England v Sri Lanka, 1st Test: Days 1 & 2: England Make a Small Piece of History with the Follow-On

 

England v Sri Lanka

1^st Test: Days 1 & 2

England Make a Small Piece of History with the Follow-On

 

May 20^th  2016

 

Two years ago Sri Lanka came as whipping-boys to put a shell-shocked England team with a re-styled side including Sam Robson and Moeen Ali back on the road to recovery. The cynics said that a heavy win over Sri Lanka would just hide England’s problems. Of course, the result of a bad-tempered series, in which England showed their uglier face, was a humiliating defeat, despite the heroics of Moeen Ali and Jimmy Anderson who were two balls from rescuing a quite incredible draw.

In many ways the 2014 Sri Lanka series was a low point – although things did get even worse before getting better – and was to England’s long-term benefit. Since then, the side and its management have been renovated, the style of play has brightened and England are less disposed to make enemies both on and off the pitch. And this time Sri Lanka have come back, welcome visitors as always, to talk of cricket with an edge, which is what it should have, but without degenerating into ugliness.

As always, when they visit in May, Sri Lanka have to compete with the IPL for players and several of their big stars are now retired. The result has been two warm-up matches where weaker county opposition has proved to be almost more than Sri Lanka could cope with: without help from the weather they might even have lost one of the games and at no point did they look like dominating. However, England supporters know that pre-series form (or lack of it) from tourists does not always point reliably to post-series celebration. England have also gone into the series with a side under a far larger cloud than an encouraging performance in the UAE v Pakistan, a series win against South Africa and a run to the World T20 Final would suggest.

Alex Hales struggled in the Tests in South Africa. Nick Compton started the series well, but faded and James Taylor cheated likely death, but will never play again at any level. It is a horrific thought that, at any moment during the South African series he could have collapsed and died on the pitch. The relief that there was no tragedy during the series should be weighed against the personal disaster that his career was ended just as he finally got a chance to show what he could do (remember those stunning catches at Short Leg?) Further down the order, Moeen Ali is heavily questioned and, with Wood, Woakes & Jordan unavailable or coming back from injury, the seam bowling reserves are looking thin again.

The selectors have shown loyalty, but Nick Compton’s form for Middlesex has been horrible and Alex Hales has only played two matches, taking a calculated gamble, but showing some decent form and obduracy. Both can count themselves somewhat lucky, especially with Sam Robson scoring a lot of runs and showing an effective re-modelled technique. James Vince has pipped a number of rivals to the vacant #5 spot to general approval. The general impression though is that England entered the series only a couple of defeats from crisis, particularly as Jimmy Anderson is probably only an injury from retirement and Stuart Broad’s body has already given the surgeons plenty to occupy them – the loss of either would be serious.

Day 1 gave plenty to worry the England fans. After a solid start, the introduction of the sort of dibby-dobby, mid-70s bowler who India have often deployed with success against England brought dividends for Sri Lanka too. No one checks their helmet and life insurance when Shanaka comes on, but England’s batsmen seemed to want to get back to the safety of the pavilion with indecent haste when he appeared. 49-0 disintegrated into 83-5 and if Alex Hales had not held firm, England could have been heading for humiliation.

Hales’s innings was characterised by the same obduracy and fighting spirit that he showed for Notts when holding their innings together in his season debut innings. Criticised for slow scoring and being painful to watch, only Jonny Bairstow and Angelo Matthews have actually scored faster in the match. The atmospheric conditions have encouraged the bowlers, as has the pitch, which has enough to help the bowler who lands the ball in the right place: even the spinner, as Alex Hales found to his cost. Hales was furious at missing-out on a maiden Test century, but credit Herath for getting a fraction of turn that changed an attacking shot into what looked like an irresponsible slog. Hales though has certainly done enough to guarantee his place for the rest of the series. The same cannot be said for Compton (at least dismissed by a good ball), or Moeen Ali.

With England only getting close to 300 thanks to a ninth wicket stand from Bairstow and Finn, things were going to go one of two ways: if the bowlers got it right, it could be brief and bloody for Sri Lanka; if they got it wrong, there were horrible visions of how Australia racked-up 401-9d at Headingley in 1981 when they should not have got past 200.

What no one imagined was that the Follow On mark of 99 would come into play. The opening overs passed with some alarms, but no great indication of the things to come. Then Stuart Broad got one in exactly the right place, the rout started. Three wickets in nine balls and Sri Lanka were in trouble. Two mini-recoveries and it looked as if the worst might be over: at least, at 77-4, the follow-on target looked to be the least of Sri Lanka’s worries. At 83-7 horrible imaginings must have been appearing. 90-7: a couple of edges and they would be there and there would be the hope that the weather might help them out.

England took some extraordinary catches. Two from Steve Finn turned what should have been an academic debate about the Follow On into a reality but, even then two edged boundaries would have seen Sri Lanka safe – how often have you seen the last pair ride their luck that way? However, when your #11 faces just one ball and puts the health and safety of the Square Leg umpire at risk, so fast is he backing-away, the outlook is not so rosy. Strangle down the leg side, thin edge, England review… thanks very much! 5-16 for Jimmy Anderson. 4-21 for Stuart Broad. Lowering skies and every prospect of plenty of interruptions of play to keep the bowlers fresh. Even Alistair Cook did not hesitate in telling Sri Lanka that Anderson and Broad fancied a few more overs at them.

298ao was enough to enforce the Follow On. It is the equal seventh lowest ever 1^st innings score to do so:

Side Batting First	Opponents	Year	Total	1st Innings Lead	Follow On
South Africa	Pakistan	2013	253	204	Not enforced
England	New Zealand	1958	269	222	Enforced
Australia	England	1895	284	219	Enforced
India	Sri Lanka	1990	288	206	Enforced
England	South Africa	1889	292	245	Enforced
New Zealand	India	1965	297	209	Enforced
England	India	1967	298	206	Not enforced
England	Sri Lanka	2016	298	207	Enforced

Only eight times in Test history has a side scored less than 300 and been able to enforce the Follow On. Twice Sri Lanka have faced this indignity. Four times, England have induced it, the last time in 1967.

With Sri Lanka having barely survived a session in their first innings and nine sessions left, surely only a monsoon in Leeds can save them now.