England vs Sri Lanka: Men’s Second Cricket Test Match, Day One – Live | England vs Sri Lanka 2024

15th over: England 68-2 (Duckett 37, Root 12) Root makes his first misstep when Kumara, who has asked all the right questions, hits him on the inside edge and claims LBW. Paul Reiffel says not out, Sri Lanka review and it’s close… referee’s decision, broken leg.

14th over: England 67-2 (Duckett 37, Root 11) Rathanayake returns and causes Duckett some trouble. First he fends off a lob but finds only empty space, then he scoops the ball in the air towards cover and takes a choppy two. But Duckett survives and is now averaging 100 in Tests at Lord’s.

13th over: England 65-2 (Duckett 35, Root 11) The first ball after the drink is a poor shot from Duckett that flies wide of the pitch as Kumara plays the ball down the slope. But he pulls himself together with a dab for two and a cover drive for four, which he hits with momentum.

And here’s Kim Thonger. “I’m checking in from a car park in Shepton Mallet, Somerset,” he writes, “waiting for my wife to return after checking stock at the factory shop of a certain well-known fashion brand. I won’t say the name directly, but it is associated with jam. Anyway, it’s a bit like ‘Showering’s’, which is fitting, as we are opposite Showering’s, the makers of Babycham, the favourite drink of my first girlfriends. It was either that or a Snowball in the 70s. Those were the options. The end.

“I wonder if the wonderful Wurzels ever did a version of the Oasis song you mentioned called Babycham Supernova? If not, they should have. And then followed it up with Ciderwall.”

12th over: England 58-2 (Duckett 28, Root 11) Fernando carries on and so do the runs – two singles for each batsman. They are both so busy and yet so relaxed. And that is Drinksthis is Sky’s chance to torture us with that awful advert that Stuart Broad, in a moment of madness, agreed to star in.

It was an hour of two halves – the first belonging to England as Duckett took the lead, the second to Sri Lanka as Dhananjaya de Sliva hit back with two clever bowling changes. And now Duckett and Root are threatening to regain control. Up and down, you can’t beat that.

11th over: England 54-2 (Duckett 26, Root 9) It takes more than a few wickets to trouble Ben Duckett. Against Kumara, he plays a pull for two and a flick for a single. Root, coming forward well, adds a straight push for four and a glance for another single. Between them, these two have made 35 off 34 balls, while the other two batters made 10 off 32.

10th over: England 46-2 (Duckett 23, Root 4) Joe Root runs to mid-off and hits his first ball for four. But that won’t bother the Sri Lankans too much, because the last quarter of an hour is theirs. Another change of bowler, another wicket. Fernando switched ends, dropped the ball and tricked Pope into a failed front-foot pull. As the ball sailed into the St John’s Wood sky, Dhananjaya de Silva took over, kept his cool and sent his counterpart home. He is credited with both wickets and now his decision to bowl doesn’t look so foolish.

WICKET! Pope c de Silva b Fernando 1 (England 42-2)

9th over: England 39-1 (Duckett 20, Pope 1) Kumara hits Pope again, cutting him in half like a magician, and then a third time, prompting a vociferous appeal for “Caught Behind.” Pope starts off stuttering, as he often does, while Kumara (2-1-3-1) has started with a bang. “In training he was just smiling,” says Mel Jones. “Now he’s just staring angrily.”

8th over: England 39-1 (Duckett 20, Pope 1) Pope copes better with Rathnayake and turns a short ball into a single. On the balcony, Ben Stokes keeps a close eye on his replacement.

7th over: England 33-1 (Duckett 19, Pope 0) That was a four-card trick from Kumara, who kept playing the ball towards Lawrence and then pushed it up the slope away from him. Lawrence didn’t help himself by running down the path, which gave him less time to adjust. And then Kumara also hit Pope outside the off. In one over, he changed the course of the game.

WICKET! Lawrence c Madushka b Kumara 9 (England 33-1)

6th over: England 30-0 (Duckett 16, Lawrence 9) Rathnayake started very well, but now the openers are stepping up. Duckett gets two points and has a leg bye, allowing Lawrence to play a straight drive for four points. It was so easy, just a push.

5th over: England 23-0 (Duckett 14, Lawrence 5) Lawrence, playing against Fernando, is lucky when an inside angle leads to four. Interesting fact: Sri Lanka have not lost at Lord’s since Ian Botham played for England in 1991.

4th over: England 19-0 (Duckett 14, Lawrence 1) Don’t throw the ball too far away from Duckett, don’t throw it the other way to Lawrence… Rathnayake forgets that and concedes four byes, followed by a single to put Lawrence in the lead. He made 30 and 34 in his first attempt as an impromptu Test opener – the kind of scores that are frowned upon but managed more than anyone else in the top three.

3rd over: England 14-0 (Duckett 14, Lawrence 0) Wait a minute, Duckett has found his rhythm. He hits Fernando with a square drive for four, then hits him with another four. Fernando recovers with a couple of dot balls, then goes too far and lets Duckett slip a third four. He has taken 13 points from seven balls from Fernando.

2nd over: England 2-0 (Duckett 2, Lawrence 0) From the Nursery End, it’s Milan Rathnayake, who made his debut last week and batted better than he bowled. He makes a solid start and gives Duckett the width he craves until the last ball is turned into another single. Two overs, two runs – someone tell Sir Geoffrey that Test Creekit is back.

1st over: England 1-0 (Duckett 1, Lawrence 0) Fernando starts with a yorker that swings to Duckett, who takes it out and steals a single. A more orthodox ball that sails towards Dan Lawrence’s off stump brings an LBW appeal, but it goes too high. Are England still in the subdued mood they surprised us with in Manchester?

The new ball is in the hands of Asitha Fernando, who is making a big impression at Old Trafford. Waiting for him is Ben Duckett, the opener who can’t stand not playing a shot.

As the anthems are played, we can see both sides up close. If it were a competition to see who had the most stubble, the Sri Lankans would be heading for an easy win.

The bell is rung by Mahela Jayawardene. Not only did he make plenty of stylish runs for one of these nations, he also went on to work as a batting consultant for the other.

The first Oasis song of the day is played on Sky. “It’s Lord’s, we have to try Champagne Supernova, right?”

The first email has arrived and it is from our old friend Gary Naylor. “I suspect there won’t be masses of empty seats on day four – if MCC gets ticket prices right,” he says. “Day five ticket pricing is something cricket has got right in recent years and surely the flexibility shown with reduced prices should be extended to other days when advance sales look poor? After all, overheads are fixed and there is money to be made in merchandising and refreshments. No doubt people who paid ‘full price’ weeks ago will object, but that’s the nature of the beast.” Hmm, flexibility… not always MCC’s middle name.

The teams

Coin toss: Sri Lanka wins and bowls first

preamble