Sri Lanka v England
3rd
Test Day 1: Another Strange Day of Sri Lankan Self-destruction
November 23rd 2018
In the end the selectors made the pragmatic picks. Despite being only
very lightly used, Jimmy Anderson has been rested and Stuart Broad given a
chance to add to his wicket haul. Given that Jimmy Anderson has not taken a
wicket since the second ball of the series, has not looked like taking one and
the fact that the heat in Colombo has been brutal today, Stuart Broad may not
be quite so pleased to have been given a game come Tuesday. Possibly more
significant is the fact that Sam Curran’s slight niggle has given Jonny
Bairstow the chance, albeit in the problematic #3 position, to get back into
the side.
England’s start to the day could not have been better. Joe Root equalled
the world record by winning his eighth consecutive toss – given that this is
Test #2329 and that the odds of winning eight consecutive tosses are only 256-1
against, even having a sequence of ten consecutive tosses won would not be
unusual in more than two thousand matches – and thus gave his batsmen first use
of a pitch that, unlike some in this series, will be baking under the sun most
of the time for however long this match lasts. While the pitches for the first
two Tests did not deteriorate as much as expected, the absence of hot sun on
them was reckoned to be the principle reason.
Certain traditions though have been respected. Once again, Sri Lanka
played one seamer – lonesome Lakmal – and bowled five spinners through the day,
with Perera sharing the new ball, as usual. The average opening partnership
during this series has been 22 – seven of the nine opening partnerships have
been 22 or lower – and that is exactly how many Burns and Jennings put on.
England were in trouble at 36-2, with both openers out, but ended the day on
top. Sri Lanka’s use of reviews was awful, they missed chance after chance and
their heads dropped through the day. Better use or reviews, better luck with
decisions and taking their chances would have seen England shot out for
220-ish. If Sri Lanka do lose 0-3, a large part of the blame will have been due
to their own kamikaze tendencies.
However, there have been some novelties. So far, all nine batsmen have
reached double figures, but the backbone of the innings came from #3 and,
neither Ben Foakes (out for 13) nor Sam Curran (injured) have bailed out the
top order. From looking set for 400, a middle order wobble – collapse is too
strong a word – has left 350 as the immediate target and 380 probably the
summit of ambition.
One could start jumping up and down and shouting “yippee!!!” at Jonny
Bairstow’s century, thinking that we have a solution to the #3 spot, but let’s
see if this is just a flash in the pan. Not so long ago, the success of Haseeb
Hameed and Keaton Jennings in India made one think that England had a
ready-made opening pair for the next decade, but it did not quite work out that
way. However, Jonny Bairstow has an incentive: he knows that he makes a success
of batting at 3 or, probably, does not play at all. Knowing that he was playing
for his immediate England future, he did everything that could be asked of him.
Partnerships of 100 with Joe Root and 99 with Ben Stokes set England up. The
innings rattled along at 3.5 per over and Sri Lanka wilted in the heat.
England will hope that Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid will be able to bat on
for a while in the morning and, with no threat of the ball bouncing around his
ears, Stuart Broad will hang around and support whichever of the two bats
longest. 350 is the absolute minimum that England should settle for and one
would hope for 370 or 380. The longer that the Sri Lankan fielders have to fry
in the sun, the more likely that their minds will not be attuned to batting
when they come out to reply. Certainly, England will want to delay bowling as
long as possible. Sri Lanka, in contrast, will want to avoid yet another
England tail-end revolt that would tip the balance definitively England’s way.
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