England suffer chastening day in extreme heat
Eight bowlers combine to take only six wickets Tourists bat second to simulate first Test pitch
While a political demonstration against last weekend’s sudden change of government passed off peacefully near England’s hotel, their bowling on the first day of the Test leg of their tour, against a Sri Lankan Board XI at Nondescripts Cricket Club, was not a huge lot better than the name of the ground would suggest.
It would have been a chastening workout for England if three of the local batsmen had not taken their feet off the pedal by retiring after reaching fifty, and as it was they posted 391 for nine at well above four runs an over.
Any cricket match in Sri Lanka is as much a battle against the extreme conditions as against the opposition, and England wisely used 14 players on the opening day to avert heatstroke – including three wicketkeepers. Jos Buttler – or “Butter” as his name was spelt on the scoreboard – would have melted in his helmet had he not given way to Ben Foakes in the second session and, more surprisingly, in the third to Ollie Pope, who kept capably.
Of the eight bowlers England used in this opening two-dayer – though Ben Stokes was one of the 14, he did not bowl – the steadiest were James Anderson and Moeen Ali, with Adil Rashid the most threatening in that he beat the bat most. In extreme heat, extremes of pace and spin are highly desirable, and England need Rashid, not simply to dismiss top-order batsmen but tail-enders too: it was Sri Lanka’s wagging tail which killed off South Africa in their last home series, when only one century for the home side was scored, as well as their superior spin.
For England’s spinners the biggest lesson, although Moeen could hardly admit as much, was that Sri Lankan batsmen not only run down the pitch, like India’s batsmen did two winters ago, and like Angelo Mathews did when lofting three consecutive balls in Joe Denly’s first over for six, four and six; they also sweep far more than India’s do. Kaushal Silva, who retired at lunch after making 62, is so squat he barely had to bend to sweep Moeen’s first two balls for four and one.
“It was a good wicket, wasn’t a lot of spin,” Moeen said. “For a lot of the guys it was about getting some time in the legs in the field. It was a tough day and it’s completely different cricket to what we’ve been playing.”
Joe Root made three decisions of note. One was to bowl first, so that England would bat on day two on a pitch that was worn, therefore simulating what the first Test pitch at Galle is predicted to be from the outset. The second was to place himself at first slip as the successor to Alastair Cook, and to captain the side from the same position that Cook and his predecessor Andrew Strauss had done.
At second slip for new-ball bowlers, as his third decision, Root posted Rory Burns, so it looks as though Surrey’s 28-year-old captain will make his Test debut next Tuesday, provided he does not have a shocker with the bat in these two, two-day warm-ups. Having had so much trouble with their second slip last summer – neither Dawid Malan nor Buttler nor Root himself fitted the bill satisfactorily – England have installed Burns in what will be a key position, even if the spinners do most of the bowling.
Sam Curran found a hint of inswing in his first two overs with the Kookaburra – not enough to find a gap between the right-hander’s bat and pad, but enough to have him
expecting a bit of shape and missing the ball angled across.
It stopped swinging in Curran’s third over, so he switched to round the wicket, but if England are to overcome their inability to bowl out Test sides abroad twice, a left-arm bowler will surely have a role.
Denly dragged his length back after Mathews’s assault and, although he did not go past the outside edge with his over-spun leg-breaks, he had the satisfaction of taking his first red-ball wicket for England when a 20-year-old batsman padded up to the last ball.