FOW: Cook c Sangakkara b Prasad 17 (ENG 49/1) in the channel, Cook pushes forward... and nicks to first slip! SL have their man and Cook's rough run continues his indecision around off stump reaching a critical level. Didn't need to play at this but was drawn out by the fuller length, just a familiar, indeterminate prod and a healthy deflection went low and conclusively into Sangakkara's hands this time.
Ballance c Chandimal b Mathews 74 (ENG 191/2) length ball sliding across the left-hander, Ballance plays forward to it and edges behind. I mentioned Sri Lanka needed a wicket from somewhere and the skipper has found it, a pretty innocuous delivery that Ballance has felt for slightly and got a thin edge on through to the keeper.
WICKET - Robson b Pradeep 127 (Eng 278-3)
All over for Robson - he aims a slightly loose drive at Pradeep and is
bowled, third ball after the drinks break. The perfect delivery - hit the top of
off stump. There's even a complete waste of time as Robson is made to wait while
they check for a no-ball - it wasn't even close.
Robson lasted 373 minutes and faced 253 balls, with 15 fours and a six.
WICKET - Bell c Chandimal b Eranga 64 (Eng 311-4)
Robson lasted 373 minutes and faced 253 balls, with 15 fours and a six.
WICKET - Bell c Chandimal b Eranga 64 (Eng 311-4)
Bell inside-edges Eranga for four, then he's beaten all ends up by another
unplayable delivery from the luckless seamer, who's bowled well today without
reward. But after surviving that, Bell's out tamely to a ropey delivery down the
leg side as he feathers an edge to the keeper.
WICKET - Root c Chandimal b Mathews 13 (Eng 311-5)
WICKET - Root c Chandimal b Mathews 13 (Eng 311-5)
Moeen Ali walks to the middle with just over half-an-hour left of day two (a
theoretical nine overs). And one wicket brings two - a hesitant edge behind ends
Root's participation in this innings.
Thinking ahead to tomorrow's attendance, I can almost hear Yorkshire's accountant cursing from here...
WICKET - Moeen c Chandimal b Eranga 2 (Eng 313-6)
Thinking ahead to tomorrow's attendance, I can almost hear Yorkshire's accountant cursing from here...
WICKET - Moeen c Chandimal b Eranga 2 (Eng 313-6)
Having left his first six deliveries last over, Moeen leaves the first ball
of Eranga's new over before the Worcestershire man opens his account with a firm
off drive for two. But when Eranga switches to bowling over the wicket, he
tempts Moeen with one outside off stump which he edges behind.
Three wickets have fallen for two runs in 24 balls, and Sri Lanka are very much back in the running.
England 318 for 6 (Jordan 4*, Prior 3*) lead Sri Lanka 257 by 63 runs
Three wickets have fallen for two runs in 24 balls, and Sri Lanka are very much back in the running.
England 318 for 6 (Jordan 4*, Prior 3*) lead Sri Lanka 257 by 63 runs
Sam Robson. It is a name that signifies no messing, a straightforward, orthodox sort of name. It will sound even more straightforward to those who watched Sam Robson make his maiden Test hundred at Headingley.
Nothing is likely to come easily for Robson in his England Test career. He is a batsman of few fripperies, committed to the long game. He made 127 before Nuwan Pradeep, armed with the second new ball, brought one back to strike his off stump, causing England to stumble to a lead of 62 with four wickets remaining by the close.
That lead is not what it should be. Sri Lanka made excellent use of that second new ball as evening cloud cover thickened.
From 278 for 2, England subsided to 313 for 6. Joe Root was furious with himself at guiding Angelo Mathews to the wicketkeeper. Moeen Ali was worked over too easily for his own peace of mind, driving loosely at Shaminda Eranga, the innings of a Headingley ingénue.
The meat of the day for England - a slow roast- came in a second-wicket stand between Robson and Gary Ballance of 142 in 49 overs, a productive alliance between two new players to warm a selector's heart. Ballance was occasionally the more robust, but Robson possessed an understated elegance.
There was also an overly cute innings of 64 from Ian Bell, who was warmly received on his 100th Test - proof of a more exalted status these days - and who provided the impetus England needed, but nevertheless seemed a little too lightsome, addicted to the back cut that has brought him so much sustenance over the past year. He was strangled down the leg side, flicking at a nondescript ball from Eranga.
Mathews, a reluctant fourth seamer, his injury issues no doubt at the forefront of his mind, bowled at around 75mph (120kph) yet drew as much seam and bounce as any Sri Lanka bowler from the surface. He could also have dismissed Matt Prior for nought but failed to hold a low catch as he dived heavily to his right. With worse luck, Prior's Test comeback could have resulted in three successive ducks.
But it was Robson's intensity which characterised this Test match Saturday. It was fancy dress day at Headingley, and alongside a motley collection of scouts, crusaders and mime artists, he enacted the role of a forensic scientist, microscope pressed firmly against his eye, rejecting excess, intent on the pursuit of evidence.
The crowd watched Robson patiently, but not as intently as Robson watched the ball. He might have been auditioning for a role in Silent Witness, except with the most adventurous lines removed from the script. He did not just watch the ball; he appeared to be looking for stray fibres which might just help him unravel the secrets of the game.
On this occasion, there were not too many secrets to unravel.
Headingley can still become treacherous for batsmen when the mood takes it, but this was a day when it rolled over and allowed its tummy to be tickled. Sri Lanka's trio of frontline pace bowlers maintained disciplined lines, but they received little assistance and, as such, the procession of right-armers seeking to move the ball away from the right-hander became samey.
Robson looked quite mechanical on his Test debut at Lord's, tension no doubt contributing to that, but as he made unflustered progress, so his body relaxed. His strength looks to be the off-side drive, off the front foot, but partial to that shot or not, he was rarely drawn into extravagance.
Robson's circumspection steadily edged England into a position of authority on a day when they lost only one wicket in each of the first two sessions. Alastair Cook, a captain uncertain in his game, continued to struggle, making 17 to follow scores of 17 and 28 in the first Test at Lord's.
Headingley was the venue for his last Test century, but this year it was the source of more breast-beating. He fell to Dhammika Prasad, a bat dangler as he pushed forward half-heartedly, held low by Kumar Sangakkara at first slip.
Bowlers think that by maintaining a fuller length they have his measure.
He will probably have to play forward for the rest of his Test career and he needs to find a response.
Robson's fifty had a dash of a moment of impatience as he forced Pradeep off the back foot between slip and gully.
Concentration disturbed, he had a nibble at the next one and almost edged to the wicketkeeper. Slim and fresh faced, he quietly admonished himself: a silent witness to his own error.
Ballance approaches an innings, one suspects, with less complexity.
When Sri Lanka pitched the ball around off stump, his surname was inappropriate; he was liable to get into a tangle. If he was a forensic scientist, he would drop the odd test tube. Give him a clip off his hips, the chance to sweep the spinner or to cut off the back foot and he looks more at home.
It took a successful England review to spare him on 33 when umpire Billy Bowden adjudged him lbw to Rangana Herath as he trudged inelegantly into a straight ball, only for replays to show the ball turning high and wide of leg stump.
Herath was again unfortunate when Ballance was dropped at short leg on 61, Kaushal Silva failing to get down to a catch by his right boot.
He finally succumbed to an innocuous length delivery from Mathews which he guided to the wicketkeeper.
A more flamboyant player might have wanted their maiden hundred won or lost before tea, but not Robson.
Bell contrived to give him three deliveries in the penultimate over, against the left-arm spin of Herath, but he could not pierce the off-side field. He gave him another three balls on strike in the last over, against Mathews, but he could only pick off a single. Bell gave him another single. One ball left, one could imagine him telling himself to play it on its merits: blocked.
He addressed that in the second over after tea - though not without having played out five more dot balls from Herath - chasing a wide, full one from Prasad and guiding it through cover. He even then skipped down the pitch to deposit Herath over long-on for six - and he only has half-a-dozen of those in his first-class career.
But as the new ball came, and Robson departed, Sri Lanka infiltrated England's celebrations, leaving Cook's expression on the dressing room balcony a touch more troubled than it had been an hour before.
Tea England 211 for 2 (Robson 98*, Bell 8*) trail Sri Lanka 257 by 46 runs
It was fancy dress day at Headingley and alongside a motley collection of scouts, Crusaders and mime artists, Sam Robson closed to within two runs of a maiden Test hundred while re-enacting the role of a forensic scientist, microscope pressed firmly against his eye. It is a role he may be about to play for a long time.
A more flamboyant player might have wanted that maiden hundred won or lost before tea, but not Robson.
Ian Bell contrived to give him three deliveries in the penultimate over, against the left-arm spin of Rangana Herath, but he could not pierce the off side field. He gave him another three balls on strike in the last over, against Angelo Mathews, but he could only pick off a single. Bell gave him another single. One ball left: one could imagine him telling himself to play it on its merits: blocked.
Robson's circumspection steadily edged England into a position of authority on a day when they lost only one wicket in each session: Alastair Cook, a captain uncertain in his game, departed before lunch; Gary Ballance, for a sturdy 74, as tea hovered into view.
Ballance, on his home ground, was occasionally more bullish in a second-wicket stand of 142 in 49 overs, a productive alliance between two new players to warm a selector's heart, but it was Robson whose intensity characterised the first two sessions of a Test match Saturday.
He looked quite mechanical on his Test debut at Lord's, tension no doubt contributing to that, but as he made unflustered progress, so his body relaxed. His strength looks to be the off-side drive, off the front foot, but partial to that shot or not, he was not drawn into anything extravagant.
The crowd watched Robson patiently, but not as intently as Robson watched the ball. He might have been auditioning for a role in Silent Witness, except with the most adventurous lines removed from the script. He did not just watch the ball; he appeared to be looking for stray fibres which might just help him unravel the secrets of the game.
On this occasion, there were not too many secrets to unravel. Headingley can still become treacherous for batsmen when the mood takes it, but this was a day when it rolled over and allowed its tummy to be tickled. Sri Lanka's trio of frontline pace bowlers maintained disciplined lines, but they received little assistance and, as such, the procession of right-armers seeking to move the ball away from the right-hander became samey.
Robson's first Test fifty, in his second Test, was assembled in two-and-threequarter hours. Oddly, he reached it with a moment of impatience, forcing Nuwan Pradeep off the back foot between slip and gully.
Concentration disturbed, he had a nibble at the next one and almost edged to the wicketkeeper. Slim and fresh faced, he quietly admonished himself: a silent witness to his own error. Between lunch and tea, he made only 43. England knew they would have to push on, but not yet awhile.
Ballance approaches an innings, one suspects, with less complexity. When Sri Lanka pitched the ball around off stump, his surname was inappropriate; he was liable to get into a tangle. If he was a forensic scientist, he would drop the odd test tube. Give him a clip off his hips, the chance to sweep the spinner or to cut off the back foot and he looks more at home.
It took a successful England review to spare him on 33 when umpire Billy Bowden adjudged him lbw to Herath as he trudged inelegantly into a straight ball, only for replays to show the ball turning high and wide of leg stump.
Herath was again unfortunate when Ballance was dropped at short leg on 61, Kaushal Silva failing to get down to a catch by his right boot . He might also have been run out two runs earlier when he was slow to respond to Robson's eagerness for a single to an off-side parry.
He finally succumbed to an innocuous length delivery from Mathews which he guided to the wicketkeeper.
As for Cook, he continued to struggle, 17 to follow scores of 17 and 28 in the first Test at Lord's. Headingley was the venue for his last Test century, but this year it was the source of more breast beating. He fell to Dhammika Prasad, a bat dangler as he pushed forward half-heartedly, held low by Kumar Sangakkara at first slip.
Bowlers think that by maintaining a fuller length they have his measure. He will probably have to play forward for the rest of his Test career and he needs to find a response.
Lunch England 106 for 1 (Robson 55*, Ballance 30*) trail Sri Lanka 257 by 151 runs
It was fancy dress day at Headingley and alongside a motley collection of scouts, Crusaders and mime artists, Sam Robson secured his first Test half-century while re-enacting the role of a forensic scientist, microscope against hs eye.
It is a role he may be about to play for a long time.
Robson's circumspection steadily edged England into a position of authority on a morning when they lost only one wicket, that of their captain, Alastair Cook.
Alongside him, Gary Ballance, on his home ground, was occasionally more bullish, but it was Robson whose intensity characterised the morning of a Test match Saturday.
The crowd watched him patiently, but not as intently as Robson watched the ball. He might have been auditioning for a role in Silent Witness, except with the most adventurous lines removed from the script.
He did not just watch the ball; he appeared to be looking for stray fibres which might just help him unravel the secrets of the game.
On this occasion, there were not too many secrets to unravel. Headingley can still become treacherous for batsmen when the mood takes it, but this was a day when it rolled over and allowed its tummy to be tickled.
Sri Lanka's trio of pace bowlers maintained disciplined lines, but they received little assistance and, as such, the procession of right-armers seeking to move the ball away from the right-hander became samey.
Robson's first Test fifty, in his second Test, was assembled in two-and-three-quarter hours. Oddly, he reached it with a moment of impatience, forcing Nuwan Pradeep off the back foot between slip and gully.
Concentration disturbed, he had a nibble at the next one and almost edged to the wicketkeeper. Slim and fresh faced, he quietly admonished himself: a silent witness to his own error.
His strength looks to be the off-side drive, off the front foot, but partial to that shot or not, he will not be drawn into anything extravagant.
Ballance approaches an innings, one suspects, with less complexity. When Sri Lanka pitched the ball around off stump, his surname was inappropriate; he was liable to get into a tangle.
If he was a forensic scientist, he would drop the odd test tube. Give him a clip off his hips, the chance to sweep the spinner or pretty much anything on the back foot and he looks more at home.
As for Cook, he continues to struggle, 17 to follow scores of 17 and 28 in the first Test at Lord's. Headingley was the venue for his last Test century, but this year it was the source of more breast beating. He fell to Dhammika Prasad, a bat dangler as he pushed forward half-heartedly, held low by Kumar Sangakkara at first slip.
Bowlers think that by maintaining a fuller length they have his measure. He will probably have to play forward for the rest of his Test career and he needs to find a response.
No comments:
Post a Comment