England's Summer of Cricket 2024

Sri Lanka: 1 Dimuth Karunaratne, 2 Nishan Madushka, 3 Pathum Nissanka, 4 Angelo Mathews, 5 Dinesh Chandimal, 6 Dhananjaya de Silva (capt), 7 Kamindu Mendis, 8 Milan Rathnayake, 9 Prabath Jayasuriya, 10 Asitha Fernando, 11 Lahiru Kumara

Sri Lanka have confirmed their team. Unsurprisingly, V Fernando has been dropped after a lacklustre first game. He has been replaced by Kumara, not Rajitha. Kusal Mendis has also been replaced at 3, with Nissanka coming in to replace him. It will be Nissanka's first test in two years. His FC average is 60, but his test average is fractionally below 40.

Expected to be a very good batting wicket, and the weather is excellent for the first four days, but Monday has some rain around if we get that far. Sri Lanka have never won a test at Lord's, but they've managed to draw the last five.

SL with a brave call of bowling first after winning the toss.

Well, that's unexpected. Lord's has generally been a pretty dreadful, dead pitch for a few years now. Hopefully Sri Lanka know something we don't. They'll need wickets in the morning session or this could get ugly if it's as flat as many pundits seem to think!

Sri Lanka sending England in ? Bit odd , no ? Maybe afraid of being 6/3 again...

Certainly looks like a batting day if you look at the skies - Sri Lanka must see something in the pitch they want to take advantage of on day 1…

We'll see how it plays, but it looks like an absolutely perfect batting day.

Only thing I can think of is it's likely to be good to bat on throughout the test, so maybe SL don't think it matters too much whether you bat first or second? Although it surely will matter if England pile up the runs and secure a psychological advantage!

Chandimal not keeping...3 keepers in 3 innings of this series now for Sri lanka

Pitch likely will be OK throughout ; but you'd think it is still better to get a score on the board first. Perhaps they are hoping England will overdo the aggression and fall short of a commanding total ? Time will tell...



Duckett off to a brisk start.

Lawrence not taking the opportunity of batting first on a good pitch...Sri Lanka will be encouraged by that early break.
Pope could do with some runs so they'll be keen to put some pressure on him.

Proper rubbish from Lawrence and Pope this morning.

Pope's poor series continues. Not the start England wanted at 42/2. Up to Root again...

Seven single figure scores in 17 innings so far this year for Pope. Nowhere near what you want from a three.

Pope routinely looks terrible and fidgety at the start of almost every innings but once in looks like a top class batsmen, ultimately there isn't really another option there. Dan Lawrence on the other hand just does not have the technique to play in the middle order in test cricket let alone opening.

First hour to the visitors , then.  Two out already on what looks a very nice surface ... should be a score or two there for someone I think.

Duckett has looked good this morning.

That's just more rubbish. Gifting Sri Lanka wickets on a lovely surface.

Now Duckett has rather thrown it away with an extravagant reverse swipe...82/3 and Sri Lanka might be feeling rather good about their choice to field...

The Yorkshire pair once again tasked with getting the innings back on track.

Garbage, over to the usual suspects to make this into a decent score

''Another unforced error ... Duckett plays well for 40'' - Morgan on Sky.

In my old school book, you don't play well for 40 unless you fall to a beauty. That wasn't.

As the commentators have pointed out , Duckett has a good record playing the reverse; so no problem with his playing it today...but he made a right mess of it on this occasion. A pity because he'd played very soundly to that point and had been scoring quite fluently. Was a bit starved of strike in the latter part of his innings which might have caused a little impatience ?

Getting close to lunch (very slow over rate !) and important these two bat safely to the break...

Few nice balls in that session from SL, but all three wickets have been gifts. Poor stuff from England, not taking full advantage of the excellent conditions. Up to Root and Brook to do the heavy lifting, because SL are just two away from Woakes.

97 from 24 overs for the session so run rate is fine. The three wickets the problem. Top order really haven't turned up this series so far.

Looked a good toss to lose when SL put England in. But 3 down and a long tail a very good morning for the visitors

Tough decision for Brook there, but a very ugly shot.

Going to be a battle for England to make 300.

Brook gone after looking very sound for his 33. 130/4 really not what you'd expect on a good batting strip like this. That looked out live , even though only umpire's call. The Root one earlier was harder to give as it looked iffy for both height and direction so not surprising that the two calls got different results.

Smith has handled pressure rather well so far in his appearances. England hoping he will do so again now because they are at serious risk of coming up well short of a par score here...

Plenty of starts for Brook

Certainly testing Smith under a variety of scenarios

alfie wrote:97 from 24 overs for the session so run rate is fine. The three wickets the problem.  Top order really haven't turned up this series so far.

Lawrence looks shocking as an opener, which is no surprise and not exactly his fault. Pope I will not write off just yet, but think captaining and batting 3 is too much for him. All this then seems to transfer the pressure onto Duckett to over attack. So it's really not working at the moment

Smith yet another to get a start yet not go on...edges Rathnayake behind and departs for 21.

192/5 and only Root seems to be treating this pitch in the manner we have all reckoned appropriate. Could it be we are all wrong and batting isn't as easy as it looks? Guess we should wait until both sides have batted etc etc...

Of course Root remains the best bat in the side in all conditions (will assess young Harry when he's toured India and Australia) so perhaps not surprisingly he's showing the
way . Could do with a bit of support though...

SL rewarded for accurate bowling, but still a pretty sticky shot from Smith with stodgy footwork. Seemed he was a little frustrated at getting bogged down - a SR of 37 is unusual for him.

Only Root has batted true to the pitch conditions.

Tea at 200/5 so still you'd say the fielding side on top - though the scoring rate is decent if not exactly Bazball.

Tufnell on BBC describes the Sri Lanka bowling as "disciplined" which seems a good summation. One might fairly describe much of the England batting as a bit "careless" , no ?

Set up for an intriguing last session. England need to reach that 300 score as a minimum.

Kumara deserved another for his effort today, and gets one with Woakes awkwardly playing a short ball and finding the man in the deep.

216/6. This has been second-rate from England today (Root apart, obviously!).

Woakes falling to the short ball - after playing patiently for some time...216/6 and even 300 looking a fair way off...

All on Root now...99 now...

Kumara bowls a tight maiden to Root, who's on 99. Good drama.

Have to praise the bowlers ...a nice tight maiden from Kumara to Root on 99...giving nothing away !
And Jayasuriya likewise with dots. Good Test Cricket.

Hundred now though. An important one too ! Be up a tree without him today...

A few more dots, too, before Root opens the face to collect another boundary and get his 33rd test hundred. Magnificent. Puts him level with Cook as England's all time leading century maker.

Root loves batting against Sri Lanka. He has an average of 67 versus them, nine runs higher than his next most favoured opponent.

Today's ton has been of supreme value. Nearly half the runs. Without Root today England wouldn't be making 200.

Another marvellous Root innings. Holding things together as he so often has for England. He's the best England batter I've seen a decent amount of. KP and Gower would be the other flamboyant middle order dashers that come to mind. Cook and Gooch as openers of course. Then Thorpe making runs in a period where others often didn't. Root is the best of the lot for me though and the gap between him and the next feels like it's opening.

Plenty of poor dismissals from England but they also aren't uncharacteristic! Lawrence is a streaky player. Pope doesn't play the short ball that well. Brook does have a tendency to plant his front leg when going for those big drives - they bring him a lot of runs though. Likewise Smith tends to go for those drives and they do bring him plenty of runs.

Pope's barren run will be building pressure. He's still got glaring issues against spin, is still a poor starter and I can see teams trying to target him more with the short ball too.

Handy little knock this from Atkinson. Up over 250 now , and the three Sri Lanka seamers have already put in a fair shift so England will still fancy adding important runs late in the day. New ball still a fair way off and looks as if we will be a fair few overs short on the day.

Fifty stand up and pretty briskly too. Big chance to take advantage of some tired bowling and an inadequate fifth bowling option. Sri Lanka have some thinking to do re this next ten overs.

Valuable stuff from Atkinson. England might be starting to think this South African balance works.

Sri Lanka in danger of seeing their good work undone in this last hour or so Root majestic and Atkinson enjoying lofting pies into the crowd...300 up and prospects of a few more yet. New ball still five away and will be tired seamers taking it...

That's a frustrating one to lose late on. Root has played superbly for his ton, but that goes down as another gift, and opens the door for SL and energises them just before the new ball. They still might bowl England out tonight.

Another dumb shot, there's just not enough reward for the risk of it.

Death, taxes and Root being England's greatest ever batsman

358/7 at stumps. England will be very relieved. Sri Lanka will think a great opportunity has slipped.

Poor from five of England's top six. Root was stupendous until his dismissal, and put England on a competitive footing. Atkinson's unexpected 74* has boosted England into an advantageous state.

SL bowled very tidily for the first two sessions, but they tired and their good position fell away in the final session. Perhaps not a lot to separate their seamers, but I thought A Fernando was again the leader, with Kumara doing next best.

We'll see how much resistance SL have to facing down a circa 400 score on what is still a great batting deck.

A strange route to that score but will take it. Wasn't sure about the decision to bowl, I'd have thought Lord's is bat first nearly all the time, and would see batting as Sri Lanka's real strength. Seems a bit callow now, especially against an England attack that largely lacks experience

Just back from Lord's where England gifted SL some wickets. SL have won two tosses and made poor decisions in both. Bet Pope couldn't believe it when SL opted to bowl.

Since the 3rd Test v India last winer Root has scored very heavily and looked imperious today. When a side has good team spirit and is winning (usually one goes with the other) then you get the sort of innings played tonight by Atkinson.

Reminded be of having to sit and watch Lawson whacking it around for the Aussies at Lord's years ago or Broad's stupendous effort v Pakistan that time with Trott.

Put the other lot in and you are really looking to bowl them out on the first day. Minimum requirement, for me, is seven wickets although not when the inserted side chalk up 358.

A very True pitch and fast outfield from little I saw.
Dunno why Lanka did not bat first ?
Perhaps scars from T1 and fear to face new ball on D1 of an English Pitch.
And that the pitch did not wear enuf in 4th inning in T1 even at Manchester.

SL did well to pick 6 and then Atkinson did to Lanka what Ratnayke did to Eng in last test.

Atkinson looked glorious dancing down to spinner like batsmen of 80s and strong too.
Eng are so dependent on Root though.
SL need to mop off the lower order quickly and their top order needs to deliver something material.

Good score in the end as Atkinson (confess I did not realise he could bat as well as that !) not only partnered well with Root but monstered some of the tired late bowling to full advantage. Potts joining in too after Root got out (a little unnecessarily perhaps but will forgive him for that innings-saving effort !). 358/7 isn't what a fielding team is shooting for when inserting you.

That said , this really does look a good batting strip and unlikely to get less so next day or two ; so Sri Lanka might still fancy enjoying their turn at the crease. Have to get three wickets yet of course and how many more those wickets add may be important as the game goes on. I do suspect England won't find wicket taking all that easy - probably not going to knock over the first two or three for next to nothing this time. No Wood so Stone will have to supply the unsettling thunderbolts ; and Pope may need to be a bit creative with his bowling mix (Lawrence to be tried at some point ?) ; but that is getting ahead of ourselves. Good weather I presume so looking forward to see what actually does transpire...

Century for Atkinson. Goodness, that's unexpected!