Report, reaction and analyis
England debutant Josh Hull experienced the highs and the lows of Test cricket at the Kia Oval, celebrating his first international wicket but dropping a costly catch as Sri Lanka fought back before bad light stopped play.
The hosts batted carelessly in a chaotic morning session to turn their overnight position of 221 for three into an underwhelming 325 all out, with Sri Lanka finishing 211 for five after a rocky start to their reply.
Midway through his third over, Hull had a moment he will never forget as Sri Lankan opener Pathum Nissanka was brilliantly caught at short cover by a diving Chris Woakes. The tourists slumped to 93 for five soon after – Olly Stone taking two as well as executing an opportunistic run out.
The tourists rallied as Dhananjaya de Silva (64no) and Kamindu Mendis (54no) put on 118. With bad light meaning England could only utilise spin after tea, there was only one concrete chance and Hull shelled it. Shoaib Bashir drew a mishit from De Silva and the ball sailed straight to the newcomer, who let the ball squirm on to the floor. PA Media
Stumps!
There it is, officially the close of play here at The Oval. Sri Lanka go to sleep at 211-5, trailing by 114. Thanks for your company, we’ll be back tomorrow. Night!
Nasser’s turn. He’s taking up the campaign on 10:30am starts for September. He’s so on it, that he had the camera operator take some shots from 10:30am this morning to build his case, when it was fine. He’s asking why this wouldn’t be the case? Athers notes that it was 10:30am starts all summer in the Channel 4 days due to TV programming.
Ricky adds a good point on this: make all September Tests pink-ball affairs.
There’s nothing going on here at the ground. The majority of fans have done home. On Sky, the conversation has moved into the bad light debate. It’ll continue. Ricky Ponting has backed in the pink ball switcheroo idea, but said it should be in the gift of the batting team. I don’t mind the compromise there. As Athers says in reply, nobody has a better cricket brain than Punter so it’s worth, you know, listening to the man.
They need to be back on by 6:30pm at the latest. But they’ll call it before then.
There was one major moment in that session. On 23, Dhananjaya played a shocking shot off Bashir and nursed it straight to mid-off… but Josh Hull made a meal of it. From there, it was smooth sailing for the captain and Kamindu, putting on 118 so far.
That’s not yet stumps, but it will be soon. I’ll keep you posted, of course.
Bad light stops play
45th over: Sri Lanka 211-5 (Dhananjaya 64, Kamindu 54) Bashir to Kamindu, who helps himself to a couple of risk-free runs through the legside and a single to finish in the same direction. The umpires have gotten involved here, taking it out of the hands of Ollie Pope and taking the players off. There are a few boos, but I’d imagine they are a little bit performative – everyone here knows how dark it has been for a long time.
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44th over: Sri Lanka 208-5 (Dhananjaya 64, Kamindu 51) Root’s second over to Dhananjaya is a bit of a stand off until the final couple of balls, the set No6 deciding to have a real go at the final delivery so launch it through midwicket for four. There are now conversations every over between the England brains trust. Might they go off?
Mike Daniels has written about light: “I’ve seen a couple of posts which seem to want to criticise the ECB for the earliest decision on bad light which led to Woakes bowling 4 balls of off spin. Surely the regulations that the umpires are working to are ICC ones? Harsh to blame them ECB for that.”
Exactly. But if you read some of the loose/ranty facebook groups (and for my amusement, I do) you would led to believe others.
Kamindu Mendis raises his half century from 60 balls
43rd over: Sri Lanka 204-5 (Dhananjaya 60, Kamindu 51) He’s been the junior partner in this stand but Kamindu’s contribution is no less important, clipping Bashir through square leg for four to bring up his half-century. That’s the seventh time in ten Test innings he has reached 50, with three of those converted into tons. What a start. The TV cameras flick to Stokes and McCullum between overs, the latter in his usual pose with his feet up on the railing. No signs yet that they’ll change the script and get off.
“Re Josh Hull,” writes Gary Naylor, who I am sure is also in the press seats here somewhere! “I’ve no problem with the selectors using a dead rubber to have a look at a raw potential Ashes tourist. The problem is that the tour in question is 2029-30.”
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42nd over: Sri Lanka 200-5 (Dhananjaya 60, Kamindu 47) Here he is, Joe Root is on for a jam roll, replacing Lawrence away from the pav. I mentioned Bashir’s arm ball a couple of overs ago, he’s the wily Yorkshireman who has the best one going around, and could be difficult to pick up in this light – just you watch. He’s going around the wicket to Dhananjaya, interesting, and nearly prompted an error sweeping – off the back of the bat, could’ve gone anywhere! Sure enough, runs away for four. Here’s the arm ball later in the over, but Dhananjaya knows it is coming, picks it, a steers a couple more. Nice. The 200 is up with that as well. This has been a superb session in the dark.
“Hi Adam.” Hi, Colum Fordham. “To make up for the overcast conditions and prevailing gloom, England’s fielders seem hell-bent on entertaining with comic fielding (Josh “Rod” Hull’s spectacular drop off Bashir, Bashir’s own fumble at point and finally Gus Atkison diving over the ball going to the boundary). Dan Lawrence’s contorted windmill action is also amusing. To be fair, there is no worse feeling in cricket than dropping a catch (I suppose hearing your stumps rattling comes close) and one feels for Hull and Asitha Fernando earlier in the day who got teased by the crowd for his muffed catch.”
I’m sure McCullum and Stokes (who is here) will take care of Hull tonight over that miss and focus instead on the fact that he has a Test wicket. They’ve seen a lot of newcomers through those doors over the last couple of years and made it work with all of them.
41st over: Sri Lanka 193-5 (Dhananjaya 54, Kamindu 46) And that’s the 100 partnership, clapped accordingly by the fans to my left. Kamindu, who this time takes two to start instead of one, gets the pair to the mark with a cut to deep point. Famous last words, but if these two can still be there at stumps, whenever that time comes…
“On the height of Hull’s release point not reflecting his actual height,” writes Stephen Colwill, “I think the picture of him that Rob took earlier and posted to the OBO is quite revealing. The picture shows him in a considerably crouched posture in his follow-through, and it is difficult to imagine that he had just released the ball at anything like his full height.”
That was my pic! But yes, thought the same thing – he’s not up-and-over the braced front leg in the way that we were so conditioned to watching Anderson bowl forever.
40th over: Sri Lanka 190-5 (Dhananjaya 54, Kamindu 43) I’ve rarely seen Test cricket played in conditions darker than this, for what it’s worth. Dhananjaya is making the most of this unexpected window, square driving a full delivery off Lawrence for four like a man who is batting at high noon. He’s made all the running since the tea break.
39th over: Sri Lanka 185-5 (Dhananjaya 50, Kamindu 42) Kamindu has seen very little strike since tea, happy to turn it over with singles as soon as he gets it. The pattern continues here, popping Bashir’s first delivery to square leg. Dhahanjaya elects to play the rest defensively, the most interesting ball of the lot a handy little arm ball.
“Hi Adam.” Hello, Alisdair Gould. “No one seems to be concerned how incongrous England’s selection process has become. I have no opinion on the rights and wrongs. However, it is a strange situation where young players are picked - academy fashion - and the highest professional level of competition (the counties) is overlooked. It takes away a rationale of professional hierarchy. Thoughts please?”
I can totally see why county bowlers would be unhappy with Hull’s promotion – especially Sam Cook, who was talked up for Test cricket before the summer by Rob Key and, aside from doing a hamstring, has done nothing wrong. But I do think there’ll be a different approach next summer when India are here. Right or wrong, there are some summers they will live a little and others when they won’t. For that reason, I reckon Dan Worrall is a massive chance to play against India next year once he’s eligible for selection in April. He’s the best bowler in the country – mad not to consider it.
Dhananjaya de Silva reaches his half-century from 81 balls
38th over: Sri Lanka 184-5 (Dhananjaya 50, Kamindu 41) A “won’t mind that” from Sanga on TV when Dhananjaya goes back to cut Lawrence after he’s changed the angle to round the wicket, chopping away for four but to a ball that did come back appreciably. But it’s enough to get the captain to a half-century, making the most of the chance off Bashir when Hull put him down just after tea. This pair has put on 91 now, either side of the break, with 42 added in the last ten overs. Nice batting.
37th over: Sri Lanka 178-5 (Dhananjaya 44, Kamindu 41) Bashir is turning it enough to be in the game but he’s giving the Sri Lankan pair chances to score, in this case Dhananjaya driving a half-volley to extra cover for three – a great stop from Woakes.
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36th over: Sri Lanka 174-5 (Dhananjaya 41, Kamindu 40) Dhananjaya is happy watching Lawrence spin it past his thigh pad when missing his length, then taking him down the ground when he’s too full – it’s working well. The overs ends with a cuttable delivery and he isn’t missing out there either – it gets to the rope out at deep cover.
“Adders, mate.” Paris Bob Wilson! Great to see your name pop up. “First up - well done on recently getting a ton. I’m weeping in vexation and jealousy.”
It was a lovely day out in Dulwich last weekend. You reach a certain point and assume you won’t get a ton (and fair enough, as a bowler), but there we were. The key lesson here, my friends: never retire, play forever. And say yes to plenty of Sunday cricket.
“Secondly, it’s been a pretty delicious Test summer, both tours offering lots of little unpredictable delights and crunchy pleasures without quite rising to being properly competitive (which makes for quite a relaxing form of enjoyment). But, entre nous, is it just me or is there not something really quite, ahem, special about watching this kid Kamindu bat? I’ve been dipping in on a totally unnaughty video feed (French television famously shows the last English Test every summer) and I find myself frequently groaning with pleasure in a way I might find difficult to explain fully to the magistrate. I’ve knocked around a bit so I’ve had a touch of this with other players, but mostly just one or two shots, the Robin Smith cut, the Ponting pull etc. I think this is the first time I’ve felt this about someone’s entire batting schtick (or at least since The Viv). He’s a little too lovely to watch. Even his stance makes my head slightly swim.”
Oh, you’re spot on – he’s class. I want to see him get the chance to have a massive career and cannot wait to watch him in the flesh again in his home conditions when there in February for Australia’s two Tests. The negative bit here, though? How much Test cricket will Sri Lanka play in, say, five years from now? Anyway, let’s have that horrible conversation another day. For now, let’s get him to a ton.
35th over: Sri Lanka 168-5 (Dhananjaya 36, Kamindu 39) A top shot from Dhananjaya begins the next over, leaping out to drive Bashir through cover towards the gas holder for four. Atkinson nearly got there in time, but not quite. A nice steer follows for a couple. Punter makes a good point on telly – at what stage does this become counterproductive to England’s interests and they engineer a bad light delay?
“Regarding early starts,” adds Brian Withington, “is there an issue with morning dew, especially in September? Back in the day I dimly recall a succession of 60-over finals at Lord’s that were effectively settled by winning the toss and inserting the opposition for ten overs of mayhem. Or is that now all addressed by a rope being dragged around the outfield as they often do in Indian T20s?”
Less of an issue for the reasons you state but also, they start the County Championship at 10:30am in September. The reason I’m often given is off-peak trains. But surely, surely, that can’t be the prevailing factor? Not in September, at least.
34th over: Sri Lanka 161-5 (Dhananjaya 29, Kamindu 39) A loud appeal for a catch around the corner at leg slip off Dhananjaya, after a sharp take low from Brook, but it is turned down and they don’t review. Good call - it was pad. In response, the Sri Lankan skipper has another go down the ground and picks the right ball this time, launching the half-volley back over Lawrence’s head for four. A very watchable player.
33rd over: Sri Lanka 152-5 (Dhananjaya 23, Kamindu 37) Oh boy, AN AWFUL DROPPED CATCH! Shocking batting from Dhananjaya, let’s get that out there first. Failing to get to the pitch of the ball, he had a crack at his smash over long on anyway and got none of it. In turn, the ball looped to Hull at mid-on who had an eternity to take it in front of his sternum and made a total meal of it. As Butch says on telly, he barely got a mitt on it. Lovely dip from Bashir to force the error, deserves a wicket, let down badly. The man on debut doesn’t hide his dismay as he throws the ball back. We’ve all been there, of course, but not many in the middle of The Oval at the very start of a career. Dhananjaya was so certain that he was gone that he threw his bat in the air before the miss. Wow.
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32nd over: Sri Lanka 151-5 (Dhananjaya 23, Kamindu 36) I was too deep in thought about the afternoon/evening/night query to take in much of that Lawrence over, but we can all agree there was one run taken from it, by Kamindu, and move on with our lives.
31st over: Sri Lanka 150-5 (Dhananjaya 23, Kamindu 35) I like that Bashir gives it a rip every single ball and I like his little skip at the top of his mark. He has two catchers in close on the legside if one really takes off, but he’s in at the stumps here giving Dhananjaya very little. On TV the consensus is that they will be taken off soon.
“Good evening?” asks James Robinson. “It’s only 4pm! I’ve always thought evening set in at 5pm? What’s the consensus? I am far too hungover to think of a witty remark. I consumed far too much heavy red wine last night. When does night time kick in, come to think of it? 8pm?”
I was having this very discussion with my curious four-year-old last week! Now that we’re into September, I’m okay with describing anything after tea as evening. In the summer months, I feel like it can still be afternoon-energy nearing 6pm over here. As for night… whenever the sun goes down? With the exception of deep winter, when we probably need to mandate that night can’t begin until the 6pm news rolls. Fair?
30th over: Sri Lanka 148-5 (Dhananjaya 21, Kamindu 35) Dan Lawrence from the pavilion end, which is enough to confirm that Pope has been told this is a spin-only passage of play due to the light. Both Sri Lankans have taken their lids off too, love to see it. A couple of singles, but not a lot going on here. The usual chat about Lawrence’s unorthodox action takes place on commentary, which is to be expected.
“Hi Adam.” Simon McMahon – gidday to you. “I’m distracted. Is something happening in Edinburgh?* Australia, chasing 150 to beat Scotland in the third T20I, are 19-2 after four overs. *probably not, but dreams are free, right?”
Let’s take a look. Right, Scotland 149-9 in their 20 overs with Brandon McMullen smacking 56 early on. Cam Green picked up 3fa for the Aussies. In reply, they are 93-3 in the 11th, so yes, it looks like they’ll walk it from here. Green is busy again, unbeaten on 33 from 22 with Tim David for company, who is in after Mitch Marsh fell for 31.
29th over: Sri Lanka 146-5 (Dhananjaya 20, Kamindu 34) I watched Shoaib bowl a really impressive spell here in May against Surrey when the home side were bossing it and he never gave up. Different energy here, albeit against two excellent players of spin – especially Dhananjaya, who loves it. And as I type, he takes him on straight over his head for four, landing no more than a few metres inside the rope. Great footwork, dancing at the spinner and turning it into a half-volley – just as Ian Chappell taught us all to play that shot on coaching tapes that every Aussie kid had in the 1990s.
Quite a few emails in the break – thanks for those. Jeremy Boyce, who wrote when Rob was on earlier, predicted a stumps score of 126-7. I reckon you’ll be close.
Andy Flintoff (not that one, he insists) is into the pink ball switcheroo idea: “Switching to a pink ball under floodlights would help tremendously with cricket played in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh during the English winter, where early finishes for bad light are almost guaranteed, even with the early starts.” Preach!
The players are back on the field. There are light meters everywhere, but there will be cricket. Sniffing the breeze, perhaps, Ollie Pope has thrown the ball to Shoaib Bashir.
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At tea, I asked about half a dozen colleagues about Hull thoughts. The consensus – imagine a high-pitched, shoulder shrug: “Yeah. Alright, I guess?” Look, he’s no Mitch Starc. But he needn’t be, he’s little more than a large kid at this point. But that spell wasn’t the ‘where were you?’ moment we all like with cricketers making their debuts. Sky ran through a big release point analysis segment during the break. I didn’t catch what they were saying, but it’s quite low relative to his height – like Broad. CricViz told us before the Test that Sam Curran lets the ball go at about the same height as Hull.
For all of that tepid commentary in the above paragraph, I still like the selection.
Surely bad light is going to stop play here. It’s gotten a lot darker since they took tea.
Five wickets in the session. Just what England were after. They haven’t quite broken the visitors’ resistance, knowing full well that these two are capable of both playing long innings, but they’re one wicket away from getting into them again. I’m going to see what sandwiches are on offer and grab a cup of tea. Back in ten minutes.
TEA: Sri Lanka 142-5
28th over: Sri Lanka 142-5 (Dhananjaya 16, Kamindu 34) Atkinson v Kamindu for the final time this session and it nearly brings the wicket! From around the wicket, the angle is there back towards the left-hander followed by enough seam movement away – edge collected. But for once, there is a gap in the Pope cordon at fourth slip and that’s precisely where the ball goes – four runs. Atkinson goes fuller to finish, the final ball before the break, and he drives it away for back-to-back boundaries – nice response.
“Greater to have you back on the OBO.” Ever so kind, Brian Withington – you know how much I love dropping in here when I can. “Loath though I am to pass up any opportunity to give the ECB a gratuitous kicking, at least on player safety they haven’t followed the lead of successive governments in matters of bothersome building regulations and fire safety. If they had we would presumably now have the light meter manufacturers falsifying test results and the final decision on whether to come off for bad light would be left to the market via a spectator show of hands (visibility permitting) or otherwise some sort of open outcry?”
I won’t weigh in on the politics, but the point about messing with the light meters is a reasonable one – if there was some giant conspiracy at play here, surely it would be to keep the players on for longer rather than whipping them off. Everyone hates that.
27th over: Sri Lanka 130-5 (Dhananjaya 15, Kamindu 24) I’m usually pretty generous to the officials when it comes to bad light adjudications but I reckon it’s far darker now than when Woakes was asked to bowl some offies. The conditions suit him, getting a genuine inswinger to go a long way and beat the inside edge, which followed a classy outswinger that went beyond Dhananjaya’s outside edge. This is not easy at all.
26th over: Sri Lanka 130-5 (Dhananjaya 15, Kamindu 24) TV picks up on Woakes favouring his right groin when fielding a ball in this Atkinson over, but it looks like he’s alright. Atkinson to Kamindu again, which is turning into a pretty good battle as we near tea, he leaves and waits then tucks a couple when looking to go a bit straighter.
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25th over: Sri Lanka 128-5 (Dhananjaya 15, Kamindu 22) Woakes was expensive earlier but he did finish with the wicket of Kusal Mendis. Well, he actually finished with four off breaks, but that’s a story discussed in depth already in the OBO. From the Vauxhall End replacing Stone, he’s right where he wants to be to Dhanahjaya, who knows the right play here is to defend and leave. A maiden. 15 minutes (I think) until tea.
“Afternoon Adam.” Guy Hornsby up north, great to hear from you. “I trust you’re pretty chipper after the Hawks advanced this weekend.”
You better believe it. The lid is off, I’m up and about – we’re gonna win the flag. This is Aussie Rules chat for those of you not across it. Plenty of room on our bandwagon.
“It’s been great watching Josh Hull’s first spell in Test cricket. He’s a huge guy, and still feels like there’s some physical development to come, but there’s great building blocks there at such a young age. He’s got decent control and can get up to the high 80s. He gives a bit of the energy of Chris Tremlett (if he was a lefty), which is certainly no bad thing. Here’s hoping he gets more than 12 Tests in his career. Long way to go yet.”
All quite fair. I know you should’ve give away Test caps and all that, but it feels to me exactly the type of investment/risk that’s worth a go at this point of the cycle. Right ground, right time of year, right time of the series – see how he goes. If it doesn’t land, and he’s still a few years away, then that’s okay too. But if it works, and he can shift up a gear or two and keep swinging it around from his height, then they’re laughing.
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24th over: Sri Lanka 128-5 (Dhananjaya 15, Kamindu 22) Atkinson puts Kamindu under pressure for the first time since his arrival, on three occasions beating his edge with balls that have successfully decked away from the left-hander. The easy question to ask from those who haven’t watched a lot of Atkinson is whether he has enough about him to do well in Australia – in other words, is he quick enough to do it on flatties. Well, it surely helps that he can do the wobble seam thing at 140kph. That should do nicely.
“Good evening, Adam.” Hello Digvijay Yadav. “On a slightly different topic of discussion, where do you think should Kamindu Mendis bat? Reminds me of the debate when Clarke hit his purple patch and Australia had a brittle top order. Should he bat where he fills comfortable, or as Chappelli would say, why not come in before the crisis as opposed to recovering from it?”
Seems inevitable to me that he ends up four or five. He clearly has the game for it. I was at his debut at Galle in 2022, one of the most enjoyable Test Matches I’ve commentated on for a host of reasons – wrote about it in WCM – and looked ready right away. Not quite sure how we’re two years on with him at No7. Anyway, he’s a gun. Get him up.
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23rd over: Sri Lanka 128-5 (Dhananjaya 15, Kamindu 22) Olly Stone has a fifth over, probably his last for now, and when banging it in short Dhananjaya pulls away for four with some ease – not a lot of pace in that late in a spell. He bounces back with a ball that beats the bat to finish, albeit from a fair way short of a good length.
“Hi Adam.” Good afternoon to you, Andrew Moore. “I have some sympathy with umpires and the general authorities when it comes to light. However for paying spectators it is the lack of transparency that is most galling - there can be few things more frustrating than waiting for light to improve, with no idea of what is the safe level of light. Why can we not have a light meter installed in the stumps (we can put a camera in them) so that we have a live indication of the light and don’t have to go through the ritual of umpires convening and looking quizzically at their contraptions that look about 40 years old? Once the level tips below what is required the players go off and everyone in the ground understands why.”
Good shout. Like you, I don’t think there’s much problem with when they come and go – it’s very easy to say from the sofa what is and isn’t adequate light. But for those at the ground, who are missing out, there has to be more done. I would get the pink balls out, as argued earlier, but if that’s not going to happen then better communication is vital.
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22nd over: Sri Lanka 123-5 (Dhananjaya 11, Kamindu 21) Atkinson returns to replace Hull, who took 1/26 from his five. Kamindu is equal to the new challenge, turning three more through midwicket. He’s reached 20 from 19 balls – going so nicely. Dhananjaya gets through the rest, defending all that’s coming his way. As Ricky Ponting explains on telly, it’s the wobble-seam balls that Atkinson is setting up for with each delivery.
21st over: Sri Lanka 120-5 (Dhananjaya 11, Kamindu 18) You often hear the rule-of-thumb about four shadows being made by the fielders and that’s certainly the case for Stone – he best make the most of this before it’s spin from both ends. Just about the shot of the day from Dhananjaya, nailing an on-drive past the bowlers’ boots. Excellent. Three more to finish via the bat of Kamindu, a well-timed clip towards the gas holder.
Between overs, the umpires pull out their light meters. Nasser Hussain makes the very reasonable point that if we’re playing Test cricket in September (which I have no concerns with – look at when the 2005 Ashes ended), then it has to be with play beginning at 10:30am. The probability of us playing at 7pm tonight, when the final over must start, is so slim. Had we gotten away at 10:30am (or indeed, 10am as would be the case when adding on time from the day before in most places), we’re far better placed.
20th over: Sri Lanka 112-5 (Dhananjaya 6, Kamindu 15) Hull gets a fifth over with still a packed cordon behind Dhananjaya. But the Sri Lankan captain gets off strike first ball with a tuck. Kamindu picks the right ball to turn in that direction too, for a couple.
19th over: Sri Lanka 109-5 (Dhananjaya 5, Kamindu 13) The umps allow Stone to continue off his long run, away from me at the Vauxhall End. It’s just the over Sri Lanka needed to get things going back in their direction, with Kamindu playing a tremendous cover drive – he’s some player, this guy. He follows that up with four more through cover point, then a further picture-perfect cover drive to finish. Really lovely batting.
“Dear Adam.” Hi, Gary Nichol. “To join the conversation on fitness of light for cricket, I write as a qualified umpire for recreational cricket in England and Scotland with some knowledge of ICC regulations. We (that is, all cricket below professional cricket in England and Scotland) have guidance on assessing the fitness of the ground, weather and light written by ECB partly in response to a court case. The principle is simple: it’s either fit for cricket (in which case, play on as normal) or it is not (in which case, stop the game). We, as umpires, cannot tell captains they can only bowl spin (as this is a tacit admission that the light is not good enough), nor can we, say, tell captains that fast bowlers must run off a short run to avoid wet ground on a runup (if it’s too wet for a bowler surely it’s too wet for a fielder who might need to run over to field the ball).
None of that applies at the professional level. As we have seen, captains are given the option of bowling slow bowlers ostensibly to keep the game moving for the paying crowd (and the rest of the money associated with the game, “stakeholders” as those who speak that sort of language say), but it leads to quite ridiculous scenarios.
Personally, I feel a Test in September ought to be played with a pink ball and floodlights used as and when needed, which essentially eliminates bad light as a reason to stop the game.”
For the first time today (sorry, it won’t be the last), I will advance the case I’ve been making since 2018. In short, when bad light becomes a factor in a Test Match where there ground is using proper floodlights, then whip out a pink ball until the close. As Daniel Norcross said (ranted) on The Final Word last night, yes there’ll be arguments that this isn’t fair for the batting team. But that’s the game, right? There are plenty of instances where one factor will change and one side will feel hard done by. Do it!
18th over: Sri Lanka 97-5 (Dhananjaya 5, Kamindu 1) Dare I mention the fact that it is getting darker again at The Oval? I was keen to see more Chris Woakes off-breaks, so we dare to dream. Didn’t get his back hip through it, did he? I want more. As Hull begins a new over, Ian Ward ponders whether the new man has some decent left-arm orthodox to turn to if the umpires get the light meter out mid-over. Anyway, it’s Dhananjaya with a clipped single and Kamindu with a steer. The captain gets two more to backward square to finish. I’d be surprised if we don’t see spin (instructed by the umpires) soon.
17th over: Sri Lanka 93-5 (Dhananjaya 2, Kamindu 0) The left-handed Kamindu Mendis has enjoyed a superb start to his career and once again his runs are urgent down at No7. Stone, who has done so much right since returning to the team last week, immediately goes around the wicket to him, and bowling with a head of steam after taking two wickets in his first eight balls, he locates an inside edge first ball that’s ever so close to ballooning back onto the stumps, but the new man whacks it away with his bat. Close call – had he gone for that with his glove, it would’ve been trouble. Wicket maiden.
WICKET! Chandimal lbw b Stone 2 (Sri Lanka 93-5)
No bat there, the off-cutter has done him beautifully and the projection agrees with Umpire Gaffaney, the ball cracking into leg-stump two-thirds of the way up. The collapse is on: Sri Lanka have lost 4/26, the last three of those in the space of ten balls.
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CHANDIMAL GIVEN LBW! He reviews. Upstairs we go. Has Stone got another?
16th over: Sri Lanka 93-4 (Chandimal 0, Dhananjaya 2). Not for the first time in this series, the visiting skipper Dhananjaya de Silva is walking out after a clump of quick wickets. The wicket-taking delivery was a ball that moved away just a tad, enough to tempt Nissanka. Earlier in the over he’d been smashed when full and straight then sent down a wide when missing his bumper. He now ends his third over with a Test wicket. The Sri Lankan captain is away with a couple through cover – nicely played.
Josh Hull has his first Test wicket 👏 pic.twitter.com/wmw9Nli4sk
— Sky Sports Cricket (@SkyCricket) September 7, 2024
WICKET! Nissanka c Woakes b Hull 64 (Sri Lanka 91-4)
What a catch! Hull has a first Test wicket - it’s the danger man Nissanka who smashed him through the covers earlier in the over, but this time Woakes is prowling in that region to take a brilliant diving snaffle low and to his right. A wonderful moment for the teenager made possible by the veteran of this England attack. They’re up and about.
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15th over: Sri Lanka 86-3 (Nissanka 60, Chandimal 0). Line and length from Stone to Chandimal, knocking them both on the head. Just as it was at Lord’s in second dig last Saturday, the Notts quick has picked up a wicket in his first over. Great stuff.
Thank you, Rob. A nice long shift on this extended second day from the master of the OBO genre. I join you from the best press box seat in the game: Vauxhall End, outside, behind the bowler. It allowed me to take these shots of Big Josh Hull (size 15 feet, don’t you know) with the “UK’s Largest” advertising, without realising it until after hitting post. Anyway, three wickets in 75 minutes after lunch set the hosts up to run through Sri Lanka through the second half of the day. Write to me throughout, or you can tweet.
Josh Hull’s first ball in Test cricket. #ENGvSL pic.twitter.com/cX2dUs5idC
— Adam Collins (@collinsadam) September 7, 2024
Drinks
Right, that’s all from me . Thanks as always for your company and emails; Adam Collins is your man for the rest of the day.
WICKET! Sri Lanka 86-3 (Mathews c Pope b Stone 3)
Olly Stone comes on for Chris Woakes, who bowled an unusually scruffy spell of 7-0-41-1. He has already taken a wicket in the field so his morale should be high.
It’ll be even higher now. Mathews lunges at a fullish delivery, feet not in sync with the rest of his body, and Pope takes a sharp catch in the gully. That’s excellent from Stone, who is having a very happy return to Test cricket. After all he’s been through, it’s pretty heartwarming stuff.
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14th over: Sri Lanka 83-2 (Nissanka 57, Mathews 3) A poor ball from Hull, short and wide, is slapped through point for four by Nissanka. He’s played some terrific shots, but they have also been fairly low-risk which tells you that England have been unusually loose.
Hull continues to bowl some dangerous inswingers; it’s easy to see why England are so excited about him.
“Wanted to reflect a bit on the sad news that Mark Wood is out of the winter tour,” says James Butler. “I’m probably swimming against the tide a bit but I felt that all the focus on his (amazing) speed earlier this summer was all a bit, for want of a better word, ‘macho’. Here’s a guy who’s 34 with a long list of injuries and everyone is egging him on to bowl as fast as humanly possible. What’s more that tactic, although magnificent theatre, ‘only’ yielded nine wickets.
“Was that really the right approach from England? I guess it’s hard to tell someone to dial the pace down - especially when it’s their main asset - but just wonder if there was an alternative plan that might have kept him on the field...”
I know what you mean but I’d be loath to blame England, except for maybe one Test (I forget which one) when he bowled too many overs on possibly the second day. I also think his wickets tally is irrelevant because he deserved to take twice as many. Ultimately, Wood is pathologically incapable of bowling within himself, and his extraordinary pace is what elevates him from pretty good to almost great. I think we have to accept the injuries, especially now that he’s in his mid-thirties, and enjoy every last spell wee from a uniquely uplifting cricketer.
13th over: Sri Lanka 77-2 (Nissanka 52, Mathews 2) This looks a perfectly good pitch. Almost all of the movement has been down to the overhead conditions, so if the sun comes out Sri Lanka really should be looking to take a first-innings lead.
12th over: Sri Lanka 76-2 (Nissanka 52, Mathews 1) Josh Hull’s first over in Test cricket is very promising, with some seductive inswing to the right-handers. Nissanka thumps one slightly errant delivery through mid-off for four to reach a very assured 40-ball fifty, then inside-edges another inducker for a single. A good start from Hull, whose pace was around 85mph.
“I think my ire is that the light reading is plainly misjudged,” says Gary Naylor. “It was safe to play last evening and it was safe to play on today. I’m no expert on risk assessment, but I’m not sure the umpires are either, or they would publish their criteria and their readings. The shame is that the marginal risk is so tiny and yet the authorities are happy to stick to a convention about taking a reading once and sticking to it – in September. So marginal, that two minutes later it was safe again.
“I do take your point, of course and I know you’ll be getting pelters for it to which I do not wish to add, but I’ve seen so much cricket played in worse light - every ball of Botham’s 118 at Old Trafford in 1981 for example.”
Do you think the death of Philip Hughes, even though it had nothing to do with bad light, has made umpires and cricket boards more cautious? If so I can understand that. I’m also loath to criticise a process that I don’t know anything about. Clearly there are times when people do take the pith. I remember once, doing the OBO back in the early 2000s, when the only TV sports channel we had mysteriously switched to the 4.20 at Kempton. The moment the race was finished, back came the cricket. It was fairly clear that someone in Building Services had a monkey each way on Dragonfly. But I knew enough about the process, just about, to draw that conclusion. The bad-light regulations may well be flawed, but I don’t see how any of us are in a position to say with certainty.
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11th over: Sri Lanka 70-1 (Nissanka 47, Mathews 0) Woakes has unusual figures, certainly for him: 6-0-40-1.
Now then: Josh Hull is coming on.
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WICKET! Sri Lanka 70-2 (Kusal c Brook b Woakes 14)
Nissanka waves a Woakes outswinger through the covers for three, with Stone doing exceptionally well to save the boundary, and then Mendis chips some leg-stump nonsense over midwicket for four.
Woakes has the face on, so much so that he barely celebrates when Kusal Mendis edges to Brook at second slip. It was a good delivery: tight line, just back of a length, so Kusal had to play. England needed that wicket.
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10th over: Sri Lanka 61-1 (Nissanka 42, Kusal 10) Nissanka stands tall to punch Atkinson square on the off side for four. That’s an extremely good stroke.
Atkinson replies with a cracking yorker that is dug out by Nissanka. Atkinson appeals, thinking it might have hit the toe first, but Ollie Pope – conscious of his poor DRS record – isn’t interested in a review. Nothing on the replay suggests it hit the boot, through we haven’t seen UltraEdge.
Mendis uppercuts for four more to push the run rate above six an over. England are having a bit of an end-of-term stinker today.
“England…” says Neil Jones. “The Competitive Dad of the world game.”
Aren’t they the opposite? They’re usually hopeless at whitewashing weaker opponents.
9th over: Sri Lanka 52-1 (Nissanka 37, Kusal 6) Kusal Mendis rolls the wrists to clip Woakes beautifully for four. He’s a dangerous player, particularly in lower-scoring games because he scores quickly and knows how to go big: six of his nine Test hundreds are 140 or more.
Woakes replies with a fine delivery that bounces and seams to beat the edge. That’s a jaffa.
“People are paying £100+ a seat for this,” says Gary Naylor. “ECB should be ashamed.”
No, Gary. Shame is an emotion that you deserve to feel when you’re me. But seriously, while it was a bit of a farce, surely it stemmed from the perfectly reasonable principle of having a light reading that is safe. Were we always this intolerant or has the internet turned us all into Donald Trump?
8th over: Sri Lanka 48-1 (Nissanka 37, Kusal 2) Nissanka may have been at fault for the run out but he’s batting superbly. A flick for four off Atkinson and a single take him to 37 from just 29 balls.
“I have to say that some of the criticisms smack of the same malaise that plagues England football supporters – they’re not there and never will be good enough to be there,” writes David Hilmy. “You don’t know what players have been directed to do, you don’t know what their mindset is, you don’t understand the thrill or the nerves or the pressure of having the privilege of playing international Test cricket, you don’t know the on-field conditions at the exact time a ball is bowled, you just don’t.
Why not have a swing, why not try something different? The players have earned the right to do that, to be the athletes they are warts and all. If mistakes or poor decisions or the occasional rush of blood were excluded, we wouldn’t call cricket a sport – same for football, rugby, or quidditch...ffs!”
That’s a very persuasive theory. I’ve always focussed on the entitlement and lack of empathy (and I include myself in that, because I’ve written and spoken some awful nonsense over the years) rather than ignorance of the actual process.
7th over: Sri Lanka 40-1 (Nissanka 30, Kusal 1) Breaking news: Chris Woakes won’t be going to Pakistan as a spin option. A couple of filthy deliveries are pulled for a single and then a boundary. This is amusing but also mildly farcical. Surely, in the circumstances, England should be allowed to use a spinner for the last four balls of the over as they would if Woakes went off injured?
And now the light has improved marginally, so Gus Atkinson can bowl. All very weird.
Chris Woakes bowling... spin! 🧐🚨 pic.twitter.com/K3tYEf7Flh
— Sky Sports Cricket (@SkyCricket) September 7, 2024
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The umpires have decided the light isn’t good enough for the seamers to bowl. Trouble is, Chris Woakes has delivered two balls of his fourth over. So now he’s going to bowl offspin! “His nickname’s The Wizard because he’s brilliant at everything,” says Mike Atherton. “Now we’ll see how good his offspin is.”
Imagine if takes a wicket.
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WICKET! Sri Lanka 34-1 (Karunaratne run out 9)
A shambles. Nissanka drops Woakes on the off side and calls Karunaratne through for the dodgiest of singles. Olly Stone picks up on the run and hits the stumps with Karunaratne well short.
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6th over: Sri Lanka 34-0 (Nissanka 25, Karunaratne 9) Karunaratne tries to drive Atkinson and is beaten, then clips confidently through midwicket for three. England still have a very attacking field, hence all these scoring opportunities.
“I know it’s an obvious consequence of run rates approaching 5 an over, but it really does help to minimise the impact of the second new ball (if you get that far),” says Brian Withington. “I am old enough to recall series in the 80s against a quartet of WI fast bowlers where it felt like England rarely averaged three an over. Many was the innings where England might have gamely progressed to the low 200s for 3/4/5 only to be obliterated by the second coming. And another (related) thing - how often were the WI last four or five wickets so much more productive than England’s. I leave the statistical detail to others …”
That was also the case in the Ashes between 1989 and 2002-03. I remember Lawrence Booth doing a statistical review of one series, possibly 2001, which showed the teams were basically equal until they were five down. And then came Gilchrist. But it wasn’t just him: there were damaging 70s from bowlers like Geoff Lawson, Damien Fleming, even Merv.
5th over: Sri Lanka 27-0 (Nissanka 21, Karunaratne 6) Nissanka bat-pads Woakes in the air but comfortably wide of short leg. The resulting single takes him to 21, then Karunaratne gets off the mark next ball.
Sri Lanka have started very comfortably, with not much movement for the England bowlers, and Karunaratne feels secure enough to time a beautiful off drive for four.
Maybe the ball will swing more when the lacquer comes off; for now Sri Lanka are on top and England’s pre-lunch slogathon isn’t looking quite so harmless. Long way to go.
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4th over: Sri Lanka 20-0 (Nissanka 20, Karunaratne 0) Atkinson bursts one from a length to beat Nissanka all ends up. That’s a cracking delivery, and it’s noticeable that his speed is up around 90mph. It was down earlier in the series.
“I sent a message to a friend this morning with a link to Flintoff presenting Josh Hull with his England cap,” says James Brough. “I also said, ‘If he’s not England head coach in 10 years, I’ll be surprised’ My mystic powers seem to be doing pretty well today.”
Interesting. I’d be surprised if he ever became head coach – I’m not sure that role suits him, certainly not as well as his new job. It’s just an instinct, though, I have no basis for saying that.
3rd over: Sri Lanka 19-0 (Nissanka 19, Karunaratne 0) Nissanka has the ability to be a long-term opener for Sri Lanka, and he has started well here. A deft touch wide of leg gully brings him his second boundary; then he thick edges a good delivery for four more.
Woakes feels like the key bowler in these conditions, but that was an expensive over – 13 from it after Nissanka drives the last ball stylishly for three off the back foot.
2nd over: Sri Lanka 6-0 (Nissanka 6, Karunaratne 0) Atkinson’s first ball is a nasty lifter that Nissanka does really well to glove on the bounce to second slip. It kicks up to hit Duckett in the side of the face. That could have been nasty, but he seems to be okay.
Nissanka larrups a cut for four later in the over, a terrific shot. England have eight men in catching positions – four slips, a gully, leg gully and short leg – so there should scoring opportunities.
“I’m unsurprised if a tad dismayed by the criticism of Duckett for ‘only’ getting into the mid 80s. Pope apart, he outscored his other nine teammates – plus extras - combined. If he was the main problem, England would be well served indeed.”
I can understand some of the criticism, and I thought England batted poorly this morning. It’s the tone of some of that criticism – entitled, an empathy void – that makes me want to go off-grid for the next 40 years. Nobody is going to sit on their death bed and say, ‘Cor, I wish Ben Duckett hadn’t played that last ramp shot at The Oval.’
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Gus Atkinson, hunting his 34th wicket of the Test summer, will bowl the first over after lunch.
“Another interpretation of events is that England haven’t respected the conditions or the opposition this morning,” writes Jonathan. “But the prevalent belief is that Stokesy (Popey) can do no wrong, whatever the outcome of their actions, so all is well.”
I’d argue that’s needlessly passive-aggressive. Your interpretation is entirely reasonable, as is my perception that human beings sometimes make mistakes. So we’re both right.
Lunchtime reading (optional)
“I think this expectation of Pope to be infallible is a little unrealistic,” says Paul Griffin. “But on the subject of lucky knocks, Lara’s 501 was easily the flukiest cinquecento I can recall.”
“Just arrived in Edinburgh for the third T20I between Scotland and Australia at The Grange,” writes Simon McMahon. “It’s dreich, and am crossing my fingers that we make the scheduled 2pm start. I think Scotland’s best chance to avoid a third straight drubbing is for the Aussies to have been out on the lash last night, or for them to be so cold that they can’t feel their fingers. I think I feel a bit like England supporters must have in the 90s.”
Lunch
1st over: Sri Lanka 1-0 (Nissanka 1, Karunaratne 0) Woakes has seven men in catching positions for Pathum Nissanka, who has been moved up to open from No3: five slips, a gully and a leg gully. Oh and there’s the keeper as well.
Nissanka works one off the hip, then the left-handed Karunaratne survives a big shout for LBW. It was hitting but pitched a fair way outside leg. Karunaratne plays and misses at the next ball before seeing off the last two. That’s lunch.
It was Sri Lanka’s morning, no question, though England’s score of 325 feels above par in such helpful bowling conditions. We’ll find out soon enough.
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The TMS overseas link is here. Sorry, forgot to post it earlier.
The players are back on the field. There will be a single over before lunch, bowled by Shoaib Bashir Chris Woakes.
Well in, Fred. What a perfect job that is for him.
“Duckett’s knock yesterday was immense,” says Iain Chambers, “but surely with just a smidgen more control he could’ve added another 30-40 runs in anticipation of this morning’s trickier conditions/Sri Lanka finally locating some luck.”
But with a smidgen more control he wouldn’t have scored 80-odd, or stolen Sri Lanka’s advantage at the toss within half an hour. The miracle of this England team, in my endearingly humble opinion, is how relatively few mistakes they make given such a risky approach. They’re only the third best team in the world, it’s true, but watching them makes me feel about 20 years younger.
There should be time for one over before lunch, which has been pushed back to 1.15pm to make up some of yesterday’s lost time. Sri Lanka bowled superbly, had some vile luck in the first hour and then accepted various gifts from England in the second. It was – and I’m not really saying this critically, because they’ve earned the right – one of the most irresponsible batting performances I can remember from an England side. Bet they’ll bowl well this afternoon though.
WICKET! England 325 all out (Bashir c Kumara b Rathnayake 1)
Shoaib Bashir slogs Rathnayake’s first ball to mid-off to complete a classic end-of-term collapse from England, who were 261 for 3 and then 290 for 4 before slogging themselves out of contention.
69th over: England 325-9 (Stone 15, Bashir 1) Asitha continues to harass the middle of the pitch, so Stone top-edges him straight over Chandimal’s head for six. Shame, with this game being at The Oval, that it didn’t go for four.
“I was at Trent Bridge for that Atherton innings in 1996,” says John Swan. “Jeez, it was a painful watch. Much more entertaining was the moment the nice lady next to me dropped her hat off the edge of the balcony and it wedged between the balcony wall and the advertising hoarding - just out of reach, natch. It was retrieved by an enterprising steward with a wire coat hanger.
“In other news, that lady is now my wife of 25 years.”
That’s a great story. Strangely enough, Johnny Marr told a not dissimilar tale on Would I Lie To You? last night.
WICKET! England 318-9 (Hull c Dhananjaya b Asitha 2)
Asitha replaces Dhananjaya and strikes immediately when Hull clunks a pull straight to midwicket. England have lost five wickets for 28 and six for 57.
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68th over: England 317-8 (Stone 7, Hull 2) There’s been a last-day-of-term feel to England’s batting, which I guess is human nature. Josh Hull gets his first Test runs with a pretty pleasant off drive for two.
“It is a truism in life that there are no absolutes, even in the binary case of ‘out’ and ‘not out’ in cricket,” says Steve Colwill. “There is always a grey area between the two options. It is only a question of how extensive the grey area is. In cricket, DRS substantially decreases this grey area, but it still remains. It is just a question of what you do with this remainder - difficult choices must be made with which not everybody will agree.”
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67th over: England 314-8 (Stone 7, Hull 0) Stone, who is a decent lower-order batter, gets off the mark with a sweep for four off Dhananjaya. One way or another, England will be bowling soon.
66th over: England 307-8 (Stone 0, Hull 0) The debutant Josh Hull flashes at his third ball and is beaten. A wicket maiden. Vishwa’s figures today are excellent, and they don’t flatter him: 5-1-14-2.
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WICKET! England 307-8 (Pope c Karunaratne b Vishwa 154)
Sri Lanka deserved a load of wickets in the first hour; now they’ve been gifted a few. A surprise short ball from Vishwa is pulled straight to deep backward square by Pope, ending a mighty innings of 154 from 156 balls. He had some luck, it’s true, but England would be in all sorts without those runs.
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65th over: England 307-7 (Pope 154, Stone 0)
WICKET! England 307-7 (Atkinson c Rathnayake b Dhananjaya 5)
A second wicket for the offspinner Dhananjaya. Atkinson charges down the pitch and drags him high towards deep midwicket, where Rathnayake steadies himself to take the catch. A crap shot, in truth, but we’ve all played them.
64th over: England 303-6 (Pope 153, Atkinson 2) Vishwa Fernando has bowled beautifully this morning. He beats Atkinson twice in three balls, and the other delivery was a gorgeous inswinger that Atkinson inside-edged onto the pad.
“The first 80 or so of Zak Crawley’s 189 at Old Trafford in the Ashes was hilariously lucky so maybe fits the bill, although after that it was pretty astonishing so maybe not quite right?”
He was all over the show, you’re right, though I thought it was only for the first 30-odd runs. I wouldn’t put the farm on it mind.
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63rd over: England 301-6 (Pope 152, Atkinson 1) In other news, Tom Bowtell has a helluva memory. “Mike Atherton’s 160 against India in 1996 was always my benchmark for worst 150,” he writes. “As per Wisden: ‘Atherton had reached his tenth Test century - his fourth at Nottingham - 90 minutes after lunch, without ever looking convincing. He was beaten a fair number of times, but stuck to his task’
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WICKET! England 299-6 (Woakes c Rathnayake b Dhananjaya 2)
Dhananjaya is a genius, I am a fool. On a cloudy morning he has struck with his occasional offspin, tempting Woakes into an uppish drive that is well taken at extra cover.
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62nd over: England 298-5 (Pope 150, Woakes 2) Nope, Vishwa continues. Pope steers two to move to 149, is beaten trying to repeat the stroke and then taps a single to reach 150 from just 151 balls. In the context of what should be a low-scoring game, that’s a seriously impactful innings.
“Not quite 150,” says Marcus Abdullahi, “but Botham’s 149* at Headingley was similarly hit, miss, slash and edge.”
That’s an excellent shout. Robin Smith was out twice off no-balls when he smashed 175 at Antigua in 1994, though for the most part he played like the muscular legend he was and is.
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61st over: England 294-4 (Pope 147, Woakes 1) Dhananjaya brings himself on to bowl some offspin, a bizarre decision unless it is to facilitate a change of ends. Four from the over.
60th over: England 290-5 (Pope 144, Woakes 0) A memorable first summer is ending a little quietly for Jamie Smith, but overall it’s been a triumph: his average sits at 46.66
“I’m looking forward to seeing Josh Hull bowl later,” says Tom Van der Gucht. “Following Gus Atkinson’s incredible start to test cricket and how well Potts and Stone slotted back into the team, do you think Anderson may have had an impact behind the scenes feeding them key Intel and settling their nerves?”
I don’t know about the nerves – that’s Baz and Ben’s job – but he must be helping enormously with the gameplans. Even Mark Wood said it was a chat with Anderson that inspired his stumpbusting spell of reverse swing against West Indies.
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WICKET! England 290-5 (Smith c Kusal b Vishwa 14)
Vishwa, who has been curving the ball back into the right-handers, angles successive deliveries past Smith’s outside edge. Dhananjaya almost bursts out laughing at Dame Fortune’s vendetta against his team.
He soon has a better reason to smile when Smith clips an inswinger to midwicket, where Kusal Mendis takes a smart catch above his head. Sri Lanka are into the bowling allrounders.
Nominations please!
Ollie #Pope still mixing fine shots with false ones – top edges, inside edges, slashes through the slips. He's well on his way to the worst 150 you'll ever see#ENGvSL
— Tim de Lisle (@TimdeLisle) September 7, 2024
Drinks
59th over: England 288-4 (Pope 144, Smith 14) Smith softens his hands to ensure an edge off Kumara bounces short of the slips and runs away for four. Actually that was a pretty good shot. But the over ends with another false stroke, this time a missed uppercut from Pope. Sri Lanka’s Expected Wickets tally must be through the roof.
“The ball pitched on leg stump,” says Gary Naylor. “There’s no predictive element for an umpire’s call to mitigate, unless the cameras are misaligned. Ridiculous rule.”
So you would allow LBWs even if 0.0001 per cent of the ball pitched in line? <Corrigan> There be monsters!</Corrigan>
58th over: England 283-4 (Pope 144, Smith 9) Despite Sri Lanka’s desperate fortune this morning, Dhananjaya de Silva is still smiling. The coach Sanath Jayasuriya isn’t. He starts waving his hands furiously when Pope inside-edges an inswinger this far past leg stump and away for four. That is ridiculous.
An outstanding over from Vishwa, full of perfectly pitched inswingers to the right-hander, but the scorebook says seven runs, no wickets.
REVIEW! England 277-4 (Pope not out 139)
Vishwa Fernando strikes with his second ball! It’s a classic left-armer’s dismissal, curving back to hit Pope plumb in front when he misses a flick across the line.
Pope reviews, just in case it’s pitching outside leg. And it is by about a millimetre! My word, that’s a bonus for England. Pope looked resigned to his fate.
“That’s as tight as I think I’ve ever seen,” says Ricky Ponting on Sky.
57th over: England 276-4 (Pope 139, Smith 8) England’s luck continues when Smith tries to cut Kumara and inside-edges past off stump for four. The upside of all this for England is that you’d fancy their seamers to cause serious problems, Chris Woakes in particular. Maybe it’s time for an ultra-funky declaration.
“200-odd runs in 40 odd overs has to be one the norm if Test cricket is to survive the relentless onslaught of T20 and IPL,” says Krishnamoorthy V. “(Conversely it can also be 200 all out in 40 overs.) Caution today means shot selection rather than a Gavaskar or Boycott kind of an innings. Bring on good pitches, have a result within five days, let draw be the four-letter word. Hallelujah.”
From Kim Wilde to Leonard Cohen in one move; outstanding.
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56th over: England 269-4 (Pope 137, Smith 3) Rathnayake has changed ends to replace Asitha. No change of luck, though: Pope, trying to cut, edges his third boundary of the day between slip and gully.
“The England batsmen could learn a lesson from Brook’s not out decision this morning,” writes Kim Thonger. “ The umpire apparently heard a noise that was not there. If the batters started grunting every time they swish the bat at the ball outside the off stump, umpires would never know what noise was really a snick.
“By this method a sort of protective aural shield is erected. I suppose it’s a bit sneaky and would register on a Sneakometer, if such a thing existed, but all is fair in love and war, and besides, the Aussies wouldn’t hesitate to adopt such a ploy. Tennis professionals have done it for years anyway.”
Sneakometer, very good.
55th over: England 264-4 (Pope 133, Smith 2) Smith tries to drive a beauty from the new bowler Kumara and is beaten. That was so close to the outside edge. Sri Lanka’s excellent, discipline performance this morning reinforces the brilliance of Ben Duckett’s performance yesterday. He ruined them.
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54th over: England 263-4 (Pope 133, Smith 1) Jamie Smith pushes Asitha for a single to get off the mark, and why not.
“The last Test of the summer is always bitter sweet,” writes Felix Wood. “In my mind it’s always sunny but you’re aware that if you don’t strictly need to put on a jumper you will very soon, and England are winning a dead rubber match with someone putting in a good enough performance to go on tour and be put to the sword.
“Maybe it’s just the melancholy talking, but all those empty seats at Lord’s have got me worried. What if this wonderful thing is allowed to die because humans just don’t deserve it? Anyway, Pope has just played a short arm pull and got away with it, when he didn’t at Lords. That’s a very Jamie Smith shot, but usually with him it ends up somewhere about 25 rows back in the cheap seats.”
53rd over: England 261-4 (Pope 132, Smith 0) That catch gets better every time you see it, chiefly because Brook absolutely belted the ball.
WICKET! England 261-4 (Brook c Kamindu b Rathnayake 19)
Brook pushes tentatively at Rathnayake and is beaten. He charges the next ball, has a lusty swish outside off stump and is beaten again. Sri Lanka have bowled very well to Brook, holding a fifth-stump line – and now they’ve been rewarded! Brook smashes a drive that is wonderfully caught at extra cover by Kamindu Mendis, two-handed as he swoops to his right. Pick that out!
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52nd over: England 261-3 (Pope 132, Brook 19) Brook is beaten by Asitha, then Pope cloths a front-foot pull over midwicket for two. Sri Lanka have been much better this morning. But Pope is good enough to steer another boundary between second slip and gully; he meant it that time. I think.
51st over: England 252-3 (Pope 124, Brook 18) Sri Lanka go up for LBW, caught behind, the full monty when Pope pushes outside the line of a lovely delivery from Rathnayake. It was too high and missed the inside edge.
“I’m going to preface this by saying I’m a true believer in the McCullum/Stokes method, if only because it is much more fun than the pitiable slump that came before, but can’t help feeling that Harry Brook is going about this the wrong way and that maybe he needs to have a chat with Root about letting some of the ultra-violence go and refinding his natural rhythm,” says Will Vignoles. “With his shot-making ability and absurd power he will surely score quickly and dominate even if he isn’t trying to yeet everyone into the crowd, and at the moment it all feels a bit forced.”
It might also be that he needs a stiffer Test to really focus his mind. It doesn’t feel like a coincidence that his best innings of the summer was played when England were in a bit of bother.
50th over: England 249-3 (Pope 122, Brook 17) Pope flicks four more to the right of mid-on, this time off the bowling of Asitha. Beautiful shot. He was jittery for 10 minutes but is playing nicely now.
49th over: England 245-3 (Pope 118, Brook 17) Pope plays an outrageous shot, charging Rathnayake before whirling his wrists to get four through wide mid-on. England’s run-rate of 5.02 per over is the seventh highest by a team that was put into bat. Top of the list, a Baz special.
“That Flintoff/Hull cap presentation is brilliant,” writes Ben Heywood. “It in no way reminded me of my own first and thus far, only, cap for my adopted country (ahem).
“The Montenegro cricket side’s first game was back during the pandemic when an enterprising bunch of lads representing Estonia came to play two games over one weekend. All eleven starters that Saturday were making our international debuts, so we didn’t have any senior figure – let alone legend - to make a speech.
“Instead, the newly arrived headgear was chucked together in a bin bag on the ground next to the scorer’s chair and we all had a tussle over who got which size, on a first come first served basis. As the last member of the team to be named, I wound up with an ‘S’ that had such tight elastic I was left with an indented ring around my skull after a morning spent fielding, and during which I dropped a catch.
“In the afternoon I added two runs before getting caught at point, a meager contribution to what turned out to be an unexpected win. I’ve missed out on all subsequent selections, but every now and again I’ll get the cap out of my kit bag and stroke it with a ridiculous grin on my face, knowing that even if it was just once, I was still part of something special and albeit flukily joined a very select club indeed.
“Josh Hull must have felt ten foot tall. So only marginally taller than he actually is. Lovely.”
What a great story. I always intended to play football for San Marino one day, though that dream has probably died after the other night.
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48th over: England 239-3 (Pope 113, Brook 16) Pope charges Fernando, fiddles outside off and is beaten again. He’s riding his luck like Willie Shoemaker this morning. Some good running brings England four from the over.
“A warm and sultry day in store at the Oval,” says Guy Hornsby. “After yesterday’s profligacy, I hope Sri Lanka can bowl better today. The ball is a long way from being replaced, and they only have themselves to blame for their inaccuracy, which is a real shame given how well they’ve bowled at times. After all, those less partisan of us take no joy in thrashings, and an even contest is what Test cricket is about. Brook is a huge talent but he’s vulnerable early on, too. And no, this isn’t a reverse jinx.”
They’ve started well. It helps having two right-handers, and no Ben Duckett.
47th over: England 235-3 (Pope 110, Brook 15) Rathnayake, a more disciplined bowler, replaces Kumara. Brook charges his first ball, smashes it a million miles in the air, and is dropped pitifully by Asitha Fernando on the cover boundary. To compound his misery, he then slipped over as he tried to retrieve the ball.
England could easily have lost both batsmen already. Pope, beaten in the previous over, edges an outswinger between second slip and gully for four runs. The ball is doing plenty and, unlike yesterday morning, Sri Lanka are bowling a pretty consistent line.
“Just watched Flintoff presenting Hull with his cap,” writes James Brough. “No matter how the match or the rest of his career goes, that’s a moment that’ll live with him.
“I’d also say how much I like Flintoff - he’s someone who’s been through something horrible and has talked quite openly about what it’s done to him. Stokes too. I think seeing men as physically imposing as them talking about being unable to go outside or to be around other people because of their mental state can only be a positive.”
Oh hugely. It feels like society is starting to recognise that nothing about mental health is binary, which is a really important development.
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46th over: England 227-3 (Pope 105, Brook 12) Asitha Fernando starts at the other end, and I’m determined to get through an OBO stint without calling him Avisha. He holds a fifth-stump line to Brook, inviting him to drive on the up.
Brook declines the offer, preferring to charge down the pitch and force a single to deep point. Pope then chases an outswinger and is beaten. Sri Lanka have started well.
“Stuart Broad and Ricky Ponting walking round the outfield after media duties. Broad acknowledging his applause with a little wave, Punter accepting his pantomime boos with a wave of his own and the widest of smiles,” says Gary Naylor. “He might be as loved as Richie by the time he finishes if he carries on like this.”
He’s an absolute gem. I think he’s the best micro-analyst around, and seems like a great bloke. But he’ll never be as loved as Richie.
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45th over: England 224-3 (Pope 103, Brook 11) Sri Lanka were speechless/perplexed by that decision, simply because the noise sounded like an outside edge. Even the umpire Joel Wilson has just asked Brook was the noise was.
Brook is not out!
He tried to drive a full-length tempter from Kumara, and the keeper Chandimal was almost celebrating before the ball reached him. There was a noise, but there’s nothing on UltraEdge so Brook survives.
No idea what the noise was because his bat was nowhere near anything else.
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WICKET? Brook given out caught behind
He reviewed it straight away so maybe he knows something we don’t.
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Lahiru Kumara will resume the over he started last night. Harry Brook is on strike.
Read Barney Ronay on Ben Duckett
At the same time Duckett also very obviously chucked away his wicket. Poor execution is the mantra with this England team, not poor selection. This is how I score. Back your talent. Be where your feet are. Find your neutral space. Put a lid on the squid. Eat some pizza. Do what it takes.
“This feels like a heyday for English cricket, with genuine questions and options for selectors and coaches, for immediate use and development,” writes Bill Hargreaves. “The squad seem as though they’re in a good place. (A statement made all the more painful by the news of Graham Thorpe, a personal favourite of mine.)
“Watching Freddie Flintoff’s talk as he presented Josh Hull’s first cap was icing on top of icing on the cake. Am I being realistic here, I do I need shaking from my stupor?”
Not at all. Books will be written about this era. Books already have been written. We are so blessed to watch this life-affirming lot.
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Read Ali Martin’s day one report
The Oval is Ollie Pope’s happy place, however, where everything is familiar and comfortable and his first-class numbers are celestial. And as he slotted Asitha Fernando through the covers moments before the early finish, England’s stand-in skipper had Test century number seven. Remarkably, he is the first player in history to get their first seven against different opposition.
Preamble
Morning. On the first day of the 1989 Ashes, Australia were put into bat and finished on 207 for 3. It was a similar story yesterday: England, inserted by Sri Lanka, reached 221 for 3 at the close. There was only one minor difference: Australia batted for 81 overs, England for 44.1 overs. Truly, the game has changed, and even half a day’s play was sufficient for England to take control of the match.
Ollie Pope made a breezy, charming hundred, the first by a stand-in England captain since 2010, but the catalyst was the remarkable Ben Duckett. He missed with Sri Lanka’s heads and then their line during a defiantly unconventional innings of 86 from 79 balls. Sri Lanka, who won what looked an extremely important toss, were on the back foot within five overs.
The weather forecast is better today, so batting should be slightly more comfortable. Pope will resume on 103, with Harry Brook on 8 at the other end. Three of Pope’s last four centuries have exceeded 140; if he gets through the first 20 balls, he has a great chance to go big again.
