England win toss and will bat first up in the chilly North East. With leaden skies the ball could swing around a bit so maybe not that easy to bat first, but sure skip has complete faith in the top order.......cough, cough...
I can't understand why they always seem to pick a May test in the north-east, not exactly the summeriest place in the country. It will seem like the Arctic to the poor Sri Lankans...
Cook goes 5 runs short of 10,000. Batting seems... interesting this morning. Hales seems to be coping best, but I really hope Compton has more confidence in his ability to stick around than I do...
Listening to Graeme Fowler at lunchtime on TMS. He's a superb bloke, with a story about his mental health issues that's honest and at once both heart-warming and heart-breaking. I strongly recommend listening to it on iPlayer or from the TMS website if you've missed it.
I was at Uni with him, briefly (he's even older than me) along with other county players Simon "the analyst" Hughes, Tim Curtis, Gordon Lord. I didn't know Fowler but knew the other three well, especially Hughsey. No wonder I never got near the first team. Strauss and Nasser Hussain were well after my time.
On Beeb text Michael Vaughan puts on the mockers..... WICKET Hales c Mathews b Siriwardana 83 (Eng 160-3) Posted at14:49 Share Share this post on Twitter Facebook Read more about these links. please log in to view this image Michael Vaughan Ex-England captain on BBC Test Match Special "It's all been about Joe Root, you could tell from the start he was picking up the length well. Once they're in, there shouldn't be anything that should worry them." Share Share this post on Twitter Facebook Read more about these links.
Podcast here - apologies if it's not available for those outside the UK: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03wg76n
I had a small interest on Hales to be England's top 1st innings batsman at 9/2. With Root and Bairstow gone, I thought I was home......
This is a really one sided match up, Sri Lanka 91-8. If it were a boxing match the towel would have been thrown in long ago.
Sri Lanka have lost so many of their class players it was inevitable this would be a bit of a turkey-shoot. Pakistan should provide a much sterner test in the next series...
After a quick clear up, Sri Lanka's top order at least showing some grit. No way they can bat out another eight sessions though...
