England v Sri Lanka – live! | Rob Smyth and John Ashdown

• Press F5 or hit auto-update for the latest • Email rob.smyth@guardian.co.uk with your thoughts • Get involved in our new Twenty20 weekly blog • Buy our Ashes book, if you like •  Read The Joy of Six: great deliveries 3rd over: England 5-1 (Cook 0, Trott 0) And now the Trott-ture begins for Sri Lanka. He averages 223 in Tests at Lord’s, and 203 against Sri Lanka. ” My favourite delivery is here ,” says Gary Naylor. “Not only is a fired-up Michael Holding at his beautiful, brilliant, brutal best, but the reaction of Brian Close, jerking the head out of the way at the very last moment, and of Deryck Murray catching the ball over his left shoulder 30 yards back while first slip dives for cover, is so perfect. If ever there was asilky wrecking ball, it was Mikey in 1976.” WICKET! England 5-1 (Strauss LBW b Welegedera 4) That’s why Sri Lanka have bowled first. Strauss walks across his stumps and is pinned plumb in front when he gets his bat jammed behind his front pad. It was a decent delivery from Welegedera, angling in, and once Strauss planted his front foot he was in all sorts of trouble. He had a quick look at Alastair Cook, who confirmed it was plumb, and walked off without considering a review. 2nd over: England 1-0 (Strauss 0, Cook 0) Suranga Lakmal will take the new ball at the other end, and his first ball is a dismal off-side wide. His line is a bit better after that, and Cook is beaten by the third legitimate delivery of the over. England will surely just bat time while the pitch flattens out, so this session should be a game of cat and mouse – England trying to leave the ball whenever possible, Sri Lanka trying to make them play. “My housemate Jen and I are off to see England play tomorrow at Lords and it’s the first time for both of us,” says Jen Steel. “Should we learn any songs? And, more importantly, is there anything special we should take in our picnic?” Take a 1908 Wisden just in case you meet any cute boys/girls who want to discuss George Lohmann. I don’t think the range of cricket songs require much learning, so I wouldn’t worry about that. 1st over: England 0-0 (Strauss 0, Cook 0) One of the new boys, the left-arm seamer Chanaka Welegedara, will open the bowling. He’s better than a Test average of 58.91 suggests, although you wouldn’t know it as his first two deliveries slide miserably down the leg side. The third is much better, jagging back to hit Strauss in the foetus facilitators. He ends the over well, making Strauss play at each of the last four deliveries. A maiden. “Sri Lanka have pulled off a tactical masterstroke by beefing up their attack with some extravagantly named cricketers, highlighted by the glorious Uda Walawwe Mahim Bandaralage Chanaka Asanga Welegedara,” says Ant Pease. “What do England have in response? A handful of Johns and a bloody Ronald. I can’t help but think that England have really brought a fart to a sh*tfight on this occasion. Sri Lanka for a heavy win.” Here comes the openers Many partnerships have a good hybrid name. Xaviesta, Sangawardene, Hoates. The same isn’t really true of Andrew Strauss and Alastair Cook. Sook? Crauss? Couss? Cousscouss? Would you buy a string vest modelled by this man ? Of course you would. Do your duty. Vote Roland . Friday is , of course, a popular day for weddings. And, in London at least, it’s a beautiful day to walk down the aisle. Those of you getting married in the next few hours, may the day be everything you dreamed of as a child . (Thanks to Daniel Harris for the link.) Precedent department Based on the last two England/Sri Lanka Tests at Lord’s, in 2002 and 2006 , the story of the match has already been written. Team A will score 550 before forcing Team B to follow on sometime on the third afternoon. Then Team B will bat two and a half days to save the match. You heard it here last. Play starts in 23 minutes’ time . Until then, why not have a look at this week’s cricket Joy of Six ? And feel free to email in your favourite deliveries as the day goes on. Team news England have, as expected, replaced James Anderson with Steven Finn, so they have the tallest pace attack in Test history: Chris Tremlett, Stuart Broad, Steve Finn and Robert Wadlow . Who’d be a Sri Lankan bat handle? Somebody take a picture . Sri Lanka make two changes, with Dilhara Fernando and Chanaka Welegedara replacing Thisara Perera and poor old Ajantha Mendis. That changes the balance of the attack, with four seamers and a spinner; that, says Dilshan, is the main reason for bowling. England Strauss (c), Cook, Trott, Pietersen, Bell, Morgan, Prior (wk), Broad, Swann, Tremlett, Finn. Sri Lanka Dilshan (c), Paranavitana, Sangakkara, M Jayawardene, Samaraweera, P Jayawardene (wk), Maharoof, Herath, Fernando, Welegedara, Lakmal. Sri Lanka have won the toss and will bowl first . That’s an interesting move because it’s a gorgeous day at Lord’s. Has Tillakaratne Dilshan bottled it? Not necessarily. Andrew Strauss says he would also have bowled because there’s a bit of grass on the wicket, although the pitch should morph into a belter after lunch. Preamble Mmm, I love the smell of Test cricket in the morning. Four days after Cardiff, here we are again. That’s the thing with life: it never really allows time to celebrate the successes, as the next challenge is always round the corner. No sooner have you triumphantly tied one shoelace without inadvertently triggering an international incident than there’s another waiting for the same treatment. And no sooner have you pulled off one of Test cricket’s more famous heists than there’s another match to be won.   After their brief flirtation on Monday with Twenty20 Test cricket (well, Twentyfourpointfour24.4 Test cricket to be precise), it’s back to business for England. They need to beat Sri Lanka at Lord’s for a number of reasons other than the simple preservation of Mo Mentum. It would be their first win over them at Lord’s since 1991 , when some of us inexplicably fell in love with Don Anurasiri, and would seal their first series victory against Sri Lanka since 2002. It would also give them a chance of a 3-0 whitewash, which would take them above South Africa and into second in the ICC Test Championship.   It’s tempting to conclude that this is all part of England’s inexorable ascent to No1 in the world for the first time since the 1950s, that the narrative is already in place. Yet the lesson of the last time England were No2 in the world (2004-07) is that nothing lasts forever.   For now, all is dream. Indeed, it’s hard to remember the last time the England Test team were so serene. They don’t even fear playing at Lord’s anymore . These really are salad days, and we should savour them. After all, it’s not every day you successfully tie both shoelaces and get to watch a bloody good England cricket team. Sri Lanka in England 2011 England cricket team Sri Lanka cricket team Cricket Over by over reports Rob Smyth guardian.co.uk

Posted by on June 3, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.