Following the excitement of Australia-India and the volatile first offering of this series, here was a reminder that most Test cricket does not have you on the edge of your seat. Certainly not at first. Sometimes it encourages you to sit back and take it easy. Wait a while, we’re not in any rush.
Friday at Galle could be bestowed with all the usual descriptors of this format. It was patient, cautious and classical in its run rate. To some self-appointed guardians of the game, a day to out those who simply don’t get this game. A filter to catch those adrenaline junkies who got their kicks from the finish Brisbane.
But day one of the second Test, with its 2.63 run rate and four wickets, carried enough engagement to reel you in for the excitement that lies ahead. A flat pitch expected to turn big and bounce inconsistently tested the desire of Sri Lanka and the resolve of England to leave honours relatively even.
That Sri Lanka finished on 227 for four is down to Angelo Mathews’s 11th Test hundred, picked up from a diligent 207 deliveries. Harnessing the form picked up from his 71 at the end of last week’s seven-wicket defeat, he lifted the side from a precarious seven for two. That England remain in the mix despite grinding through 87 overs to account for just four batsman owes much to James Anderson’s three for 24. Figures that shine even brighter amid the backdrop of 10 maidens across 19 overs.
You could class Mathews and Anderson as two of the modern game’s great survivors. And in a format where those most successful are the ones able to cling on for the longest, perhaps it was no surprise that this was a situation where the class of both stood out.
What battles they have fought to get to this point have been on very different frontiers. Mathews against the hash of administrative obstruction and a body that has spent the last five years working against him. Anderson’s rallying is primarily against wheels of time, beginning his 19th year of international cricket on Thursday as a replacement for Stuart Broad having sat out the first match.
Neither are conflicts to be won, per se. But the initiative can pass back and forth, and it was hard not to surmise both protagonists where excelling to ensure this match sits on an even keel.
It was Mathews who struck the only two boundaries conceded by Anderson: off the 55th and 102nd ball sent down by England’s leading wicket-taker. Those alone were acknowledgements to Mathews’s defiance and the back-breaking work required from the touring attack for their rewards.
Conditions were perfect for batting: a more comfortable surface than the first Test having spent less time under covers and baking heat. In similar conditions during the tour match in Hambantota, Jos Buttler reported losing around 2kg of weight while keeping for 50 overs despite taking on three litres of fluid.
Temperatures like these bleeds those in the field of spirit and enthusiasm. But the attack did not let up and in the case of Mark Wood, squeezed for a little bit extra to account for the slight waywardness of spinners Dom Bess and Jack Leach, who both went at three an over.
The Durham quick’s endeavour was characterised by an eight-over spell of sharp reverse swing. That in of itself was reason to cheer: a once brittle frame summoning its longest spell in his 18th cap. But the prize of a wicket within was a two-fold victory: a first of the tour – at the end of his 39th over (27 in the first Test) – to dismiss opposition skipper Dinesh Chandimal for 52, ending a 42.4-over partnership with Mathews that added 117.
England’s satisfaction was also enhanced by the fact they lost the toss once more. Their mood got better pretty quickly when they had their first two dismissals inside five overs, memories still fresh of Sri Lanka’s 135 all out that kicked off the first Test.
Kusal Perera was the first to fall, by his own sword more than Anderson’s wrist that shaped the ball away from the left-hander from around the wicket. The aim was to slap a man with 600 Test wickets over long-on. Far be it to lament anyone for their ambition – this was only the second ball Perera had faced from Anderson – but it felt a little bit like trying to happy-slap a Lion to get the first hit in. Unwise and, ultimately, brainless. Joe Root took a sharp catch above his head to complete the dismissal. The returning Oshada Fernando was bowled four balls later, surprised in defence by some extra bounce and playing onto his own stumps.
That would be England’s lot for the rest of the morning session. Lahiru Thirimanne and Mathews, fresh off a century and rugged 72 respectively, brought some calm, ticking off stand of 69 and 21 energy-sapping overs through to lunch. Thirimanne had the chance to go back for seconds, dismissed for the eighth time in his career by Anderson with the second ball after the break: this time coaxed into offering an edge outside off stump through to Buttler.
So began Chandimal and Mathews: blunting, caressed and pretty much just staying where they were. Only impulsiveness would be the end of them. Chandimal gave himself a pass for one ball – planting Bess down the ground for six – before returning to the brief.
As the sun-baked everything under it into the late afternoon, Wood brought his own heat. Chandimal was the one in his sights, pinned on the hands and grille in a spell that touched as high as 94mph.
Though the 31-year-survived, the mental scars were evident in his dismissal. At the start of Wood’s epic, when the pace and reverse was most dramatic, a late-moving delivery that skipped off the surface trapped Chandimal LBW.
Niroshan Dickwella (19 not out) took up the challenge alongside Mathews to ensure the final 18 overs passed with just the ceremonial waving of the second new ball. England will on reconvene on day two nursing some sores but arms with a hard seam and high hopes of building on day one’s grind.
Breaking this stand will bring in debutant allrounder Ramesh Mendis ahead of a tail that has been elongated with the inclusion of Suranga Lakmal. The pitch should also be more amenable tomorrow, which makes starting their first innings as soon as possible all the more imperative.
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