Everything was set up for a bowling day in south London. After a thunderstorm at 5am, the skies had remained overcast. And with the floodlights on and moisture in the air, not even Dhananjaya de Silva, a captain who chose to bat first in Manchester gloom, and bowl in sunshine at Lord’s, was not going to pass up the opportunity presented here.
But winning the toss was only ever an advantage if backed up by disciplined bowling effort. And on a stop-start day that saw three hours blown out of its middle by the madness that is bad light - and an early cut at 5.54pm when the light-meters once again came out to a chorus of boos - Sri Lanka’s four-pronged seam attack could not capitalise. England, 2-0 up and keen to put on a show, raced to 221 for three from 44.1 overs.
