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England v Sri Lanka, 2nd Test Day One: Five Things We Learned

Honours just about in England’s favour after an intriguing opening in the second Test. Here’s what we learned from a chilling opening day at Chester-le-Street

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MAN OF THE DAY – ALEX HALES 83

Another dismissal in the eighties, but successive scores of fifty or more for Alex Hales – this one coming off 102 deliveries and featuring eight fours. It might not seem like a big deal and that’s because, well, it isn’t. But it is more about the way Hales has acquitted himself against a measured Sri Lankan attack. Once he got the pace of the pitch, he was quick to use Shaminda Eranga’s away swing to unfurl shots through cover and point. When Nuwan Pradeep operated on a tighter line, he took a few blows but ensured he was playing everything straight down the ground. The lucky thing for Hales is that he has the range of shots – he just had to figure out when and where to play them in Test cricket. At the moment, he’s learning very quickly.

BELL TOLLS FOR COMPTON

A tame yet oddly frenetic start – his footwork looked all over the place with a rejigged stance that had him covering all three stumps – brought to an end by a shot in anger. It was a peculiar innings for Nick Compton and one which saw his Test average dip below 30. Eight innings in 2016 has just reaped 120 runs. This, the eighth, was supposed to be the knock that redressed the poor run: he averages 87.6 at Chester-le-Street and also scored his first class best of 254 here in 2011. Given how Sri Lanka faired with the bat at Headingley, he might have to wait till Lord’s for his next big bat. Failure then and it is almost certainly curtains.

SRI LANKA TAKE CHANCES

Sri Lanka’s bowling attack is not necessarily going to run through a side, especially early on in a Test when the pitch is not worn enough for Rangana Herath to do his thing. As a result, patience and prolonged concentration is key: patience to keep the ball in the danger areas and concentration from the fielders to take catches as and when they come. Not only did Sri Lanka do all that, in the bitterly cold Durham air, but they took some absolute blinders. Dimuth Karunaratne took a smart low grab at third slip to remove Alastair Cook; Suranga Lakmal made a steepling boundary catch look routine to see off Compton; Hales’ was done by a diving Angelo Mathews at first slip. That, along with Milinda Siriwardana’s flying effort at cover to see off James Vince, were particularly outrageous. England have the edge, but Sri Lanka have plugged away impressively. Such was their discipline with the ball, they did not bowl a single wide or no ball. Nuwan Pradeep was the pick of the bunch with three for 69 today.

THE WAIT GOES ON

Cook’s quest to 10,000 Test runs has become something of a sideshow. And today, when he fell five runs short of the milestone, you could hear the feature pieces being packed away again. At this stage, with the build-up spanning over two Tests, I think it’s fair to say that it’ll be a relief when it’s done. And it’s a shame to be thinking that when no Englishman has ever achieved the feat and will be the youngest player to do so. We’ll probably all have a sing and a dance when he does get there. Still, at least he’s now the youngest to score 9995…

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WHAT NEXT

The one thing that Sri Lanka should focus on is that Moeen Ali does take a bit to get going. With early assistance tomorrow morning – they should bowl the seamers immediately and set a conventional top order field – there is every chance that they can have England all out without too much damage being inflicted unto them. As for the hosts, a solid partnership between these two, not to mention the ability of Ali and Woakes to strike boundaries, and 400 won’t be too far off…