England v Sri Lanka, 1st Test: Day 3, England’s Flawed Win

 

England v Sri Lanka

1^st Test: Day 3

England’s Flawed Win

 

May 22^nd  2016

 

When people look at the scorecard in ten years’ time, they will think that this was a facile victory of a very good side against a very poor one on a difficult pitch. In doing so they will give England far too much credit.

The pitch was by no means difficult. In fact, the TMS commentators pointed out time and again that the pitch was an excellent Test surface. There was some lateral movement, but the damage was done by the atmospheric conditions and the murky light: ideal for swing bowling. Herath could turn the ball. Moeen Ali only got one over in the match and took the wicket of Chandimal – no rabbit with the bat. And England had an attack in the second innings missing the injured Ben Stokes and with Steve Finn looking totally ineffective.

England’s score of 298 depended on two players: Jonny Bairstow, the only player to bat with real liberty and the battling Alex Hales. The England collapse was made more alarming by the way that most of the batsmen got themselves out – there were very few who can say that a bowler genuinely took his wicket. However, Steve Finn – the Watford Wall – and a genuinely number 11, got in and was able bat comfortably for well over an hour, often taking 4 and even 5 balls in an over. If Steve Finn can get in and play some good shots, it was far from an impossible surface to bat on!

Nick Compton needed runs and did not get them. He was one of the few to get a really good ball. Vince did not convince: he looked quite comfortable, but got himself out in single figures. Ben Stokes played WHACK! WHACK! OUT! And Moeen Ali, who has been in delicious batting form for Worcestershire, never looked like scoring a run. Add a duck for Root and a failure for Alistair Cook and the batting has little to be proud of.

Some of the Sri Lankan batting looked overawed. England had no one bowling at close to 90mph, but the tail-enders were backing away to Square Leg and appeared plain scared. However, at one point it looked as if England would have to bat again and you wondered where the next wicket might come from: Jimmy Anderson had to rest some time, Stuart Broad could not reproduce his first innings magic, Ben Stokes has a knee problem that may need an operation and poor Steve Finn looked as if he were a Middlesex 2^nd XI player given a surprise call-up in an injury crisis.

Stokes must be an unlikely starter for his home Test with Chris Woakes favourite to replace him. Woakes for Stokes sounds as if it is like-for-like, but it is a bit like replacing Bruce Willis in an action movie with Leslie Nielson… it is not quite the same level of action. Meanwhile, Jake Ball will be telling his wife not to expect him home on Friday night: there are good reasons for playing him instead of Finn at Chester-le-Street. Finn had batted well and took two superb catches in the first innings, but his job is to bowl fast and take wickets. Until his late burst in the final collapse as Sri Lanka fell from 93-3 to 119ao, he looked unlikely to take a wicket. Finn’s self-confidence will have been done no harm by seeing Herath scared to face him after being hit and then by taking Thirimanne, who batted so well in the first innings and who will surely score some big runs by the end of the series, but unless Steve Finn is to bowl fast and threatening at Chester-le-Street, it is best to pick a specialist seam and swing merchant instead. Finn’s county form has not be great either, part of what has been a curiously off-colour Middlesex attack so far this season.

So, it was job done and job done big time, but the conspiracy theorists are already seeing evidence of foul play and suggesting that Sri Lanka were sacrificed on a pitch the same colour as the outfield. If they had asked instead why the first two Tests are going to the north of England in May, they might have been closer to the mark. England though, apart from Alex Hales showing that he is up to the job of grafting runs and Jimmy Anderson showing that he is so much better for playing some matches for his county before playing a Test, the result has been curiously unsatisfying.