Eng v SL 2nd Test, Day 1 Review: England pile up runs on the first day

England arrived at Chester-le-Street with an unbeaten record at the venue. The visitors, Sri Lanka, had their task cut out for the match. In order to stay in the hunt in the series, they had to register a win here and break the unbeaten streak else at least salvage a draw against the hosts at the venue. Being 1-0 down never helps the visitors in English conditions.

Sri Lanka’s misery continued here after their hapless innings defeat at Headingley. The first day of the second Test saw the English batsmen pile on runs in plenty. They lost crucial wickets at crunch times but ensured the run flow never stopped; something that was much to the dismay of the visitors.

Having won the toss, England elected to bat first. They had a forced change in their lineup and much to the speculations made prior to the game, it was Chris Woakes who made it to the playing eleven in place of injured Ben Stokes. The Sri Lankan new ball bowlers, Shaminda Eranga and Suranga Lakmal, looked good with the new ball. They bowled probing lines and always looked like picking up a wicket.

English skipper Alastair Cook couldn’t reach the milestone of 10,000 runs again and fell short by 5 runs. It was Lakmal, who got the first breakthrough when he dismissed Cook on 15. Nick Compton, who was heavily backed by the skipper prior to the start of the match, joined Alex Hales at the crease. Compton’s poor run in this year continued and he could manage just 9 before becoming Nuwan Pradeep’s first wicket for the match.

Joe Root and Hales then put on a sublime partnership to rule the Lankan bowling attack. Alex Hales continued from where he had stopped in the previous match and looked set for a century and so did Root. They dominated the proceedings in the second session of the play. The two batsmen put on 96 runs for the 3rd wicket before Hales was dismissed by Milind Siriwardana on 83. He missed out on a well-deserved ton for the second consecutive time in this series. Meanwhile, Root brought up his half century to announce his arrival in the series.

James Vince was the new man in and he did show up a brief display of what he is capable of. He lost the senior partner at the crease, Root when Nuwan Pradeep bagged his second scalp to remove Root for 80 in the last session of the day. Vince followed him soon, after a couple of overs, and was caught by Dinesh Chandimal off the bowling of Siriwardana on 35.

Johnny Bairstow, the centurion of the last match, and Moeen Ali were the two new batsmen at the crease. They seemed to cruise along and aimed at seeing England through by the end of days play. However, it wasn’t to be so as Bairstow became Pradeep’s 3rd scalp when England were three short of 300. Bairstow, who looked good for another marathon innings, departed on 48 off just 57 balls.

Chris Woakes and Moeen Ali then paraded along to see England post 310/6 by the end of 90 overs for the day. Ali remained unbeaten on 28 while Woakes put on 8 at the end of days play. In essence, the match thoroughly belonged to the English batsmen but the silver lining for the visitors remain Pradeep’s 3 wickets.

Brief Scores: Stumps Day 1

England: 310/6 (Hales 83, Root 80; Pradeep 3/69, Siriwardana 2/35)