England were 358 for 7 wickets at stumps in the first day of the second test at Lords.
After establishing a 1-0 lead in this series with the most understated win of the Bazball era, England will this week aim to do something they haven’t achieved for 33 years – beat Sri Lanka at Lord’s.
Joe Root continued his sparkling summer but several of his England teammates could not capitalise after Sri Lanka surprisingly elected to bowl at Lord’s under clear blue skies.
England were indebted to Joe Root’s 6th 100-plus at Lord’s as they battled for the ascendency against a concerted all-round effort from the Sri Lanka attack on day one of the second Test. The visitors continued to probe away in seemingly placid conditions to have England five down at tea, with only Root and Chris Woakes standing in the way of a lengthy tail.
Sri Lanka had backed up Dhananjaya de Silva’s decision to bowl by removing England’s top three in placid conditions during the morning session, and they added to that unexpected dividend by dismissing the dangerous-looking Harry Brook shortly after lunch – Asitha Fernando pocketing Brook’s wicket to go with that of the England captain, Ollie Pope, who made his third single-figure score of the series.
But history is not on England’s side given they have not beaten Sri Lanka at Lord’s since 1991. Back then Graham Gooch, Robin Smith, Ian Botham and Phil Tufnell were part of an England team that won by 137 runs.
In five Tests since, England have drawn a blank – with every match finishing in a stalemate, most recently in 2016.
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