Sri Lanka v England, 1st Test Day 3: Jennings Forces Checkmate

 

Sri Lanka v England

1^st Test Day 3: Jennings Forces Checkmate

November 8^th 2018

 

Let’s start with a few numbers to put in context Sri Lanka’s victory target of 462.

·       Over the seventeen years that Galle has been a Test match venue, this is the twenty-fourth fourth innings chase.

·       Six of those chases have resulted in wins but, although five of the six were by a margin of ten wickets (the other was by seven wickets), the largest successful chase at Galle is just 99.

·       Three sides have hung on for draws, most memorably, England, in 2003, with 9 wickets down, surviving 108 overs in total – the longest that a side has batted out for a draw at the ground.

·       More alarming for Sri Lanka is that twice sides have failed to chase a total under 80 and three more sides have failed to chase targets under 140.

·       The best-ever effort in a losing cause at Galle is Pakistan’s 300 in 114 overs in 2012. 

England have asked Sri Lanka to score a record fourth innings chase for Tests, or to bat out a minimum (assuming that the predicted rain again holds off) of 187 overs. This match can only be a draw if plenty of time is lost to rain.

In other words, barring major intervention from Jupiter Pluvius (other gods are available), Sri Lanka have to far surpass anything ever achieved at this ground to avoid a heavy defeat. And they have to do it with two, injured batsmen. Dinesh Chandimal is still severely hampered by a groin strain and cannot bat higher than #7, while Dhananjaya De Silva, who batted at #3 in the first innings, tried to stop a drive off his own bowling from Keaton Jennings, received a heavy blow on the thumb for his pains and, even though he did try to bowl again after treatment, managed just one ball before going off.

On the plus side, some comfort comes from the fact that the pitch is not the spitting cobra that Galle has been famous for in the past but, the England spinners are getting some help and can attack without worrying about runs. The two England seamers just got a single over each with the New Ball, but Jimmy Anderson enjoyed the luxury of no fewer than five slips. With the light meters out, the spinners came straight into the attack and we had the novelty of four different bowlers delivering the first four overs of the innings and five bowlers delivering the seven overs by the Close, with the batsman almost suffocated by close fielders. In the case of Silva, suffocated was the word, as a flick caromed off the shin pads of Keaton Jennings at Short Leg, into the hands of Ben Foakes, who threw down the stumps, with Silva well out of his ground: Silva managed to ground his bat just in time, but Sri Lanka were fortunate to get away with that one.

It is amazing how the marginal choices have dominated this Test. Had Alastair Cook not retired, Keaton Jennings would, most likely, not have been on this tour. His contribution to this Test has been 192 runs for once out. Similarly, Ben Foakes would not have played had first Jonny Bairstow not hobbled himself playing football, earning Foakes a call-up as cover and then Joe Denly hobbled himself with some seriously sub-standard performances in the warm-ups. Foakes has scored 144 runs and taken two catches and a stumping so far. With play tomorrow likely to resemble a close-catchers’ convention, Foakes may yet turn out to be a match-winner with the gloves, as the spinners attempt to apply pressure and the edges fly. Catches win matches and there is no doubt that a specialist ‘keeper, accustomed to standing up to spinners at The Oval, could make all the difference.  There are so many occasions in Tests when a stubborn stand develops and is only broken by a piece of individual brilliance behind the stumps; tomorrow may be such a day if the early breakthrough does not come.

That England are in this position is mainly down to a monumental innings of 146* from Keaton Jennings. He will not have convinced the critics, who will point to a Test average under 30, despite two centuries, but he was picked on the promise that he showed in India in 2016 and he has delivered when it was needed. Against India, during the summer, he was getting starts, but not capitalising. In the first innings, he reached the 40s and fell: in fact, in his last 7 innings in all cricket, he has reached 40 six times but, before today, had only reached 50 once in those innings. Today though, he rode his luck, reined-in his aggression and showed the sort of application that Alastair Cook would have approved of.

It was a tale of contrasting fortunes. Before the series, any fan worth his salt would have told you that Rory Burns would make stacks of runs, but that Keaton Jennings was living on borrowed time. In fact, Burns has made 9 and 23, taking his total to 98 in 4 innings on the tour and, in a situation in which he was under little pressure, seemed nervous and finally, inevitably looked for a run where none was available and ran himself out. However, in the context of an innings in which Sri Lanka needed quick wickets, an opening partnership of 60 – equalling the best England have managed in the last year and the best for England since July 2017 – was just what was needed.

When England went from 60-0 to 74-3, Sri Lanka were getting back into the game, with Moeen Ali (who averages just 14.5 in his four matches batting at first drop, against 29.9 batting at #8 and 44.9 batting at #7, surely cannot continue to be offered as a sacrifice in this position) falling cheaply again and Joe Root following him. Another quick wicket would have seen England in some trouble, but the bowlers simply could not keep up the pressure.

As Jennings sealed up one end, Ben Stokes played himself in carefully and then cut loose. From 23 from 64 balls, Stokes added 39 runs from the next 29 balls that he faced, including 3x6. Buttler did not quite get going, but still launched one straight back over Perera’s head, before Foakes came in and produced a brutal cameo, including sixes off consecutive balls as Joe Root indicated that the declaration was imminent. Even in that final slog though, England never really got away from the bowlers, with the exception of Dananjaya, who has been punished in both innings: match figures of 38.5-4-183-2 and a duck are not going to enhance his chances of playing at Kandy.

With Sri Lanka possibly needing to make four changes for the 2^nd Test – replacing the retiring Herath, quite possibly the two injured players too and, potentially, dropping Dananjaya – they could do with the morale-boost of a good fourth day here. History, though, is against it. You would expect the game to be over well before the scheduled Close. If it is not, the ever-present threat of rain at this time of year will lead to a very nervous final day of the match.

Sri Lanka v England, 1st Test Day 2: The Beard that is Feared Strikes Back

 

Sri Lanka v England

1^st Test Day 2: The Beard that is Feared Strikes Back

November 7^th 2018

After a remarkable second day of this Test, an England side that looked horribly underprepared, has bullied and outplayed Sri Lanka now for five consecutive sessions. It is not something that many fans were expecting. The script called for something different when England’s last two wickets fell quickly, but the dark mutterings that England had wasted winning the Toss, would find themselves chasing a significant first innings deficit and that a third innings collapse would bring the match to a swift end were found to be shameless scare-mongering, not to mention, utter drivel. There is still a lot of work to do to win this Test, but England have made a good start. Sri Lanka will need to dismiss England for no more than 130 to stay in this match and even that may be too many: based on what we have seen so far, anything over 250 will be a big chase.

However, there are storm clouds on the horizon… literally. The weather forecast for the next three days calls for thundery showers, with a rain interruption almost certain sometime around midday tomorrow. Friday’s forecast is not much better. However, with three days left to play and the lead 177, there should be enough time to force a result, even if rain does intervene.

That said, Day 2 could not have gone much better. Ben Foakes reached his century, albeit in partnership with Jimmy Anderson and then the same combination got an early breakthrough. The bonus was that Sam Curran also added an early wicket as the New Ball did swing a little. However, the question of his ability to bowl a long, holding spell never arose because, after six overs with the New Ball, broken by a change of ends when Jack Leach came on, he retired to the outfield as soon as the ball ceased to swing and did not return. However, 6-1-16-1 was just the opening spell that England needed. Nothing profligate. No easy runs and, when the spinners came on, with Sri Lanka 30-2 and, as the batsmen tried to break the shackles, first Jack Leach and the Moeen Ali rammed home the advantage. We then had the one phase of play when it seemed that Sri Lanka might grab back the advantage: Chandimal and Matthews played sensibly, milked the bowling and accumulated without risk. Had they been able to bat for another hour, England might well have wilted, but the bowlers kept plugging away. Adil Rashid almost removed Chandimal as soon as he came on, but the edge that he induced dropped just short of Ben Stokes. He was not to be denied for long though and Ben Foakes showed what a specialist ‘keeper brings to a side by making a smart stumping as Chandimal was lured out of his ground by the leggie.

Rashid’s reward was to be whipped straight out of the attack. England seem to have decided over the last few tests that, rather than bowling him into the ground, Adil Rashid is to be used as a shock weapon to come on and make breakthroughs, rather than take the heat of bowling thirty straight overs. It seems like a strange way to treat your premier strike bowler, but it seems to be working.

Broken the Chandimal-Matthews stand, Sri Lanka kept losing wickets each time that a stand started to form. Matthews fell after he and Dickwella seemed to be getting the innings back on an even keel, while the highest stand of the innings apart that fourth wicket effort, was just 35. It all pointed to a chronic lack of patience. Conditions were probably easier than on the first day, because the ball was spinning less, even if the England bowlers did produce the occasional jaffa. All three spinners played their part but, in the end, the plaudits went to Moeen Ali, with 4-66, even if he deserved a 5-for. Gone is the defeated Moeen of a year ago. The Beard that is Feared is back. He bowled more overs than all three seamers together and combined well with Leach and Adil Rashid, but more than anything, bowled with intelligence, variation and confidence. The three England spinners kept their discipline and hunted as a pack, taking eight wickets between them and the batsmen really had no answer to it. Whereas England had gone from 164-6 at the fall of Buttler, to 342ao, batting another 53 overs, Sri Lanka subsided from 171-6 to 203ao in 8 overs, as the tail was brushed away.

Sri Lanka needed a devastating response when England batted again. Instead, Jennings and Burns batted solidly through to the Close. It is far too early to hail this as the new opening partnership that England have been longing for, but the openers have the chance to turn the knife in the morning and cement their places for the foreseeable future… that is, at least until the end of this series, if they can bat on for an hour or so in the morning. Do that and they will have the kudos of setting-up an England victory charge.

England need 123 more to set 300 for Sri Lanka to win. That equates to 161ao. Pass 161 and it will be hard to see any way that Sri Lanka will be able to avoid a crushing defeat, giving England their first ever win at Galle. If they do so, it will be the marginal choices – Foakes, Curran and, to a lesser degree, Leach, who set the standard with a mean first spell and early wicket – who will have set it up.

That though, is something that still needs to be worked for. There is still plenty of cricket left in this game and England need a good first session to make sure that the advantage is not squandered.  

Sri Lanka v England, 1st Test Day 1: The Ingenious England Reverse Batting Order Strategy Catches Out Another Unwary Opponent

 

Sri Lanka v England

1^st Test Day 1: The Ingenious England Reverse Batting Order Strategy Catches Out Another Unwary Opponent

November 6^th 2018

First things first: England picked 3 front-line spinners; Ben Foakes took the gloves to avoid lengthening the tail; Moeen Ali did bat at #3, albeit briefly; Sam Curran has replaced Stuart Broad. And, wonder of wonders, at the ground where winning the Toss is the key to winning the match, Joe Root called correctly.

You hope that England made their choices for the right reasons: Moeen Ali bats at #3 for Worcestershire on the few occasions when he plays a game for them, but he has always seemed to do better for England as a brilliant, counter-attacking #7 or #8 than in the top 3. However, maybe he was picked as he was genuinely the best person to bat there, rather than as a sacrifice to avoid others having to bat there. Incidentally, there are those who think that, long-term, Keaton Jennings will do better at #3 than opening. Similarly, is Sam Curran playing because the selectors think that he will take wickets, not because he will score more runs than Stuart Broad?

That said, there was something inevitable about the way that England fell to 10-2 after just 16 balls with Rory Burns and Moeen Ali falling to consecutive balls. It was also inevitable that, after a fifty partnership between Root and Jennings, scored at such a rapid pace that had it continued past Lunch Sri Lanka would have been in real bother, both would fall when well set and that it would leave England in dire straits. 103-5, half an hour before Lunch, with four of the top five bowled, would have any traffic policeman licking his lips at the number of convictions that he could get for dangerous driving. The score was rattling along at well over 4-an-over, but a wicket was falling every six overs. You could hear Sir Geoffrey coming out with “there’s more brains in a pork pie” and “you daft …” as he watched the wickets fall.

At this point, Sri Lanka were odds-on to win and it looked as if the match might be over as a contest by Tea on the first day. Until recently, those who know and love England would point out that Sri Lanka were being lulled into a true sense of security. Let’s face it, England’s recent record in Asia is not as grim as it was in the ‘90s, but that is not actually something to boast about. However, recently, sides facing England have received a nasty surprise. No longer “six out, all out”, the cry has been “six out, now you are in deep trouble!” When Sri Lanka broke the sensible Buttler-Foakes partnership, they must have anticipated a quick end to the innings. Instead, the score has been almost doubled, the last 10 overs of the day produced 54 runs as England tore apart an increasingly ragged attack and, the final insult, was Jack Leach coming in at the fag-end of the day, swinging merrily and taking ten runs from the final over. If Leach locates the edge of the bat as readily when bowling as he has done it when batting, I will be well content. There is nothing as frustrating for a bowler as watching a tail-ender edge and snick his way to a score as the runs stack up.

While Sam Curran, Adil Rashid and Jack Leach had fun at one end (Curran and Adil Rashid launched five huge sixes between them), at the other, Ben Foakes was a solid as Hadrian’s Wall. With one end sealed-up, the batsmen could have some fun with fewer risks at the other. It is a potent combination. If Foakes can get through to his century tomorrow, England should be close to 350 and in a healthy position. A last-minute call-up due to the failure of Joe Denly to convince the selectors that he could do the job of batting at #3 and acting as third spinner, Foakes has made an extraordinary impression in his debut innings. Not too many people will begrudge him those last 13 runs (Dinesh Chandimal may, understandably, be an exception here). Without Foakes, England would have been in the manure. They may be still if the last two wickets fall quickly in the morning and the bowlers forget their lines.

It all adds up to an interesting poser for the selectors after just one day of the series: with Jonny Bairstow and Stuart Broad likely to play in the 2^nd Test, who makes way for them? That though is an example of the pundits getting ahead of themselves: things may look very different after three days of play once both sets of batsmen and both sets of bowlers have been in action. The pitch should deteriorate quickly. Some balls were already turning a lot on Day 1. There is already plenty of rough for the spinners to aim at. However, even if England score 350, if the bowlers cannot take wickets and Sri Lanka reply with 500, the game could still be over on the 3^rd Day and not exactly with an England win.