England v Sri Lanka 2024
- Root 143, Atkinson 74*, Kumara 2-75, Rathnayake 2-80
Joe Root's superb hundred drove England to the safe shores after a wobbling start in the morning. Gus Atkinson also helped Root in stitching the partnership to bail England out of trouble.
England have pocketed the first day of second Test. Joe Root's superb hundred drove England to the safe shores after a wobbling start in the morning. Gus Atkinson also helped Root in stitching the partnership to bail England out of trouble.
Root's 143 took him level with Alastair Cook on 33 Test centuries for England; during the course of his innings, he overtook Cook for most Test runs scored in England (and Wales) - and it is now surely only a matter of weeks, if not days, before he passes Cook's overall mark for his country. Once the engraver has done his work, no one will have more entries on the batting honours board at Lord's than Root, Graham Gooch and Michael Vaughan.
Sri Lanka’s fast bowling coach Aaqib Javed was happy with the effort his team’s fast bowlers put up on day one of the second Test match after Sri Lanka opted to bowl first after winning the toss. Sri Lanka’s bowlers did well to restrict England to 216 for six after tea, but the 92 run stand between Joe Root and Gus Atkinson helped England fight back.
“I think we had done well in the first two sessions. The expectation was to get them out in the final session, The partnership between Root and Gus helped them to come back into the game. Sometimes you are expecting wickets to fall after six wickets and when they don’t happen you get concerned. Bit disappointed with the way we went about things between the 65th and 80th overs,” Aaqib, the former Pakistan fast bowler told journalists.
“You all know the Lord’s pitch. It’s mostly flat. First three days it will be similar weather too. What we were thinking was that it was a fresh wicket and give our best with early wickets. Once the ball got older and softer it’s difficult to get that penetration.”
Lahiru Kumara bowled with fire making a comeback to the team after being overlooked for the first Test at Old Trafford. He finished with two wickets.
“After three months he is playing a Test match. Good effort. He bowled 90 miles and that’s what you want from a fast bowler. It was pleasing to see.
The three seamers shared six wickets between them with Milan Ratnayake and Asitha Fernando also claiming two scalps each. Milan had a disappointing start with the ball on his debut at Old Trafford but bowled much better lengths at Lord’s and he seems to have overcome the no-ball problem as well.
“He bowled well in the second innings at Old Trafford. When you are on debut, you can struggle a bit. He bowled well. He has a good height and his wrist position is good. He is a good sharp guy with a superb mind. He uses the lines well. The way he batted in the first Test was great to see as well. He is a good find.”
Having steered England past the winning post at Old Trafford a few days ago, Root was again the batting bulwark for his side. As in the first Test, Sri Lanka bowled well to put England's first innings in peril without quite finishing the job. England were 130 for 4 and then 216 for 6, only for Root to bolt together the two biggest partnerships of the innings alongside Atkinson and Jamie Smith. Atkinson and Matthew Potts then added an unbroken stand of exactly 50 as the shadows lengthened.
English (United States)