England labour to press home advantage
LEEDS: England's bowlers laboured to press home their advantage after they secured a first-innings lead of 108 in the second Test at Headingley. By tea, both Sri Lanka openers were back in the...
June 22, 2014
Liam Plunkett took both Sri Lanka wickets, outgunning Kaushal Silva with pace in his second over to have him caught at the wicket and later in the session switching to the Football Stand End to break Dimuth Karunaratne's resistance.
But all was not rosy for England. James Anderson and Stuart Broad went about their work with a narky air. Maybe it was a hangover from the Mankading of Jos Buttler in the one-day series, a determination to give Sri Lanka no quarter. Maybe it was the fact the ball was not particularly responsive, a view they pressed by repeated, and ultimately successful, efforts to change it. Perhaps they just realised their natural length was too short to give them the most advantage on a dry surface where Sri Lanka had bowled so splendidly in the morning.
The 12 overs up to lunch communicated to England that life would not be easy. When Anderson found Karunaratne's edge, Chris Jordan fluffed a simple chance at slip. The missed opportunities in this Test were heading towards double figures and had they been taken a three-day finish would have been virtually inevitable.
The over in which Plunkett dismissed Silva was a microcosm of his career. If Silva's thin edge came against a decent delivery, the subsequent ball to Kumar Sangakkara - a rearing delivery from around the wicket which he managed to guide wide of short leg with one hand - was even better. Then he lost his radar completely and conceded four byes with a delivery that entirely missed the cut strip.
It needed a review to dismiss Karunaratne down the leg side. With the dismissal of Rangana Herath at Lord's no doubt fresh in his mind, Karunaratne was optimistic that he might have removed his bottom hand from the bat by the time the ball flicked his glove only for replays to show otherwise.
By tea, England had resorted to a spot of short-ball theory, frustrated that conditions seemed to have eased compared to the morning session, and a scorching afternoon made Sri Lanka feel even more at home.
Angelo Mathews and Shaminda Eranga exploited favourable Headingley bowling conditions in impressive fashion as England lost their last four wickets in an hour's play on the third morning. A dry pitch had become frisky in the sunshine and Mathews and Eranga recognised their opportunity.
England, whose later batsmen showed little inclination to hang in, should have questioned whether the nature of the pitch had been affected by two applications of the heavy roller.
England were responsible for the first, before the start of play, presumably in an attempt to quieten the pitch to allow their lower order to advance their vulnerable lead of 63. It felt like a negative response given that Yorkshire's hierarchy advised England that restricted use of the heavy roller has brought more pace and bounce into Headingley's pitches. By the time Sri Lanka ordered the heavy roller to be started up for another seven minutes, the pitch might well have been deadened as a result.
Initially, the pitch was dry and gripping and Sri Lanka's seamers were threatening from the outset. Nobody relished the conditions more than Mathews, Sri Lanka's captain, who found his medium pace clothed with venom. He opened the bowling from the Football Stand End and, with the evidence of the second evening to back up his decision, he was absolutely right to so.
Mathews took two of the wickets to fall, defeating Broad's adventurous drive and bowling Liam Plunkett, finishing with Test-best figures of 4 for 44. There were four wickets, too, for Eranga, who had Jordan held at second slip by Mahela Jayawardene, diving to his left, and rounded off the innings with a throat ball to Anderson and a return catch. Sri Lanka's seamers had the nous to pitch the ball up and let the pitch do the work and had rarely felt so potent.
