Thanks for all your messages today, and the lovely tributes to Thorpe that Rob received earlier. We’ll be back tomorrow for day two. Have a lovely evening!
A last email before we shut up shop, from David Sweer. “If Sri Lanka have been told they must open with spinners it seems rather unfair and distorting. Given there are floodlights at the ground, and these are top level professionals, it seems weirdly condescending to forbid the use of fast bowlers.”
It’s a good point – wish I had a Test player here to ask. But I think it’s the red ball under the floodlights which become tricky to see when it gets too dark, despite the artificial light. England were equally handicapped towards the end of their innings.
