After a 1st Test that was largely speaking a one-sided affair in England's favour, the 2nd Test being played in Kandy is looking likely to be an absolute humdinger of a match with both sides very much still in contention to win the game. However, the efforts of England's captain Joe Root look to have given the tourists a slight edge going into the 4th and what is very likely to be final day of this game. Root made 124 to record his 15th Test century the highest ever individual score by an English batsman in Sri Lanka. His innings was supported by a maiden Test half-century from Rory Burns and unbeaten 50 from Ben Foakes who will return tomorrow to try and add as many runs as possible to England's lead of 278 with 11th man James Anderson.
Did Dick Van Dyke ever play cricket?
Based on England's fondness for the sweep shot today then if he didn't play then he really should have. Surely in his role as Bert the Cockney chimney sweep he would want to have immersed himself in the pleasures of England's number 1 summer sport just as any good method actor would! You'll have to excuse my fondness for DVD, during my days as a University student my housemates and I would watch Diagnosis Murder on a daily basis and went so far as to get ourselves a Diagnosis Murder themed clock for our living room wall as well as developing several drinking games that could be enjoyed while watching the show.
Back to the serious matter of the cricket and it was evident that England's game plan today against the spinners was to sweep and sweep often. We've seen it bring success to Keaton Jennings in the 1st Test as well as Jos Buttler in the 1st innings of this match and today almost all of England's batsmen sort to follow suit.England deployed the full array of sweep shots on offer and it was no surprise to see that almost two-thirds of England's runs so far in this innings have been scored on the leg-side, many of them behind square.
However, on the evidence of today's play it was also very much a case of live by the sweep, die by the sweep for England's top order as they all ultimately perished trying execute the shot. The list below explains why I was suffering with such a bad case of dejavu this morning
1st wicket, Jack Leach - sweeping, misses, struck on the back thigh, LBW
2nd wicket, Keaton Jennings - reverse sweep, anticipated by slip fielder who takes the catch
3rd wicket, Rory Burns - sweeping, misses a straight one, maybe a little unlucky for LBW given he was well forward
4th wicket, Ben Stokes - sweeping, misses a straight ball, is given out LBW on field for a duck (see cricketing 101) with the umpire putting his finger up so quickly that the camera doesn't even have time to pan around to show it happening. For some unknown reason Stokes and Root review the decision even though it was as plumb an LBW as you will ever see! Ridiculous call from 2 of England's senior players
5th wicket, Jos Buttler - goes for a reverse sweep but is cramped for room, bottom edges onto his stumps
6th wicket, Moeen Ali - Sweep, miss, LBW by this point we'd seen it all before!
Like a lot of slow paced games, cricket attracts a huge number of statisticians who log and analyse all aspects of the game of cricket. Someone somewhere will be trolling through that data now to see if the first 6 wickets of an innings have all fallen to what is essentially the same shot. Certainly, I can't remember watching an innings unfold in quite such a bizarrely predictable way as batsman after batsman made the mistake of trying to sweep balls that were too straight.
It's a Jolly Holiday for Joe Root
Was this Joe Root's best ever innings in an England shirt? It's certainly got to be up there with the hundreds that he scored against Australia in 2015 and I think it is certainly his best knock while playing as England captain.
Root's innings was full of verve, vigour and tempo. It's perhaps the final word of those 3 that is most often used to describe a good Root innings and today he was able to keep that tempo going and score what may be a landmark century for both him personally and the team. Root as the captain of the England team will have to bear the full brunt of the public's frustration if the attacking mindset that he has installed in the side doesn't lead them to 2 series wins this winter as well as the Ashes next summer. I myself have been very critical of England's approach and even with this innings from Root, I am still yet to be convinced that England have the right mentality to succeed in all conditions and against higher caliber bowling. However, for now, i like most English cricket fans will be content in knowing that they have just witnessed one of the best innings from an England batsman in quite some time.
It was important that it came from Root, the man who is preaching the doctrine of attack, attack, attack as well as from a top order player as opposed to England yet again being bailed out by their middle and lower order as was the case throughout the summer and the first innings of both Tests so far in Sri Lanka. I find it doubly interesting that England have stepped it up another gear since the retirement of Alaistair Cook. Was it that they just recognised that he wasn't capable of playing that way or was it that Cook still held a significant amount of sway in the dressing room and had put the breaks on the attacking plans of Root, the man who succeeded him as captain? Perhaps I'm over analysing the situation and these are just the tactics that England have decided to go with in these specific conditions. Whatever the reason it's made for a very fast paced and exciting match so far and I will certainly be up at 4:30am tomorrow to watch its conclusion!
Ben Foakes - The man who doesn't Step in Time
There is a certain irony about the fact that the only man who seems to be more willing to stick with the tried and trusted techniques of playing in these conditions is England's newest recruit to side, Ben Foakes. While all the other batsmen were sweeping their wickets away, Ben Foakes remained upright and played with a textbook straight bat for the majority of his innings. I had joked in my blog in the first Test that he clearly hadn't got the memo from Joe Root that England had come to play in Sri Lanka with reckless abandon. I quite like the fact one of the younger players in the team and a man without a Test Match cap until last week has both the resolve and the technique to go about making runs in his own way. The mark of any great sportsman is that he knows his own game and I believe this is exactly what we are seeing from Ben Foakes at the moment who looks so assured every time he comes to the crease. A lot of credit must also go to the management and selectors for getting him into the team. I certainly wouldn't have picked him for the 1st Test and would have probably have gone for Denly instead of him in order to plug the gap at number 3. What happens in the next match, then the West Indies and then onwards into the summer is anyone's guess but at the moment Ben Foakes is giving them a very nice selection headache for the coming matches.
<grammarly-btn>Feed The Birds (Cricketing 101)
We will be dealing today with ducks as opposed to pigeons although Glenn McGrath the legendary Aussie fast bowler did go by the nickname pigeon for most of his career.
A duck is the term used in cricket for a batsman who scores no runs. The phrase comes about as a result of the 0 recorded in the scorecard looking like a duck's egg!
As well as the standard duck that Ben Stokes was out for today there are 3 other special types of duck in cricket
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A golden is the term using to a described a batsman who is dismissed to the first ball of his innings
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A diamond duck is the term used to describe a player who is run out without facing a ball.
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A platinum duck is the term used to describe a player who is out to the very first ball of a match.
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I myself have played in a match where I saw a platinum, diamond duck! It was a club match against one of our biggest rivals. We were batting 1st and I was carded to bat at 5. Our openers went out to bat and the guy facing the first ball drilled it straight back up the pitch, the bowler stuck out a hand, the ball hit it and then went onto hit the stumps. The non-striker who had been backing up was left short of his ground and given run out! Fortunately, we went on to win the match but at that point you did wonder if it was going to be one of those days!
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