down the slope" thing. Hales started well, but got stuck against Matthews (who bowled well at him to be fair) and that led to a rather rash swipe at Herath. Needs to figure out a way of keeping the score ticking over against the spinners IMO. Compton looks completely out of nick, and unless he scores big second time around will be gone by the Pakistan series you suspect. Vince is another who could do with a score: there's a lot to like about him, but...

Woakes has done well in support of Bairstow, and will be hoping to kick on to a significant contribution tomorrow. SL should be looking to get England out for under 350, while England will look to push up to 400 and maybe beyond.

Considering the first day is usually as good as any to bowl on at Lords, neither side will be too dissatisfied with today's procedings I don't think.

Only saw bits and pieces after the first hour but nothing there from MfC that I disagree with. However, I do suspect that although Sri Lanka won't be too dissatisfied with tonight's scoreboard reading, they'll still have a sense of frustration and the feeling that they've allowed England another chance in this series to get off the hook.

Saw an interview with Graeme Ford, Sri Lanka's head coach or whatever title applies, before the start of play on Sky. He spoke realistically about the need for Sri Lanka to continue improving (the subject of improvement was a constant theme when he was in charge at Surrey). I feel they are improving and showed it today but he'll know all too well that one fluffed catch can still put back so much apparent advancement.

Bit of praise as well for Herath. Ever the wily old pro with a slow bowler's almost classic analysis of 2/45 off 21. As the younger element would put it #propertestcricket

Root to 3, Vince to 4, Bairstow to 5 and Buttler at 7 seems to be the Twitter team for Pakistan

Think I'd rather have Borthwick given a go myself

I'm not a fan of moving Root up to 3 TBH. He looks so at ease in the middle order, and has that ability to up the tempo that is so important IMO.

The temptation of Borthwick is also to sneak in another spin option, but for me he has to first and foremost be worth his spot as a batsman, especially in the key n°3 position. I'll admit to not necessarily seeing enough of him to make a proper judgement.

Another option is to move Vince up to 3, bring in Buttler, and move Bairstow to 5. I'm intrigued by the idea that opening seems a specialist position at Test level, but less so n°3, i.e. debutants get willingly chucked into opening, but rarely at 3, with usually a senior players moving up and the debutant starting somewhere at 5 or 6. Vince bats 3 for his county I believe, and could succeed there for England.

You then have Buttler, whose keeping at least to pace is far superior to Bairstow's, while Bairstow is certainly good enough to bat 5.

Balanced against that, you lose Bairstow's runs from 7, and if we're honest Bairstow is right now a better Test batsman than Buttler, by a decent margin. (I say this as a Buttler fan). Of course, that only works if your n°5 is scoring runs too...

Personally, and as ever, I'd be loathe to make too many changes, and with the team Olly mentions (though doesn't endorse), you have some pretty big structural changes, which I'm not really a fan of. I would simply pick whoever you reckon is most likely to score runs at n°3, and leave the rest untinkered with. My personal choice would be Robson, but not sure the selectors see it that way...

All this is of course assuming Compton doesn't survive, but that does look the most likely outcome at this stage...

guildfordbat wrote:

Mad for Chelsea wrote:...

Only saw bits and pieces after the first hour but nothing there from MfC that I disagree with. However, I do suspect that although Sri Lanka won't be too dissatisfied with tonight's scoreboard reading, they'll still have a sense of frustration and the feeling that they've allowed England another chance in this series to get off the hook.

Saw an interview with Graeme Ford, Sri Lanka's head coach or whatever title applies, before the start of play on Sky. He spoke realistically about the need for Sri Lanka to continue improving (the subject of improvement was a constant theme when he was in charge at Surrey). I feel they are improving and showed it today but he'll know all too well that one fluffed catch can still put back so much apparent advancement.

Bit of praise as well for Herath. Ever the wily old pro with a slow bowler's almost classic analysis of 2/45 off 21. As the younger element would put it #propertestcricket

I think you're right that SL will be frustrated. The dropped catch of course proved very costly, but I should also point out that their ground fielding was pretty disappointing at times. There were a few bad misfields, a number of fumbles, and a couple of mis-timed dives let the ball through when it should really have been stopped. I counted only about two "saves", i.e. great stops which you wouldn't expect the fielder to stop the ball cleanly more than half the time or so, so in net terms they're well behind on fielding even not counting the (awful) drop.