Five-star Jimmy skittles Sri Lanka for 91
JIMMY ANDERSON shattered Sri Lanka yesterday to give England control of the first Test. The Lancastrian took five for 16 to help rout the tourists for 91 at Headingley. Sri Lanka followed on, 207 behind England, for whom Yorkshire’s Jonny Bairstow top-sco
JIMMY ANDERSON has taken a long time to feel at home on his least favourite ground but Headingley in May was finally manna from heaven for England’s leading wickettaker yesterday as Sri Lanka crumbled in the first Test.
So unproductive has this famous old ground been for Anderson that as recently as last week he said he always wanted to turn round and head back across the Pennines every time he turned up at Headingley’s Hutton Gates.
The Lancastrian will surely not be as reluctant to visit Yorkshire now after his best Headingley performance propelled England a long way towards an emphatic victory here.
Anderson was all but unplayable in taking five for 16, four of them coming for one run as the last six wickets tumbled for 15. Sri Lanka capitulatedd to 91 all out and were forcedorced to follow on in totallyally alien conditions.
Never before has s Anderson taken more than three wickets in an innings here but in surpassing that now he went past Kapil Dev into sixth in the all-time wicket-takers list..
Stuart Broad may be rated the best Test bowler in the worldld but even though he took two of the first three wicketsikt tot fallf ll in the space of nine balls and four for 21 in all he was destined to play second fiddle.
‘I’ll still have the pick of ends,’ smiled Anderson ahead of this Investec series when asked if Broad’s new- found status had changed the dynamic between one of the best new-ball partnerships in England’s Test history.
And Anderson revealed afterwards that he and Broad had actually swapped their usual ends here, a move which finally seems to have allowed both of them to thrive at one of the most idiosyncratic venues in world cricket.
‘It’s taken us nine years to realise we’ve been bowling at the wrong ends,’ said Anderson after taking his first Leeds five-wicket haul from the Football Stand End. ‘We’re delighted to finally figure it out.’
In truth they hunt as a pair but this was Anderson’s day in the Headingley sun — or rather the Leeds gloom.
The tourists were in the hunt on the first day after winning an important toss but Bairstow began to take the game away from them and then Anderson and Broad seemingly shut the door on any hopes they had of competing here.
Once those first three wickets had tumbled with 12 on the board, all of them to catcatches from Jonny BairstoBairstow, there was no way backb for Sri Lanka. Only captain Angelo MaMathews put up any kikind of a fight. It had taken Englland only 36.4 oovers to brush Sri Lanka aside, leaving Alastair Cook, with an eye on the uncertain weather forecast, to take the unusual opoption of enforcing the follow- on, but bad lightl inexplicably ended play early with floodlights shining down. CCricketikt simplyil must look again at regulations that embarrass the Test game at a time when it is at its most vulnerable. If the lights are on, the show should go on too.
At least a near-capacity Headingley crowd had their money’s worth thanks to a Lancastrian who now has 438 Test wickets to his name and one of their own whose name was loudly acclaimed throughout by an animated Western Terrace.
If this was Anderson’s day, Bairstow earned joint top billing by completing a brilliant century on his home ground and then, just as importantly, taking five catches in a flawless keeping display.
England were in big trouble at 83 for five when Bairstow arrived on Thursday but he launched a superb counter-attack that culminated in the Headingley Test century that he told Sportsmail this week he has always craved.
‘It’s difficult to put into words what it means to score a century here,’ said Bairstow, who was keeping for England for the first time in a home Test. ‘But it’s pleasing to back up what I did in the winter.’
Thanks to his 140, England reached a total of 298 that was worth at least a hundred more once the clouds rolled in and Sri Lanka were sentenced to reply with Headingley at its most bowler-friendly.
This was the batsman-keeper role played out expertly by Bairstow with a performance of which Matt Prior and, dare it be said, even Adam Gilchrist would have been proud. Only in reaching three figures with two overthrows was Bairstow’s second Test century anything other than perfect.
The Yorkshireman dominated a stand of 141 with Alex Hales and made Sri Lanka pay a heavy price for missing him on 70 when Nuwan Pradeep seemed to trip while fumbling a routine caught and bowled.
Hales added just seven to his overnight 71 in the first hour, and was reprieved himself on 82 when Dimuth Karunaratne spilled a difficult slip chance at second slip.
Hales was mortified when he gave up his opportunity of a maiden Test century 14 short with a rare error, slicing to deep cover when attempting to hit Rangana Herath out of the ground.
No matter. Hales has gone a long way towards cementing his place as Cook’s opening partner. If the weather is kind today then England should have victory within three days and a 1-0 lead heading to Durham next week.