Filed under: Cricket, England Cricket, Tests, Sri Lanka Cricket
Second Test Day One (close): England 342-6 (Alastair Cook 96, Eoin Morgan 79, Matt Prior 73no Ian Bell 52)Matt Prior will carry the hopes of guiding England to their first innings target of 400-plus, after some spirited resistance from Sri Lanka at Lords.
The England wicketkeeper will have his sights on a Test hundred and shepherding the tail on day two as Sri Lanka bounced back from their humiliation in Cardiff four days ago.
He will certainly be motivated to succeed where Ian Bell, Eoin Morgan and Alastair Cook all failed after laying solid foundations against a revived tourist attack eager to make up for the misery in the first Test.
England v Sri Lanka Scorecard
Prior batted aggressively and struck 14 fours to end the day on 73, after racing to a his half-century from just 63 balls and England will be reasonably pleased with their day's work, after the woeful start of losing three wickets in the first eight overs for just 22 runs.
Cook will be kicking himself at falling four short of his 18th Test century but still played a major role in dragging England out of early trouble, before Bell and Morgan also helped themselves to half-centuries, but could not go on to three figures.
Sri Lanka captain Tillakaratne Dilshan's decision to bowl first seemed more based on a reluctance to expose his shell-shocked batting line-up to England seamers four days after their capitulation in Cardiff.
There was a tinge of green to the wicket early on and England captain Andrew Strauss suggested he would have bowled first too if he had won the toss, but Dilshan's move reaped early rewards.
Strauss' problems facing left-arm seamers continued as he was trapped lbw by Chanaka Welegedara, the 21st time he has fallen to a left arm bowler to start a tumble of wickets for just 22 runs in eight overs.
There was incredulity around Lords as Jonathan Trott, who faced 403 balls in Cardiff, made just two in nine balls before he was trapped in similar style by Suranga Lakmal and could not be saved by his decision to call for DRS.
That gave Kevin Pietersen his opportunity to play the big innings needed to quell concerns about his form, but he will spend some time wondering at the wisdom of his loose shot outside off stump to Lakmal which found the edge and gave Dilshan a diving catch.
Cook and Ian Bell steadied the ship with a partnership of 108 for the fourth wicket and both looked set for centuries to follow up their hundreds in the first Test.
Bell's chances of doing so evaporated when he edged to slip off Welegedara soon after he had reached his half century, but Cook sailed serenely to within four of his ton, before he gave Dilhara Fernando his first wicket of the match, on his return to the side.
Fernando is clearly the fastest of the seam attack, but struggled for most of the day with his lengths, over-pitching and dropping too short, but he hurried Cook's attempted pull to go to his hundred in style and Farveez Maharoof held a steep catch.
Morgan hit the ball cleanly, including two superb sixes and figured in the highest sixth wicket partnership against Sri Lanka with Prior, but was also trapped lbw by Lakmal with the second new ball, which took some of the gloss off England's day.
REACTION:
Morgan believes England are in a good position after being forced to dig themselves out of trouble:
"I am happy with the total we have so far, especially given the position we were in early on. It was challenging and Bell and Cook batted superbly to get us through lunch."
On the way England pushed on and kept up an impressive run-rate:
"To go out and bat the way we did, being positive was important and scoring runs late in the day has put us in a nice position."
On whether he is disappointed to miss out on a hundred:
"I am very happy to score runs for England and to contribute to winning games. I am happy. There is nothing better than scoring runs at Lords and I am pleased with the way I played.
"It is nice to come back into the side and score runs."
On coming in at 130-4:
"It was a bit of an in-between situation, but I just wanted to stick to my natural game and be positive. The ball was nibbling about a little bit and I had to be quite watchful."
On the importance of pacing himself and not being too free at the start:
"I like to pace myself and get in. It gets easier to play the longer you are out there, but I still try to be positive and adapt things from my one-day game and take that into Test cricket."
On whether he thought he was in trouble when he was stuck on the pads:
"I had a feeling I was. You know when you are out and I felt I was in trouble."
On the state of the pitch:
"It was a little slower than we expected. We have done well, but there is a lot of hard work still to do. We are in a decent position and hopefully we can continue that."
Sri Lanka batting coach Marvin Atapattu was left regretting a poor final session:
"Up to tea we were on top and we had won the first two sessions. But we had to bowl a lot of overs in the final session.
"There is a lack of experience in our bowling attack. A lot of the boys are only young and learning, but I am sure they will put it right when they look at the videos."
On the reasons behind bowling first:
"We were not trying to hide the batsmen after Cardiff. We have three of the top ten ICC ranked batsmen in the game. So we were not hiding them."
On the mood in the camp after Cardiff:
"Of course we were disappointed that we could only bat 24 overs, but we have got proven world class batsmen at this level and we expect them to produce here."
On what Sri Lanka have to do now:
"We need early wickets and we have to bowl a little straighter to Matt Prior. We want to wrap the England innings up as soon as we can."
MEMORABLE MOMENT: Not one that Cook will care to look back on with any fondness, but the joy on Fernando's face after he deprived the England opener of another century was priceless.
PLAY OF THE DAY: Lakmal learned his lessons from Cardiff and found the perfect line to Trott early on as the number three shuffled across his stumps and was trapped in front to give the tourists a huge lift.
WHAT IT MEANS: Sri Lanka will feel slightly disappointed and that they let England off the hook after making such an excellent start. Batting will get easier and the pitch is expected to gather more pace, which will suit England's pace attack. Much depends on Prior going on to three figures and a first innings total in excess of 400.
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Source: http://www.fanhouse.co.uk/2011/06/03/second-test-day-one-matt-prior-holds-the-key-as-england-bounce/
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