BUMBLE AT HOME
GREAT TIMING, SKIPPER
IT WAS unbelievably important for Joe Root that he should start a busy year so well. Others will be rested and rotated as the year progresses, but not the captain. The key to his knock was that he picked up the length so quickly. He defended calmly and swept superbly. What an innings!
DAN KEPT IT TICKING
I WAS very impressed with young Dan Lawrence from Essex. He looked a natural. He knows he’ll face scrutiny coming into the Test arena, but I’m more interested in what he can do, not what he can’t. On this evidence, he can do plenty. What he and Root did so well was knock the ball around. Sri Lanka just couldn’t bowl any maidens.
BAD NEWS FOR BAIRSTOW
WHEN a few of us last summer picked our side for next winter’s Ashes, Shane Warne and I had Lawrence at No 3 for the first Test at Brisbane. For me, that means no Jonny Bairstow (right) — again — because I’m having Ollie Pope at No 6. Bairstow will be kicking himself. Falling in the second over let Lawrence make his case.
BOWLING LOOKED LAME
IF YOU talk to the two modern spin geniuses, Warne and Muttiah Muralitharan, they’ll tell you that a spinner has to be able to land the ball on a consistent line and length. Sri Lanka couldn’t do it. Their offie, Dilruwan Perera, was too straight and the leggie, Wanindu Hasaranga (right), gives you a bad ball or two every over. As for the seamers, they’re trundlers.
CAN’T WAIT TO WIELD THE AXE
MY NEW axe was delivered yesterday. It’s got a hickory shaft. They knocked down a couple of trees outside my house and I bagged a few logs for burning. First, however, I need to chop them up, and I have to say I’ve always been partial to a good axe. There are plenty of things you can do with one…
RELIGHT MY FIRE
ALSO in the post was a late Christmas present for Vipers: a bundle of firelighters, with long matches (very important) and a fire mitt to ensure you don’t burn your fingers when you open the front grill. I could tell she felt joyful when she opened the package. She has to understand the shops have been under pressure with Covid. Sometimes you have to be patient.
EARLY STARTS ARE BAD NEWS
SHAME that rain wiped out the last session, so it was an early start on day three, which meant getting up at 2.20am, not 3.20. I remember Sky buying rights for an England series in India. Cost millions, then the BCCI wanted to charge us extra to enter the grounds! We ended up covering it off the tube from Sky studios in Isleworth. Everyone was a winner.